A Past Haunting the Present
Neo-Slave Narratives and their Contribution to a More Comprehensive Depiction of Slavery in Selected Works
Masterarbeit
zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades
Master of Arts (MA)
an der Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz
vorgelegt von
Mag. Julia HÖFFERER, BA
am Institut für Anglistik
Begutachter: Ao.Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr. Phil. Martin Löschnigg
Graz, 2020
Abstract
It is widely known that historical events play a crucial role in the formation and development of societies. This also applies to slavery and its multi-faceted effects, which continue to haunt the present. In the light of current events regarding the equality of all people, especially in the United States, such an awareness of historical influences becomes even more important. One way this awareness can be raised and improved is neo-slave narratives, a literary genre using the past to talk about contemporary issues. The texts characterise themselves through a strong focus on the use of marginalised voices and through their diversity, tackling questions such as: Whose story are we hearing and whose are we missing? How does perspective influence the perception of inequalities and historical events? To answer those questions, the works revolve around numerous aspects related to the system of slavery, including, but not limited to, the depiction of enslavement and slavery, the constructed nature of race and racism, resistance and communities, as well as literacy and identity. They further address the portrayal of white individuals and the necessity of telling history from alternative and marginalised viewpoints, thereby telling untold stories. Those aspects’ multi-faceted nature sheds light on the myriad of lives affected by slavery, both past and present. This thesis will therefore argue that neo-slave narratives contribute to a better understanding of the workings and diverse effects of slavery due to the use of black viewpoints to achieve a more comprehensive and multi-faceted depiction of history. This will be illustrated by the analysis of four selected novels focusing on marginalised individuals, namely Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing (2016), Lawrence Hill’s The Book of Negroes (2007), Julius Lester’s Day of Tears (2005), and Andrea Levy’s The Long Song (2010).
Honey, I said, my life is a ghost story.
- Hill, The Book of Negroes (16)
Table of Contents
1. Introduction ...... 1
2. The Question of Voice: Neo-Slave Narratives and the Importance of Empathy, Genre(s), and Structure ...... 5
2.1. Never Eye-to-Eye: Of (White) Frames, Empathy, and Victimisation ...... 5
2.2. Not So Separate: The Genre(s) of the (Neo-)Slave Narrative ...... 8
2.3. Diverse, Yet Connected: Enter the Selected Works ...... 10
3. At the Cost of Humanity: Captivity, Enslavement, and Its Aftermath ...... 16
3.1. Before Slavery: The Agony of Captivity and the Role of the British ...... 17
3.2. In the Loop: A Life in Slavery ...... 20
3.3. Far from Equal: The Fugitive Slave Law and Life after the Abolition of Slavery ...... 23
4. A Natural Condition? Of Constructed Inferiority, Objectified Individuals, and the Fragile Nature of Slaves’ Lives ...... 27
4.1. Natural Inferiority: A Social Construct ...... 29
4.2. The Worth of Slaves: Objectification and Value ...... 31
4.3. Of a Fragile Nature: The Instability and Lack of Agency of Enslaved Individuals ...... 34
5. The End of Compliance: Resisting Slavery ...... 37
5.1. Hide It ‘Till You Make It: The Importance of Covert Resistance ...... 38
5.2. Making a Stand, or: Overt Forms of Resistance ...... 41
5.3. The Power of the Word: Alternative Forms of Resistance ...... 45
6. Sharing Misery: Relationships, Communities, and Traditions in Slavery ...... 48
6.1. Disrupted Roots: Slavery and the Fragile Nature of Families...... 49
6.2. Surviving Slavery: The Formation of Communities and a Collective...... 52
6.3. Losing One’s Traditions: Slavery and Its Implications for Culture and Language ...... 54
7. From Bondage to Freedom: The Implications of Literacy, Names, and Symbols ...... 56
7.1. Powerful Words, or: The Importance of (Il-)Literacy ...... 57
7.2. Stolen and Re-Named: The Connection Between Names and Identity ...... 59
7.3. Not Just Clothes or Marks: The Role of Symbolic Markers ...... 61
8. Good Whites, Bad Whites: The Role of Slaveowners, Sexuality, and Abolitionism in the depiction of History ...... 64
8.1. Good or Bad? The Depiction of Slaveowners and Their Morality ...... 65
8.2. Physical Violence 2.0: The Threat of Sexual Abuse ...... 67
8.3. Blurred Lines: Abolitionists and Remaining Racial Restrictions ...... 70
9. Whose Story Is It? The Importance of Perspective and Voice in History and Storytelling . 72
9.1. Not in the Past: Slavery, and Its Continued Legacy ...... 73
9.2. Running in Circles: Circularity and the Role of Africa in Neo-Slave Narratives ...... 76
9.3. A Myriad of Unheard Stories: The Importance of Storytelling and Perspective for History ...... 78
10. Conclusion...... 82
Works Cited and Consulted ...... 83
Primary Literature ...... 83
Secondary Literature ...... 83
1. Introduction
That, I decided, was what it meant to be a slave; your past didn’t matter; in the present you were invisible and you had no claim on the future (Hill, Book: 206).
This quotation from Lawrence Hill’s The Book of Negroes (2010) already indicates the absence of individual choice and liberty in slaves’ lives, which is frequently communicated through slave narratives. While the use of such labour provided the slaveholders with freedom to pursue other ambitions and interests (cf. Davis 2006: 179), it meant facing “a kind of hell on earth” (Andrews 2000: online) for numerous individuals captured, transported, and sold. Numbers estimated at 8.7 million African slaves transported to the New World by 1820 continued to rise even after the slave trade was legally banned (cf. Davis 2006: 80). This transatlantic trade system played a pivotal role during the era of slavery and included the transportation of goods and slaves to and from three main places (cf. Stenou 2004: 50f). Ships arrived from Europe to provide weapons or cheap jewellery and to transport slaves to the US; from there, slave- produced goods, such as tobacco, sugar, coffee, or cotton were brought to Europe (cf. ibid.). The system was not only extremely complex with regard to geographical or economic aspects, but it also asserted England, beginning in the course of the 17th century, as one of the leading slave markets (cf. Walvin 2007: 42, 50). The capture and transportation were horrendous for those deemed to be chattel rather than humas, which can also be seen in the high mortality rate on ships (cf. Walvin 2007: 68f): “Of the twelve million Africans loaded on to the ships, ten and a half million survived to landfall in the Americas” (Walvin 2007: 69). The brutality of slaves’ capture and transportation thus becomes evident.
However, these harsh living conditions did not end after their arrival in the Americas: they might become even worse, depending on their specific destination and role. While the exact structure and routines depended on the respective work tasks and plantation types, for instance sugar, tobacco or, from 1790 onwards, cotton, they all shared the provision of forced labour demanded from slaves (cf. Walvin 2007: 95ff). Tasks included, but were not limited to, actual physical labour, transportation of goods, infrastructural work, knowledge regarding crops, or domestic duties, each aligned with similar, yet distinct challenges and difficulties (cf. Walvin 2007: 97f). As a result, it becomes clear that the slave trade system as well as slavery itself had a tremendous impact on the construction of societies across the globe (cf. Black 2015: xi). Slavery therefore it constitutes an essential part of human history, which still has effects and repercussions to the present day (cf. Black 2015: xii).
1
One way to reclaim slaves’ humanity in the past and to re-imagine their subjectivity now is the genre of slave narratives (cf. Anim-Addo & Lima 2017: 3). This is further underlined by Andrews’ (2000: online) observation that “[s]lave narratives and their fictional descendants have played a major role in national debates about slavery, freedom, and American identity that have challenged the conscience and the historical consciousness of the United States ever since its founding”. This is mainly achieved by offering an alternative presentation of a life in bondage as well as by putting white-authored myths about black inferiority in question (cf. Moody 2009: 113f). As the historical distance renders the actual understanding of and engagement with the reality of slavery more difficult, it becomes evident that creative ways of engaging with the topic are required to incite readers to feel empathy and deepen their understanding of slavery. The use of slave narratives hence was not only an important tool to advance the abolition of slavery, but it also continues to provide vital insights into the workings of inequalities, which are considerably shaped by historical circumstances, to the present day. The following thesis will therefore show how this genre enhances the understanding of the workings and effects of slavery through the use of literary texts, especially with regard to the discussed topics and the question of authority and/or voice.
The present genre is generally referred to as ‘neo-slave narrative’ and uses the past to talk about contemporary issues (cf. Bassard 2014: 162). This is important, as it contributes to a better and more empathic understanding of this historical time period and its current effects. With regard to their form, those texts characterise themselves, for instance, through a variety of perspectives and literary styles while also discussing a myriad of issues, such as the difficulty of representing trauma, the legacy of slavery, the importance of literacy, the arbitrary use of religion, or the fragile nature of liberty (cf. Smith 2007: 168f). Another main aspect is their strong focus on memory and the pivotal role of history (cf. Smith 2007: 168). The mentioned characteristics are crucial, as they raise further questions, including, but not limited to: Whose version of history is told? How does perspective or viewpoint influence our perception of historical circumstances and contemporary inequalities? Whose stories and which experiences are we missing?1 The engagement with these and similar questions represents a necessary step in finally dealing with the past and addressing systemic inequalities.
This is vital, as such inequalities are present in the everyday lives of people referred to as ‘different’. Bonilla-Silva (2003: 92) addresses mainly limitations experienced by black or dark- skinned individuals, such as a higher likelihood of poverty, an inferior access to and quality of
1 Some of these questions are also included in Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing (cf. page 226f), one of the selected texts. 2 education, or the presence of racial profiling by authorities. He thereby challenges ideas connected to “colour-blindness”, i.e. people not perceiving racial differences, as focusing on the past contributes to unrest (cf. Bonilla-Silva 2003: 90f). The presented issues have further become even more evident in the course of this year due to riots triggered by the killing of the African American man George Floyd by the police.2 While the simultaneous loss of national and human rights of individuals being forced into bondage (cf. Arendt 1976: 292) was repeatedly attacked over the course of history, such events illustrate that the past continues to shape the present reality for a large number of people.
With regard to this thesis and literary studies in general, standpoint theory provides an invaluable theoretical model for the analysis of such texts, especially as I am not directly affected by the discussed systemic inequality myself. However, this model argues that “marginal lives that are not [one’s] own provide better grounds for certain types of knowledge” (Harding 2004: 129). These standpoints are crucial sources of knowledge about issues faced by a considerable part of today’s society, especially since, according to Ruddick (2004: 162), they offer a superior vision due to experience. The analysis of literary texts produced by non-white authors thus offers more authentic and deeper insights into contemporary issues. In fact, the neo-slave narrative genre frequently addresses problematic aspects, especially those of race or gender, through the lens of slavery (cf. Smith 2007: 172f). The following thesis will hence focus on texts featuring black voices to show how this approach deepens the understanding of slavery and its repercussions, particularly with regard to the discussed topics and the aspect of voice.
To illustrate the importance of the neo-slave narrative genre for a more comprehensive depiction and understanding of history more clearly, this thesis will analyse four selected texts with regard to their shared topics and characteristics and the presence of black voices. The analysis will be strongly influenced by the pivotal role of perspective itself, empathy, and the strength of alternative viewpoints to ensure a stronger engagement with historical components. The first work is Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing (2016), which focuses on the intertwined lives of two sisters, one married to an English soldier, one a slave, and their descendants. This is especially interesting, as the Ghanaian author moved to the US as a little child before relocating to Huntsville, Alabama, at the age of 10 years (cf. Yothers 2018: 209). Another novel, The Book of Negroes (2007), which revolves around the childhood and subsequent life of an enslaved woman, was written by Lawrence Hill, a Canadian born from a white mother and a black father.
2 It is important to bear in mind that this is not an isolated incident and points to a general issue regarding (in)equality. While George Floyd’s tragic fate triggered the protests, every single victim is one too many. 3
To provide a wider perspective, the former artist’s and political activist’s Julius Lester’s Day of Tears (2005), a novel in dialogue form dealing with a frequently neglected event, will also be analysed. As Lester’s texts generally discuss education and change (cf. Andrews et al. 1997: 434), the educating aspect for readers becomes even clearer. The English author of Jamaican heritage Andrea Levy’s The Long Song (2010), which is set on a Caribbean island, will further be included in the discussion.3 Levy’s motivation for this novel further highlights the importance of the neo-slave narrative genre: at a conference, she was asked by a woman of Jamaican heritage how she could possibly have pride in her slave ancestry, which incited the author to provide a different perspective of this period, i.e. a different story and perspective, through the medium of literature (cf. Levy 2010: 405, qtd. in Ötzabak-Avci 2017: 121). This selection of authors with varying backgrounds and books focusing on individuals with different stories hence offers a more comprehensive analysis of the neo-slave narrative genre and its impact with regard to the understanding of this historical time period and its repercussions.
In this thesis, I will therefore argue that neo-slave narratives contribute to a better understanding of the workings and diverse effects of slavery due to the use of black viewpoints to achieve a more comprehensive and multi-faceted depiction of history. This will be shown by focusing on the above-mentioned works and the contributions made by their shared characteristics. Those include, but are not limited to, the depiction of enslavement itself, the importance of community and identity, as well as history and perspective.
To provide some insight into the underlying history of the genre, the thesis will first focus on certain theoretical aspects, which include the rhetorical frames used for the abolition of slavery as well as the relationship between empathy and reading, the genre question, and a more detailed presentation of the selected texts. Having established this basis, the description of slavery and the depiction of nature will be discussed. This will be continued by the topics of rebellion, community, and freedom. These topical aspects will be followed by a focus on the depiction and role of whites as well as by the issue of history and storytelling. The results will briefly be summarised in a concluding chapter.4
3 In this thesis, the selected texts will be referred to as Homegoing, Book, Day, and Song, respectively. 4 A considerable number of topics and scenes can be attributed to numerous chapters and/or categories. This further highlights the complex interrelations between the system of slavery, past and present. 4
2. The Question of Voice: Neo-Slave Narratives and the Importance of Empathy, Genre(s), and Structure
Popular culture influences people’s social as well as political life (cf. Hinck 2016: 1) and thus also their values. While social institutions, such as family, school, or church, have been assigned through lineage or geographical restrictions in the past, individuals now face choices between them and the worldviews they represent (cf. Hinck 2016: 4): for instance, a person might convert to a different religion or join a volunteer organisation if those are seen as supporting their values (cf. Hinck 2016: 5). These choices are frequently made by adhering to so-called ‘ethical frameworks’, which are composed of ‘ethical modalities’ (cf. Hinck 2016: 8). This means that people have certain worldviews (ethical frameworks) and choose specific behaviour patterns (ethical modalities) to apply those values in their daily lives (cf. ibid.). Hinck (ibid.) provides the example of ‘sharing with others’ as framework, which can be put into action by participating in a neighbourhood tool-sharing program. The possible modalities are diverse, and one framework can therefore have multiple facets. This is crucial for literary texts as well, as readers also share or oppose certain values presented by novels: based on their engagement with the text, they might, however, also learn about new possible ‘ethical modalities’ for an ‘ethical framework’ or even change their perception of them. The following chapter will further show how literature influences ideas, values, or even actions by focusing on frames, empathy and reading, as well as the genre of (neo-)slave narratives. It will be concluded by a more detailed presentation of the selected texts.
2.1. Never Eye-to-Eye: Of (White) Frames, Empathy, and Victimisation
“Do you hate me?” [an abolitionist] asked. “Should I?” “Might you not hate all white men indiscriminately? You would have good reason.” I poured myself more water from the carafe. “If I spent my time hating, my emotions would have been spent long ago, and I would be nothing more than an empty cowrie shell” (Hill, Book: 420).
This quotation illustrates an exchange between a (former) slave and an abolitionist while also showing that there are certain ideas about enslaved individuals that might not be in line with reality. This aspect represents one of the main issues of the abolitionist movement, as the “voice of the narratives is a white voice” (Sekora 1987: 510). While the stories were told by former slaves, their accounts were controlled by abolitionists, who adhered to specific mechanisms to achieve their aims (cf. Andrews 1990: 24). One example constitutes the frequent use of a white voice framing the narrative and asserting its truthfulness and independent composition (cf. Bruce 2007: 30, 34), as Blacks had to defend their authenticity and earn the trust of their
5 readership, something whites were given more readily (cf. Andrews 1990: 23).5 An example is the careful cultivation of language: if a text was too advanced, a slave could not have been the author (cf. Weinstein 2007: 116). Opponents also accused black writers, for instance Frederick Douglass, of “thinking more of his speech than of the end for which he professes to make it” (Peabody 1849: 75). It becomes clear that the writing and speech of former slaves was carefully constructed and monitored by abolitionists during that time.
Lamb-Books (2016: 96-115) summarises these control patterns under three specific frames, namely the ‘Sentimental Frame’, the ‘Republican Frame’, and the ‘Evangelical Protestant Frame’:
• The ‘Sentimental Frame’ presents slavery as inhuman and cruel by addressing people’s sympathy and pity. It focuses on the separation of families or moral wrongdoings. • The ‘Republican Frame’ argues that slavery is a social problem, as it counteracts the principles of liberty and equality. This frame incites feelings of shame and anger. • The ‘Evangelical Protestant Frame’ uses the idea of human beings’ equal creation by God and constructs the institution of slavery as a sin to incite feelings of disgust and guilt.
The use of frames is important, as they create (moral) emotions in the audience (cf. Lamb- Books 2016: 115f). Anger is also noteworthy, as it is a necessary part contributing to actual social change (cf. Lamb-Books 2016: 47).6 The problematic aspect of these frames lies in their distribution: Blacks were limited to narrating facts, i.e. their narrative and experiences, while white abolitionists constructed arguments and used logic (cf. Bacon 2011: 143, 146). The resulting “sentimentalization of the slave is a specific instance of what sociologists of race now call racialization, the cultural construction of specific fictitious concepts of racial difference” (Brekhus et al. 2010, qtd. in Lamb-Books 2016: 164). This is further confirmed by Sekora’s (1983: 225) statement that “Blacks [were] not needed to frame the language of such a statement, merely to fulfil it”.
Such a control of voice is not only problematic with regard to history and the diversity of stories, but also with regard to status. Lamb-Books (2016: 168) applies Ridgeway’s theoretical model of status binds, which he defines as “the deprivation of possible individual freedoms due to social pressures placed on the individual to conform to their primary status identities”. These identities include, for example, class, gender, or race (cf. Lamb-Books 2013: 167). They are
5 At times, this credibility frames could also be acknowledged by black abolitionists (cf. Bruce 2007: 30). 6 Lamb-Books (2016: 4f) also discusses the difference between ‘ethos’ (impression of virtue made by a speaker), ‘pathos’ (how emotions are created in audiences), and ‘logos’ (argumentation and facts). This is crucial, as they represent rhetorical elements needed for persuasion (cf. ibid.). 6 generally accompanied by a binary opposition between the superordinate, which is associated with independence or rationality, and the subordinate, which is connected to emotion, submission, or cooperation (cf. Lamb-Books 2016: 168). As former slaves were restricted to their stories and their emotional appeal in the course of the abolition, they were forced to remain within the status bind of sub-ordinate. This is further associated with the ‘Sentimental Frame’, which incites feelings of sympathy and pity rather than genuine empathy.
This distinction is important, as sympathy is related to feeling supportive and pitiful for another person, i.e. feeling for someone, whereas empathy indicates an increased understanding of the other’s distress, i.e. feeling like someone (cf. Keen 2006: 209; Nünning 2014: 99).7 Such an understanding is pivotal, as it indicates a strong engagement with another person’s situation whereas pity can easily be connotated with superiority. Furthermore, empathy means that another person’s feelings are shared while sympathy creates a distinct emotion, such as pity, which results in a bigger distance between two individuals (cf. Nünning 2014: 99, 122). Empathy is further crucial, as it is inherent in “social cognition, since it is a central component of our ability to understand and share emotions of others” (Nünning 2014: 93). It is vital to note that empathy is more likely to be felt when knowing the intention and rationale behind a behaviour (cf. Fogassi et al. 2005, qtd. in Nünning 2014: 97). While this is often absent in simple and isolated everyday situations, readers are aware of a characters’ motivation for their behaviour and/or actions (cf. Nünning 2014: 97). Novels, such as neo-slave narratives, can thus positively contribute to a better understanding of minorities or marginalised groups, both historically and now, due to the awareness of underlying thought patterns provided by the text.
Additionally, the role of the imagination cannot be overstated when it comes to understanding feelings of people different from ourselves (cf. Nünning 2014: 102f):
While empathic sharing can occur automatically and without any cognitive effort in situations involving people similar to oneself, it is necessary to cognitively gauge and imagine how someone dissimilar to us would feel in particular situations in order to be able to share his or her feelings (Nünning 2014: 102).
Reading fiction hence contributes to a better understanding of different individuals, especially as one is unable to understand a character without somewhat empathising with them (cf. Nünning 2014: 104). This is further reinforced by an increased likelihood to adapt an “imagine- other perspective” rather than an “imagine-self” one (cf. Nünning 2014: 298). Furthermore, it
7 Nevertheless, there are numerous definitions of the term ‘empathy’ (cf. Nünning 2014: 94). The importance for this thesis lies in the aspect of prosocial behaviour due to adopting the perspective of another person (cf. ibid.). 7 enables the reader to engage with emotions and feelings, which might be felt in everyday situations, but are quickly forgotten due to other stimuli (cf. Nünning 2014: 114). It becomes clear that literature can effectively contribute to a better understanding of issues, for instance slavery and its repercussions.
In addition to this increased understanding of other people and its prosocial effects, reading fiction reduces the likelihood of falling into the so-called ‘fundamental attribution error’ (cf. Nünning 2014: 268): when someone is acting in a certain way, those acting tend to attribute this behaviour to the situation, i.e. external causes (cf. ibid.). In contrast, observers generally connect certain behaviours and reactions to a person’s personality and their ideals (cf. ibid.). While reading, it is possible to see various perspectives, frequently even on the same situation, which can help reduce the risk of misinterpretations in real life (cf. Nünning 2014: 270f). It becomes clear that the reading of fictional texts can also contribute to a more empathic reaction to other individuals and thereby result in a better understanding of issues and potentially even behaviour changes or related actions needed to counteract existing inequalities.8
This deeper understanding and engagement are also necessary to actively promote better living situations for people that are less privileged due to historical circumstances. The importance of reclaiming the humanity of formerly enslaved people becomes evident in Hill’s Book (439):
“You have no idea what I have lived through. Every waking moment is a nightmare for the captives you hold right now, on the other side of these stone walls. You have no idea what they endure, if they will even survive in the ships, no idea of the thousands of humiliations and horrors waiting at their destinations.” “Some things are better not to think about,” he said. “Tell that to your captives,” I said. 2.2. Not So Separate: The Genre(s) of the (Neo-)Slave Narrative
The above-discussed “black message inside a white envelope” (Andrews & al. 1997: 668) represents an issue in the depiction of history, as black voices remain controlled. It thus becomes important to retrieve these untold stories, which can be achieved through immersing oneself in the past (cf. Anim-Addo & Lima 2017: 4). On the one hand, this is essential to ensure a reconsideration of (black) history, both past and contemporary (cf. Anim-Addo & Lima 2017: 5). On the other hand, genres such as the (neo-)slave narrative reveal societal characteristics due to their cultural and historical components (cf. Anim-Addo & Lima 2017: 6). It is therefore evident that the engagement with genres and their characteristics may also unveil certain
8 While this might not always have real-world effects, there is the potential for a positive impact. This is in line with the idea of cultural studies, which argues that their work is ‘supposed to’ make a difference (cf. Culler 1997: 51). I believe that literary study has a similar ideal with regard to the analysis of texts. 8 presumptions present in a society and can be useful for further developments and/or improvements.
But what is a genre? According to Nünning & Nünning (2009/14: 31), a genre “refers to a group of literary works that share significant characteristics in terms of content, form, and/or function”. The definition also applies to slave narratives, which frequently feature first person perspectives. This “invaluable perspective of first-hand experience” (Andrews 2000: online), often in the form of an autobiography, can be used to reclaim self-hood (cf. Andrews 1986: 1). As the word consists of the three constituents ‘autos’ (self), ‘bios’ (life), and ‘graphe’ (writing) (cf. Andrews 1993: 2), this idea of identity becomes even clearer. Whereas past slave narratives9 centred around the author’s life, there has been a notable shift towards the other two components over the 20th century (cf. ibid.).10 This is crucial, as the unmediated writing nowadays marks a major difference to the mediated narratives during the era of slavery and its abolition, thereby widening the reader’s knowledge of this time period.11
As these rather modern texts retrieve certain characteristics of the slave narrative, they are in line with the definition of a neo-genre, as provided by Scheinpflug (2014: 44). This is even more appropriate, as the ‘original’ genre not only precedes the neo-genre, but has also ceased to exist actively (cf. ibid.). In a way, the neo-slave narrative12 thus revisits the past while also filling a gap by providing important insights, which include, according to Nehl (2016: 19), “largely forgotten or suppressed memories of slavery”, counterparts to “white misrepresentations of black life”, or the exposure of “the horrific violence of slavery […] [and] the specific vulnerability of enslaved women to (sexual) abuse”. It hence becomes clear that the engagement with such text provides a better understanding of history and the multi-faceted effects of slavery. Rushdy (2004: 102f) further argues that this lens of slavery is adopted for a discussion about contemporary issues for two main reasons, which are explained as follows:
To know what the post-Civil Rights “black” subject would be, it was essential to recall the complexity of what the first black American subject had been, not merely to use
9 It is also crucial to note the influence of captivity narratives and the spiritual autobiography on African American texts (cf. Pierce 2007: 83f, 92f). 10 Frederick Douglass’ (1845) and Olaudah Equiano’s (1789) narratives are seen as prototypical texts of the original slave narrative genre (cf. Andrews 1993: 38; Caretta 2007: 45). 11 Nevertheless, there are certain texts in the era of slavery and its abolition challenging those restrictions. One example is Frederick Douglass’s The Heroic Slave (1853), a fictional account of an uprising on the ship Creole. While the text continues to be mediated by a white witness, the fictionality of the story is distinct from other works. This is also discussed in Andrews’ (1990) or Hyde’s (2013) articles. 12 While there is criticism regarding the restrictive nature of the term, it nevertheless highlights the multi-faceted relationship between slave narratives and contemporary texts addressing this issue (cf. Nehl 2016: 30f). Hence, this thesis will use the term ‘neo-slave narrative’ to refer to contemporary literary works focusing on slavery while still acknowledging their diverse nature. 9
names inherited from slavery as terms of abuse for those who appeared unresistant to the social order, but to discover the covert and overt acts of resistance that permitted those earlier generations to ensure the survival and birth of this one (ibid.).
Memory is how the past is recalled; memory is also how we heal from that past. […] What Morrison defines as “re-memory” is, after all, a “place in which things so bad had happened that when you went near them it would happen again” (35-36). This is what makes the story of slavery so utterly difficult a one to tell, what makes it a story one would prefer to pass on rather than to pass on to others. Yet it is also the only way to heal, as so many characters in so many of these novels discover again and again. […] And it is by sharing those stories and that history with their readers that the neo-slave narrative authors perhaps hope to heal a nation that in many ways still denies its original wound (Rushdy 2004: 103).
In addition to the genre’s origin, features, and importance, it is crucial to focus on its diversity with regard to the form of individual texts: they frequently rely on other genres, such as “the historical novel”, “the pseudo-autobiographical slave narrative”, and “the novel of remembered generations” (Rushdy 2004: 90) 13. While the historical novel generally employs a third-person perspective and focuses on the individual and political implications for the transition from enslavement to liberty, the pseudo-autobiographical slave narrative tells the slave’s story in their own voice, liberated from outside mediation (cf. Rushdy 2004: 95). This marks a contrast to the stories told by slaves themselves, but mediated by abolitionist figures. The last of the above-mentioned types tackles the trauma inherent in the slave legacy by showing how African Americans nowadays continue to suffer from its repercussions (cf. ibid.). The strong focus on contemporary issues while addressing suppressed aspects of slavery with a specific focus on voice and history contributes to a deeper understanding of the institution’s legacy. This can also be seen in the selected texts, which will be discussed in more detail in the following sub-chapter while also highlighting their link to the above-mentioned influences of other genres.
2.3. Diverse, Yet Connected: Enter the Selected Works
To write about a story of enslavement is a way of defying the institution of slavery itself, as language is a major aspect of controlling the enslaved population: on the one hand, this is related to the erasure of ambivalence in terms such as ‘master’, ‘home’, or ‘freedom’ (cf. Andrews 1986: 274). On the other hand, literary texts raise awareness of the dialogic, rather than monologic, relationship between slaveowner and what they deemed to be their property (cf.
13 Margaret Walker’s Jubilee (1966) is seen as the first novel of this genre (cf. Rushdy 2004: 87). Other examples provided by the authors are Ernest Gaines’ The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1971) and Gayl Jones’ Corregidora (1975) (cf. Rushdy 2004: 92f). For a more detailed overview of the genre in its early days, consult Sievers (1999). Goldberg (2017: 57) offers further examples by analysing Sherley Anne William’s Dessa Rose (1986) or Toni Morrison’s A Mercy (2008). 10
Andrews 1986: 275). Texts narrating the story of bondage hence contradict the ‘natural inferiority’ of Blacks while also challenging the alleged chance for education and religious conversion, which was used to justify slavery (cf. Bruce 2007: 30; cf. Lester, Day: 47; cf. Hill, Book:). This argumentation went so far as to claim that enslavement was beneficial for Africans, as it offered them an alternative to being killed or dying of starvation in their homeland: they were provided with the opportunity to become ‘civilised’ (cf. Davis 2006: 81). This focus on exposing wrong assertions and challenging inferiority can also be seen in the selected works. Additionally, they all tackle the issue of history and its representation, thereby contributing to a more comprehensive understanding of slavery and its repercussions. To ensure a thorough engagement with the analysed texts, they will shortly be summarised and discussed with regard to their form and authors over the following pages.
Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing tells the story of Effia and Esi, two half-sisters unaware of each other’s existence. While the former becomes married to an English soldier involved in the slave trade around Cape Coast Castle, the latter is captured and sold into slavery. The close connection between those two is especially evident, as Esi is held beneath the castle Effia lives in. The text not only uses strong symbolism to underline the connection between their lives, for instance through the symbol of the stone14, but also follows their lineage until the present day. Effia’s lineage continues through the stories of her and James’ mulatto son Quey and his political marriage to Nana Yaa Yeboah, all of which are involved in the trade system. It then proceeds to the lives of James and Akosua, both of which refuse to further participate in this system. Their daughter Abena then gives birth to Akua, who is haunted by memories of a “firewoman”, resulting in her murdering two of her three children. The remaining son’s, Yaw, and his wife Esther’s daughter Marjorie reconnects the original two sister’s lineage when meeting Marcus. In contrast, Esi’s lineage is coined by slavery: the novel follows Esi’s daughter Ness and her assigned husband Sam during slavery before tracing the lives of their son Kojo’s and his wife Anna’s relationship, which is ended with the latter’s recapture during the Fugitive Slave Act. The story then focuses on their son H, born into slavery, who falls victim to the coalmining system, his daughter Willie and her struggles with segregation, and his grandson Sonny’s decline into Heroin. It ends with Marcus, who meets Marjorie at the end of the novel before they travel to Africa together, thereby reconnecting to their roots.
The work is not only reminiscent of the above-mentioned ‘novel of remembered generations’, but it also uses intertextual references, for example to Du Bois or the NAACP (cf. Gyasi,
14 This will be discussed in more detail in chapters 4.3 and 9.1. 11
Homegoing: 243). The author further offers insight into consulted works about the topic at the end of the novel (cf. Gyasi, Homegoing: 304f), which provides the reader with further literature while also creating relations to other texts. Throughout her work, Gyasi manages to address numerous issues, which include, but are not limited to colonialism, the Fante-Asante-wars in Africa, slavery, Harlem, Heroin addiction, the independence movement in Ghana, or education, thereby also raising questions regarding gender, race, or history (cf. Selejan 2019: 107). The topics are covered by switching between Effia and Esi’s descendants over the course of seven generations “in what reads like a litany of love, loss, and unspeakable cruelty” (Selejan 2019: 106). This effect is achieved by the chapters’ shortness, covering 250 years in around 300 pages, and leaving numerous characters in mid-action, which results in fragmentation (cf. Selejan 2019: 107). Such an approach forces the reader to experience the feelings of loss faced by the characters themselves while also being relieved to escape the devastating events after a short time (cf. ibid.). A few examples of those horrendous experiences are Esi’s rape, Ness’ life as a slave, or Willie’s sexual abuse by her own husband due to external pressure. The emotional component is summarised by Selejan (2019: 107) as follows: “This alternation of grief and relief is only made possible by the novel’s episodic form”. It becomes clear that the strong focus on the numerous horrors of both slavery and its aftermath unveils rarely addressed issues while also providing insight into the characters’ original family identity due to their interrelation. Due to this inclusion of various, often neglected issues and the text’s structure, Gyasi manages to contribute to a more complex understanding of history, which is further reinforced by the provision of untold stories from various marginalised viewpoints.
Lawrence Hill’s The Book of Negroes is a first person account of Aminata’s life, ranging from her being born as a free Muslim to her being captured, fleeing, and actively participating in the construction of the ‘Book of Negroes’ and the abolition movement. During slavery, she experiences the hardships during the initial captivity, the Middle Passage, and slavery on St. Helena Island. After the forced separation from her son, she is sold to another owner, where she is treated more humanly. The eventual realisation that he was involved in the arranged sale of her son, however, changes her feelings towards him, and she decides to flee. She further becomes involved in the construction of the so-called “Book of Negroes”, resulting in her freedom in Nova Scotia, where her daughter is taken to England by a white family against her will. She eventually becomes a part of the abolitionist movement and even returns to Africa, where she is nearly re-captured when trying to return to her native village. Towards the novel’s end, she travels to Great Britain and reconnects with her daughter May by chance.
12
The novel’s structure leans on the (pseudo-)autobiographical slave narrative, explained in Chapter 2.2., while also being classified as a female Bildungsroman or a postcolonial text (cf. Oduwobi et al. 2016: 384). A key aspect is the text’s connection to the historical document of “The Book of Negroes”15, which lists African American slaves fighting for the British during the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783) in exchange for freedom in Nova Scotia, Canada (cf. Oduwobi et al. 2016: 384). The focus on Aminata’s life over six decades on numerous continents (Africa, North America, Europe) (cf. ibid.) not only highlights the diverse horrors and restrictions slaves had to endure, but also raises “questions of home, belonging and loss and […] the impossibility of diasporic return” (Nehl 2016: 16). Hill’s work is further important, as it rewrites the American Revolutionary War from the viewpoint of a black female while also challenging the idealism of Canada, as the protagonist is faced with anti-Black violence there as well (cf. Nehl 2016: 136f). This focus on history as well as the choice of Aminata as both the narrator and focaliser of her story (cf. Oduwobi et al. 2016: 385) offers a deeper understanding of the institution of slavery by focusing on the above-named issues and the focus on marginalised and frequently unheard voices.
A further important aspect of Hill’s novel is its intertextual nature. Similar to Gyasi, the author offers further readings and “A Word about History” at the end of his text (cf. Hill, Book: 489- 97). Furthermore, the novel’s title as well as the direct reference to the ‘Book of Negroes’ in the text (cf. Hill, Book: 303) centre the reader’s attention on this historical document. It is further noteworthy that the novel was published under a different title in the US, Australia, and New Zealand: Someone knows my name (cf. Oduwobi et al. 2016: 385).16 This statement is not only made by Chekura, Aminata’s future lover, during the Middle Passage (cf. Hill, Book: 81; Oduwobi et al. 2016: 385), but also represents an intertextual reference to the essay “Nobody knows my name” by James Baldwin of 1961 (cf. Nehl 2016: 138). This title focuses on a major difference between the historical document and the novel, i.e. the reduction of enslaved individuals to objects and the absence of black voices vs. a black female protagonist and a marginalised viewpoint (cf. Nehl 2016: 142f). It further highlights the importance of having somebody know their name for people’s identity and status as human beings. While Nehl (2016: 16) argues that the comparatively happy ending of Aminata’s life trivialises the horrific experiences of the institution, I disagree with this statement, as the fictional character Aminata
15 Hill (Book: 489-92) explains this reference in his chapter “A word about history”, where he also notes that it chronicles around 3000 black individuals who attained freedom after assisting the British during the American Revolutionary War (cf. Hill, Book: 489). They were transported to British colonies and the majority ended up in Nova Scotia. 16 The Book of Negroes is the title used in Canada and England (cf. Oduwobi et al. 2016: 385). 13 serves as the text’s author and her determinism and choice to include positive elements can also be seen as a sign of incredible strength. The text thus includes numerous issues revolving around slavery from a black perspective and thereby contributes to a deeper understanding of slavery and its effects.
Another important text is Julius Lester’s Day of Tears, which is written in dialogue form. This is not only reminiscent of early black autobiographies (cf. Andrews 1986: 270), but also directly provides the protagonists with a voice, even more through the use of African American linguistic varieties. Throughout the story, the author uses strong symbolism related to nature being against the institution and its implications:
It’s been three days since we’ve seen the sun. Yesterday it started raining and it hasn’t stopped since. The rain is coming down as hard as regret. Will said the rain started up just when the selling began. I ain’t never seen a rain like this. Will said, “This ain’t rain. This is God’s tears” (Lester, Day: 3).
As indicated in the “Author’s Note” of the novel (cf. Lester, Day: 172-76), the story is based on a real event in 1859, when the largest slave auction in American history was held in Savannah, Georgia. The numbers vary between 429 and 436 slaves sold in two days due to gambling debts: the owner gained 303,850 dollars (cf. ibid.). The text centres on numerous tragic fates endured due to this auction and follows the life of Emma, who is sold despite the owner’s contrary promises. Her eventual escape to the North and Canada presents an individual story while offering glimpses of the lives of other characters while also highlighting the lack of information regarding lost family members. Lester explicitly addresses the re-telling of the event in a fictional account at the end of his novel (Lester, Day: 176):
History is not only an accounting of what happened when and where. It includes also [sic] the emotional biographies of those on whom history imposed itself with a cruelty that we can only dimly imagine. This book is another in my attempts to make real those who did not have the opportunity to tell their stories for themselves.
The structure, which consists of dialogue forms during the auction and monologic ‘Interludes’17 revisiting the characters at a later point in life, further offers a multi-faceted narration of the event. This is especially interesting, as Emma, the child of the two house servants Mattie and Will, is sold despite the owner’s contrary professions. This also results in a break between him and his youngest daughter, who had a strong emotional bond to this slave. The text thus succeeds in addressing numerous aspects of the institution of slavery while providing people
17 Direct quotations from these parts are, both in the original text and in this thesis, written in italics. 14 unable to tell their story with a (fictional) voice, thereby contributing to a better understanding of this time period.
The fourth text to be analysed is Andrea Levy’s The Long Song, which fulfils the criteria for the historical neo-slave narrative (see Chapter 2.3) due to the use of a third-person narrator and a strong focus on the individual life of July as well as on the political events surrounding the slaves’ eventual liberation. The novel follows the life of July from her birth to her becoming a maid servant to Caroline, experiencing the Jamaican slave uprisings and the difficult period of transition after the abolition of slavery, as well as her affair with her Mistress’ husband. It also provides information regarding the fates of other slaves and is coined by her reconnection with her son: she tells the story at his home and with his assistance.18 As far as the novel’s structure is concerned, it challenges the literary conventions of the slave narrative genre the most among the analysed ones. This already becomes evident at the beginning, which consists of the rape leading to July’s birth, and the various versions of the event, directly opposing the idea of credibility. According to Lima (2012: 140), the absence of mimetic representation further counteracts the immediate feeling of pity for the people living on the Amity Plantation. Additionally, the text characterises itself by the direct address of the reader and a refusal to adhere to norms imposed by others: “Reader, my son tells me that this is too delicate a commencement of any tale. Please pardon me, but our storyteller is a woman possessed of a forthright tongue and little ink” (Levy, Song: 9). This clearly frames her as the person in control of the story, which stands in sharp contrast to the original slave narratives and their (white) mediation.
A further crucial aspect of the novel is that it imagines a fully literate audience while also offering a clear distinction between the narrator and the character of July (cf. Lima 2012: 139f). It is only at the end that we learn for sure that the narrator is an older version of the young July we meet at the beginning. Levy also challenges the traditional ‘white frame’ further than simply providing her own tale: while the story begins and ends with a note from another person, this person is her son (cf. Lima 2012: 140). Even the traditional narratives’ focus on credibility is demanded rather than asked for: “Do not doubt me, for remember my witness still lies beneath the bed” (Levy, Song: 132). It thus becomes clear that the novel offers a new interpretation of historical accounts while providing formerly powerless individuals with a voice, thereby adding alternative viewpoints to our understanding of slavery.
18 July gave up her son, who was raised by an English preacher and his wife (cf. Levy, Song: 160ff). 15
The importance of the neo-slave narrative genre in general and the above-mentioned works in particular becomes evident in their contribution to a more comprehensive understanding of slavery and its effects, which last to the present day. The strong focus on identity, voice, and storytelling with regard to history and memory is crucial, as it re-imagines history from a subaltern point of view to challenge systemic inequalities (cf. Lima 2012: 135). Or, to put it in Goldberg’s (2017: 68) words: “The time of witnessing for the form of the neo-slave narrative is then, and now, and always. It is excessively present with us”.
3. At the Cost of Humanity: Captivity, Enslavement, and Its Aftermath
Let me confess this without delay so you might consider whether my tale is one in which you can find an interest. If not, then be on your way, for there are plenty of books to satisfy if words flowing free as the droppings that fall from the backside of a mule is your desire. Go to any shelf that groans under a weight of books and there, wrapped in leather and stamped in gold, will be volumes whose contents will find you meandering through the puff and twaddle of some white lady’s mind. You will see trees aplenty, birds of every hue and, oh, a hot, hot sun residing there. That white missus will have you acquainted with all the many tribulations of her life upon a Jamaican sugar plantation before you have barely opened the cover. Two pages upon the scarcity of beef. Five more upon the want of a new hat to wear with her splendid pink taffeta dress. No butter but only a wretched alligator pear again! is surely a hardship worth the ten pages is took to describe it. Three chapters is not an excess to lament upon a white woman of discerning mind who finds herself adrift in a society too dull for her. And as for the indolence and stupidity of her slaves (be sure you have a handkerchief to dab away your tears), only need of sleep would stop her taking several more volumes to pronounce upon that most troublesome of subjects. And all this particular distress so there might be sugar to sweeten the tea and blacken the teeth of the people in England. But do not take my word upon it, peruse the volumes for yourself. For I have. And it was shocking to have so uplifting an act as reading invite some daft white missus to belch her foolishness into my head. So I will not worry myself for your loss if it is those stories you require. But stay if you wish to hear a tale of my making (Levy, Song: 9f).
This detailed quotation strongly illustrates the necessity of having black individuals tell their version of a story instead of just relying on existing materials. While there are narratives published by former slaves, their white mediation prevents them from offering an unbiased perspective (see Chapter 2). The importance of the neo-slave narrative further asserts itself by shedding light on those aspects of history that are so terrible and traumatic that they are hard to grasp for the reader (cf. Lima 2012: 144)19, and even harder to revisit for people carrying the
19 This is reinforced by Walvin’s (2007: 2) statement that the effects of slavery on history are more wide-reaching than generally recognised while the readiness to reinforce such a dehumanising institution is hard to understand for a large part of the population nowadays. It thus becomes even more important to shed light on contemporary effects of this institution. 16 lineage originating from those horrors. Nevertheless, remembering these parts of history is essential to defy a feeling often experienced by minorities: “But nobody heard me. Or cared” (Hill, Book: 39). The following chapter will thus revisit the topics of slavery with regard to its underlying mechanisms and the capture as well as transportation of slaves before focusing on everyday lives and the events revolving around its abolition and subsequent time.
3.1. Before Slavery: The Agony of Captivity and the Role of the British
[She] always said that the Gold Coast was like a pot of groundnut soup. Her people, the Asantes, were the broth, and his father’s people, the Fantes, were the groundnuts, and the many other nations that began at the edge of the Atlantic and moved up through the bushland into the North made up the meat and pepper and vegetables. This pot was already full to the brim before the white men came and added fire (Gyasi, Homegoing: 89).
This quotation points to the multi-faceted mechanisms underlying the institution of slavery, which also includes the cooperation existing between European powers and African rulers: not only did warfare in Africa provide slave traders with a considerable number of captives, but this exchange of people and goods was further ensured by deals between those two parties (cf. Black 2015: 54, 47). This becomes especially clear in Gyasi’s text, when one character explains to a child: “’We work with the British, Effia, not for them. That is the meaning of trade. When I am chief, we will continue as we have, facilitating trade with the Asantes and the British’” (Gyasi, Homegoing: 8). Similarly, after Effia’s marriage to the English soldier James, she hears crying sounds originating from below the castle, which results in her expressing a desire to return to her native village (cf. Gyasi, Homegoing: 17). James, however, counters her horror: “’You want to go home?’ James asked. His Fante firm, though unclear. ‘Your home is no better’” (ibid.). This focus on the mechanisms related to slavery as well as the issues resulting from it later on is essential, as the British role in the trade system itself is frequently either downplayed or omitted (cf. Anim-Addo & Lima 2017: 4). By focusing the reader’s attention on this aspect, Homegoing thereby contributes to a deeper understanding of the workings and the aftermath of slavery by providing Africans, both captives and local rules, with a voice. This becomes even more evident in the following quotation:
“The years James was born, they told everyone in the Castle that the slave trade was abolished and that we could not sell slaves to America anymore, but did that stop the tribes from selling? Did that make the British leave? Don’t you see this war the Asantes and the British are fighting now and will continue to fight for far longer than you or I or even James can live to see? There’s more at stake here than just slavery, my brother. It’s a question of who will own the land, the people, the power. You cannot stick a knife in a goat and then say, Now I will remove the knife slowly, to let things be easy and clean, let there be no mess. There will always be blood” (Gyasi, Homegoing: 93). 17
Similarly, Hill includes a detailed account of Aminata’s capture and the resulting loss of both her parents in the novel (cf. Book: 36-42). The traumatic experiences captured individuals had to endure is further illustrated by them being deprived of all clothing, which results in a feeling of humiliation (cf. Hill, Book: 43) and the character’s observation that the “captors were also marked by what they lacked: light in their eyes. Never have I met a person doing terrible things who would meet my own eyes peacefully. To gaze into another person’s face is to do two things: to recognise their humanity, and to assert your own” (ibid.). While these scenes revolve mainly around the African captors participating in the sale of individuals, the reader quickly realises that such a procedure was only financially lucrative due to the trade system where Britain played a crucial role in. It is further interesting to notice the term “toubab” [white person] (for instance in Hill, Book: 59) being used to refer to all white individuals. The focus on the capture itself as well as the lack of humanity present in the system thus becomes even clearer due to the perspective of a young African woman falling victim to slavery, which contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of the system.
In Lester’s novel, the trade aspect is less directly connected to Great Britain as a slave trading nation. The distortion of perspective, however, also becomes evident when Master Butler talks about his self-proclaimed sorrows:
Hail came down so hard and so fast it broke every cotton plant like you break a matchstick. Destroyed the entire crop. And if taking your chances on the weather isn’t bad enough, you have to watch your slaves to make sure the work gets done when it’s supposed to. You look away from them for a minute and they’ll stop working. Sometimes I wonder who owns who. The law says I own them, but as much grief as they cause me, I sometimes think they own me. (Lester, Day: 27).
Even though this aspect is told from the perspective of the plantation owner, the preceding pages illustrating the sufferings of the slaves render this statement even more ignorant. Providing black voices with a forum thus illustrates the inhumanity connected to the institution, thereby also challenging prevailing notions about the institution and providing alternative stories to ensure a more comprehensive understanding of slavery.
The role of the British is also addressed in Andrea Levy’s novel, for example by focusing on the plantation owner’s sister Caroline Mortimer and her arrival on the island: “The master of the plantation named Amity, Mr. John Howarth, sits holding the reins of this vehicle. […] With one hand [Caroline] struggles to hold up a parasol with which to protect her delicate English skin from the vicious morning sun […]” (Levy, Song: 26). It further focuses on her desire for the exotic Caribbean food while her brother already warns her that she would soon be missing 18 the English products (cf. Levy, Song: 27). As this is told by a narrator, who we later learn to be a former slave, the hypocrisy of their “suffering” is clearly underlined, which also indicates that the portrayal of the conditions from the enslaved individuals is essential to understand the workings of the institution. In Levy’s novel, the interplay between nations becomes especially clear, as the English reside in and control lands far away from their home while lamenting their choice at the same time. The multi-faceted aspects of slavery are thus illustrated more clearly, contributing to a better insight into the institution.
In addition to the above-mentioned interplay of nations and the inequality of power, the selected texts all focus on the conditions preceding the actual life as a slave (worker).20 Gyasi, for example, offers a detailed account of the period in captivity at Cape Coast Castle where “[t]he smell was unbearable”, infants lacked nutrition, as “[n]o food for mother meant no food for baby”, and entering soldiers “had to hold [their] nose to keep from vomiting” (Gyasi, Homegoing: 28f). The strength of the scene is especially achieved by Esi remembering her former life as the daughter of a high-ranked individual being wooed by a potential suitor (cf. Gyasi, Homegoing: 28): “Hell was a place of remembering, each beautiful moment passed through the mind’s eye until it fell to the ground like a rotten mango, perfectly useless, uselessly perfect” (ibid.). As the reader leaves Esi after her rape (cf. Gyasi, Homegoing: 48f), we only learn about the Middle Passage through stories told to her daughter Ness, who “would fall asleep to the images of men being thrown into the Atlantic Ocean like anchors attached to nothing: no land, no people, no worth” (Gyasi, Homegoing: 70).21 This detailed account of the conditions in captivity with the subsequent omission of the Middle Passage can be seen as horrors too harsh to witness all at once: the focus on the life of an enslaved captive thus illustrates the terrible conditions of slavery even more strikingly, especially as the reader has to use their imagination to have a full account, thereby being incited to feel empathy (see Chapter 2.1.). As a result, Gyasi manages to provide a deeper understanding of slavery and its multi- faceted components, which were not limited to their work routines.
In contrast, Hill’s Book offers a detailed account of the Middle Passage and the physical weakness of the captives, who are unable to even clean their sleeping planks and whose “ribs [are] showing, […] anuses draining” (Hill, Book: 109). The close account is especially noteworthy, as Hill’s text focuses on the link between Africa, North America, and Great Britain
20 For a visual representation of the slave trade system, consult the map provided by Stenou (2004: 50f). 21 This quotation is especially interesting with regard to the Zong Case in 1781, where 133 slaves were thrown overboard due to a shortage of resources with the aim of claiming insurance money: if the slaves died of natural causes, their loss was covered (cf. Walvin 2007: 86-89). The case came to court for fraud, not murder (cf. ibid.). 19 throughout the story (cf. Borman 2014: 44), which is also highlighted by Aminata’s statement that”[a]n unmistakable stink blew in with the wind. I smelled it before I turned around. Another ship from my homeland” (Hill, Book: 125). These observations not only highlight the interconnected nature of the institution, but further offer a vivid description of Aminata’s perspective on the events. As a result, the reader is forced to acknowledge the complex working of slavery, its harsh reality for enslaved individuals, and its numerous repercussions.
The Middle Passage is not mentioned in Lester’s text, as the story focuses on the auction of slaves rather than their capture. Nevertheless, the hopelessness of individuals being sold to unknown places is thematised: “Some of the slaves cried worse than a baby what’s sick. Most of ‘em, however, did their crying on the inside […]. A few, however, looked like they was [sic] dead, but their hearts hadn’t got the message yet” (Lester, Day: 4f). This description of other slaves by an enslaved individual is important, as it avoids the common trap of misinterpretation due to a lack of personal experience. The resulting appeal to empathy is further likely to engage readers and to increase their understanding of this historical period.
Similarly, the transportation overseas is not thematised in Levy’s novel. However, it is interesting to notice that July’s and her overseer Mister Goodwin’s child is taken away at the end of the novel without her knowledge on board of a ship (cf. Levy, Song: 299). Her experienced sorrow illustrates not only a few of the horrors connected to slavery, even after liberating the slaves, but also offers the narrator a medium to express her desperation. The reader is again confronted with aspects related to slavery, which are at times neglected, and thereby gains more insight into the system.
To conclude, the narration of slavery from a black perspective is crucial to shed light on multi- faceted horrors of slavery, the interconnectedness of the system, and their repercussions, which last to the present day. Hence, a more comprehensive understanding of history and its effects is achieved due to the implementation of alternative viewpoints and unheard stories.
3.2. In the Loop: A Life in Slavery
“’Ain’t all days the same’” (Gyasi, Homegoing: 71)? Such a feeling of dreadful continuity illustrates the impossibility of escaping slavery. While there were numerous different tasks for slaves, ranging from manual field and infrastructure work to all aspects of everyday life, their “prime purpose was to form a labouring army, tackling the harshest of tasks throughout the tropical and semi-tropical Americas” (Walvin 2007: 97). Additionally, there was the work performed by house servants: though less demanding physically, those slaves were faced with
20 other threats, such as sexual advances of slaveholders and the resulting jealousy of white mistresses (cf. Walvin 2007: 97f). This affected especially women, who often worked in both areas (cf. Lewis & Lewis 2011: xviii). The adherence to the set standards was ensured by a strict control of the enslaved individuals’ place and time, which also reflected their inferior social status (cf. Camp 2004: 16f, 19).22 Again, this was more strongly enforced for women than men, who were more likely to be attributed tasks requiring them to leave the plantation (cf. Camp 2004: 28). For this reason, it is an important feature of the selected texts that they either focus on a female life story completely (Book, Song) or in large parts (Emma in Day, Effia’s and Esi’s descendants in Homegoing). The use of marginalised voices contributes to a deeper understanding of slavery and its numerous effects while thematising mis- or underrepresented aspects.
The traumatic nature of the lived experiences is addressed in all selected texts. In Homegoing, the reader is informed about Ness’ life at her former owner’s plantation in flashbacks, when she finds herself “back in hell” (Gyasi, Homegoing: 80). The violent nature of this life is made evident by her skin being “the ghost of her past made seeable, physical” rather than actual skin (Gyasi, Homegoing: 74), which is a constant reminder of her former daily routine at a place where “[t]he devil was always watching” (ibid.). This narrative device of flashbacks is especially interesting, as it creates a sense of hauntedness for the reader, thereby also illustrating the everlasting impact of a history deemed past. Such an effect would not have been possible from a white viewpoint, as it lacks actual experience. As a result, the text contributes to a more comprehensive knowledge about the history of slavery.
Hill also offers insight into the bad living conditions of slaves. Aminata’s transition from the Middle Passage to St. Helena island is marked by her becoming physically ill and exhausted while also being forced to resort to eating pork despite her being a Muslim (cf. Hill, Book: 121). This weakness during the initial period, i.e. the seasoning period, generally led to high mortality rates, which was further accelerated by unhygienic living areas and parasitic infestations by fleas or ticks (cf. Black 2015: 61). The torment was further accompanied by humiliation, which is illustrated by the following quotation: “We walked all day. No water. No food. No breaks to pee. If you had to go, you had to do it and keep walking with the urine running down your sore legs and burning your broken skin” (Hill, Book: 132). In contrast to Gyasi’s use of flashbacks,
22 This is reminiscent of Foucault‘s (1995: 141-156) discipline mechanisms, which deprives people of their individuality and freedom through the careful control of place, time, and actions. 21 the visual and blunt description of the conditions by a child as the protagonist offers a more lasting account of the events than another perspective could have achieved.
Another crucial component of Hill’s Book is the illustration of a continued loss of agency. This becomes especially clear in Amanita’s change of perception throughout the novel. Initially, she is confused by “a strange, strange world” where “not a single homelander [fellow slave of African origin] fought or shouted or ran” and where “[n]ot one of them took any notice of me” (Hill, Book: 134). However, when she runs errands with a fellow slave later on in the story, she states: “Like the very Negroes I had watched with such confusion after coming off the slave ship, Dolly and I walked there without a thought of running away” (Hill, Book: 215). This is again addressed later on: “As a child, I had believed that any decent adult would not let any slave coffle pass unmolested. Yet here I was, silent and unable to act” (Hill, Book: 451). This impossibility of escaping or assisting others is important, as it marks the period of slavery: Africans found themselves alone in a foreign country without any powerful allies (cf. Smedley 2007: 5). This lack of support can also be seen in the following fear: “I never wanted to see Lindo again, but the idea of fleeing him terrified me” (Hill, Book: 268). The resulting loss of power formed not only the lives of people during slavery, but continues to have an impact due to, for instance, a lack of generational wealth. The feeling of confusion and lack of agency hence is a powerful tool to contribute to a better understanding of slavery itself, as well as its aftermath.
The dehumanising aspect of enslavement is also addressed in Lester’s novel. The property character of slaves is, for instance, highlighted by Mattie’s desire for a slave-seller to “stop looking at [her daughter] Emma like she’s a hog and he’s trying to figure out how many pork chops and slabs of bacon he can get out of her” (Lester, Day: 21). Additionally, the absence of agency is included in the story, when a character realises that freedom also means that nobody can sell a loved one away at any given moment (cf. Lester, Day: 126). These facets of slavery contribute to a deeper understanding of slavery, especially as the reader feels as if he knows the characters: their sufferings and loss have a stronger emotional impact than the sole use of facts.
Similarly, Levy depicts the objectification of slaves when John Howarth demands the slave Kitty, July’s mother, to show her legs (cf. Levy, Song: 39). When she does not comply, he “grab[s] the worn cloth of Kitty’s skirt and rais[es] it almost to her waist” before probing her legs for strength and urging his sister to follow his example (ibid.). The strength of this scene lies particularly in Kitty turning her head to the side (cf. ibid.), which incites the reader to experience shame and powerlessness as well. The focus on an individual situation is crucial, as 22 slaves’ life expectancy on Caribbean sugar plantation was frequently limited to a maximum of six years (cf. Stenou 2004: 49). The concentration on other types of transgressions thus contributes to deeper understanding of the multi-faceted threats and humiliations endured during slavery.
Furthermore, the author focuses on aspects of agency due to July controlling her story as a narrator, though the audience is initially unaware. The repeated assurances of facts where the reader “may take [her] word upon it” (Levy, Song: 15, 309) are interesting, as the first one fails to correspond to reality: the reader therefore is forced to put trust in the character without knowing whether the statement is true. A further noteworthy scene is when the narrator tries to finish the story by claiming that there is no more to be told about “our character July”, but is convinced by her son to continue writing: “So I must upon this page affirm that a son was indeed born to July” (Levy, Song: 157ff). This sudden change of context is reminiscent of slaves’ daily routine where everything could change at any moment due to the decision of the owner. In a way, the reader thus experiences a similar, though less violent and shorter, confusion and loss of stability during the lecture of the novel. It further highlights the emotional strength of the narrator, who continues the story despite reliving harsh experiences. This is repeated throughout the novel, for instance when she insists on ending her story, as “my reader does not wish to be told tales as ugly as these” (Levy, Song: 164) or when “[her] pen placed an end dot next to the final word and was laid down to rest […] [and] July’s tale has the happiest of endings – and you may take my word upon it” (Levy, Song: 305, 307) before her son urges her to continue writing. It thus becomes clear that the revisiting of traumatic experiences by black narrators offers unprecedented insights into the workings of slavery while also highlighting its effects, which are felt to the present day.
3.3. Far from Equal: The Fugitive Slave Law and Life after the Abolition of Slavery
In addition to the initial captivity, transportation, and everyday life in slavery, the text shed light on less discussed, yet connected issues. One example is the so-called ‘Fugitive Slave Act’ of 1850, which enabled the capture of fugitives living in the North where slavery had already been abolished (cf. Stenou 2004: 60). This law was crucial, as it deprived people, who had already escaped to freedom, of this achievement while also putting white supporters in jeopardy:
Now white people could be fined for giving a Negro a meal, or a job, or a place to stay, if the law said that Negro was a runaway. And how were they to know who was a runaway and who was not? It created an impossible situation, and those who had been determined to stay on the fence found themselves without a fence at all. In the mornings, before [the former slaves] Jo and Anna went off to work, Jo made the children practice 23
showing their papers. […] And they would reach into the pockets Anna had sewn onto their dresses and pants, and without any backtalk, always silently, thrust those papers into Jo’s hands (Gyasi, Homegoing: 125).
This scene not only illustrates the fear of people being returned to slavery, but also the real effects of this law, when Anna fails to return home one day and Jo is unable to find her (cf. Gyasi, Homegoing: 125-130).23 The, in comparison to other sequences, long section forces the reader to acknowledge the precarity individuals had to endure during that time period. This is further reinforced by the uncertainty of her fate until we pick up the story of the character H24 later on, where her re-capture is revealed. This insecurity is reminiscent of the lack of stability during that time period and thereby contributes to a better understanding of the multi-faceted effects of slavery.
Gyasi further points to other issues present in the period around the abolition of slavery, for instance that black dockworkers were frequently suspected of robberies around their workplace (cf. Gyasi, Homegoing: 111). Additionally, the novel continues the story of Jo and Anna by focusing on H, thereby learning about Anna’s fate: she had killed herself while also refusing to give him an actual name (cf. Gyasi, Homegoing: 165). After the abolition of slavery, H was set free, but had to realise that this state was temporary when being randomly accused of making advances on a white female (cf. Gyasi, Homegoing: 157-59). While he loudly protests his conviction to the slavery-like conditions in mine work (cf. Gyasi, Homegoing: 159f), he receives the following answer “’No such thing as a free nigger’” (Gyasi, Homegoing: 160). The novel then follows H’s life in the mines where “[a] mule was worth more than he was”, as his position as a leased person made him more easily replaceable than during slavery, and he soon “c[an] hardly remember being free” (Gyasi, Homegoing: 162). The arbitrariness of the situation becomes especially clear when learning about the convictions of other Blacks, which include, for instance, twenty years for a stolen nickel or an arrest due to the disturbance of shushing a barking dog (cf. Gyasi, Homegoing: 162). While there are also white convicts, the reader quickly realises the unequal punishments, as a white person receives the same sentence for murder as a black one for not changing the side of the street when a white woman passes (cf. Gyasi, Homegoing: 172). The situation is further accompanied by H doing double the amount of work to save a white convict, who had complained about being forced to work with Blacks before, from being punished (cf. Gyasi, Homegoing: 163). When H is later unable to feel his
23 This danger of re-enslavement is also addressed by Patterson (2016) with regard to the movie 12 Years a slave where “the institution of slavery threatens the freedom of all black citizens” (19). 24 It is noteworthy that H’s story marks the beginning of Part 2, introducing the time after the official end of slavery, while also illustrating that the repercussions will continue to haunt later generations. 24 arms and repeatedly states that he [does]n’t want to die” (Gyasi, Homegoing: 163), the author not only succeeds in communicating the character’s fear, but also clearly states, through the opposition of his assistance and the white convict’s racism, that morality is a choice rather than a matter of race. This is especially convincing, as we hear the story from a black person’s point of view, which renders it more emotional due to the experienced situations. The insight into frequently neglected repercussions of slavery thereby contributes to a better understanding of the system and its effects.
The novel also includes further rarely discussed issues, such as former convicts facing contempt for their status, no matter their (alleged) crime: when H is addressed by a woman, she quickly walks away once she learns about his conviction and “H rolled his sleeve back down and knew that he couldn’t go back to the free world, marked as he was” (Gyasi, Homegoing: 167). The resulting move to Pratt city, where former convicts, white and black, lived (cf. Gyasi, Homegoing: 168), illustrates the segregation according to classes, but also according to race, as white individuals resemble criminals far more than their black counterparts. The segregation of people is further addressed in another chapter, when a woman desires to choose the school for her son, where she is turned down: “It just wasn’t possible. Sonny could remember [his mother] Willie squeezing his hand with one of hers as they walked back to Harlem, wiping away tears with the other” (Gyasi, Homegoing: 249). These aspects, as well as other issues, such as Heroin addiction (cf. Gyasi, Homegoing: 256f), illustrate that the effects of slavery reach further than generally acknowledged and therefore contribute to a more comprehensive depiction of history by providing various marginalised viewpoints.
While Aminata’s story ends around the beginning of the 18th century, thereby before the ‘Fugitive Slave Act’ or the abolition of slavery, the novel still addresses racial inequality beyond enslavement. This can be seen in the promise of a new start in Nova Scotia, Canada: Aminata soon realises that Blacks reside in Birchtown, which “[is] a long, hard, muddy walk from Shelbourne” where whites live (Hill, Book: 341), and further faces anti-Black violence (cf. Hill, Book: 355-59).25 Similar to this segregation, a sense of betrayal is experienced in Sierra Leone:
[The abolitionists] did not attempt to enslave us, but nor did they set us free. They did not give us the promised tracts of land or any other means of becoming self-sufficient
25 The disillusionment of ‘freedom‘ in the North can also be seen in older slave narratives, for instance Harriet Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself (1861): while her status as a black female rendered her (unwantedly) precious in the South due to the ability to bear further (slave) children, this poses an obstacle to her economic independence in the North (cf. Patterson 2009: 87f). This also points to a lack of wealth originating from slavery, which continues to represent an issue to the present day. 25
in Freetown. We depended on them for our work, our sustenance and even the materials and tools to build our homes. And they set the rules by which we lived (Hill, Book: 403).
These incidents illustrate the lack of agency slaves experienced while offering a different viewpoint of measures allegedly aimed at providing them with more agency. Furthermore, it highlights the importance of the British role in the slave trade system again: “I despised the Americans for taking these Negroes, but my greatest contempt was for the British. They had used us in every way in their war. Cooks. Whores. Midwives. Soldiers” (Hill, Book: 323). The returning motif of betrayal is strikingly illustrated in the following quotation: “And when slave owners showed up with their stories and their paperwork, the British turned their backs and allowed us to be seized like chattels” (ibid.). As a result, Hill manages to include various aspects connected to slavery while also challenging measures, which are frequently seen as positive despite their two-sided reality. The reader is thus provided with a more comprehensive understanding of the institution and its multi-faceted repercussions.
Lester’s novel also includes the Fugitive Slave Act during an Interlude:
Those were strange and dangerous times, when unscrupulous white men would kidnap colored men off the streets, men who were free from birth, and sell them into slavery. And the government of the United States did nothing to protect the rights of the colored people, because they had no rights. […] But perhaps that was because all I could think about was what I hadn’t accomplished. I had not given a thought to what a difference it can make when you treat another person with simple respect and dignity, the same respect and dignity you want for yourself. That is so simple, yet so few seem able to do it (Lester, Day: 162, 164f).
This passage is crucial for numerous reasons. To begin with, it illustrates the arbitrariness of the Fugitive Slave Law and the danger it posed for the freedom of (former) slaves. Additionally, it also provides the perspective of Fanny Kemble, who is based on the actual abolitionist (cf. Lester, Day: 172), thereby illustrating the importance of assisting Blacks in their strife for freedom: she warned them about the law while offering them a means of escape to Canada (cf. Lester, Day: 158-165). This focus on Canada is especially noteworthy with regard to Hill’s text, who addresses the disillusionment fugitives could experience there as well. Reading both texts thus offers a fuller insight into the complexity of the institution of slavery and the issues of race, which again illustrates the varying viewpoints to historical events and circumstances.
Levy’s novel also includes the immediate and later aftermath of slavery. The text focuses on the debates between former slaveholders and their now free “employees” with regard to the latter’s insistence to “work what suits” (Levy, Song: 256), which was counteracted by rendering their lives far more expensive, i.e. impossible to get by on a regular salary (cf. Levy, Song: 26
262f). It also sheds light on the situation of former house servants, for instance when July is required to transmit a message despite the pouring rain: “Free. Cha! [sic] What change had free brought that July might seize” (Levy, Song: 190f)? The incompleteness of liberation is further highlighted towards the end of the text, when July’s son faces opposition to establish his own printing establishment, as “[a] nigger might composite or work at press or even, with careful instruction become a reader, but no slave-son could ever run a printing establishment of any worth. This broad-nosed, thick-lipped devil does walk too tall, they concluded” (Levy, Song: 331f). These instances not only contribute to a deeper illustration of historical issues originating from slavery from a black perspective, but also include stereotypical, degrading terms regarding race, illustrating bias. The text thereby forces the reader to acknowledge the wide-reaching effects of slavery.
It thus becomes evident that the neo-slave narrative provides readers with a deeper insight into the complex history and repercussions of slavery by adopting marginalised viewpoints, as the institution “ended, but ‘race’ as social status and the basis of our human identities remained” (Smedley 2007: 7). Developing a broader understanding is hence essential, as learning about the contexts leading up to today’s world “forces us to confront the reality of race” (Smedley 2007: 8) and maybe contributing to a better, less segregated future.
4. A Natural Condition? Of Constructed Inferiority, Objectified Individuals, and the Fragile Nature of Slaves’ Lives
“She asked why I was so black. I asked why she was so white. She said she was born that way. Same here, I replied” (Hill, Book: 15f). This quotation clearly points to the natural condition of different skin colours. It is therefore even more important to discuss the phenomenon of ‘race’26, which is a social construct (cf. Smedley 2007: 1). While this is not to serve as a definition of the term, it places the study of ‘race’ within “a realm independent of biological or genetic variations” (ibid.). This is crucial, as the origin of the phenomenon lies in folk ideas and ideology27, strongly influenced by economic interests, rather than in scientific findings and developments (cf. Smedley 2007: 2).
26 For a more detailed account of the development of ‘race’ and its (historical) implications, consult Smedley (2007) and/or Jacobson (1998). 27 This becomes especially clear with regard to intermarriages, who were uncontested at the beginning (cf. Smedley 2007: 3). 27
The constructed nature of ‘race’ is further reinforced by the use of binary oppositions, e.g. ‘white’/’black’, ‘civilization’/’savagery’, or ‘culture’/’nature’ (cf. Hall 1997: 243). The latter is especially noteworthy, as it is related to numerous characteristics attributed to the two groups: while whites are frequently attributed formal institutions and traits such as intellectuality and a ‘civilised’ restraint with regard to emotions or sexuality, black individuals are often associated with instincts, reliance on ritual, and an unrestricted expression of feelings and impulses (cf. ibid.). Not only is this reminiscent of the earlier discussed ‘status binds’ (see Chapter 2.1.), but this distinction also served as the justification for slavery: “The Negro, it was argued, found happiness only when under the tutelage of a white master. His/her essential characteristics were fixed forever – ‘eternally’ – in Nature” (cf. Hall 1997: 243). Insurrections were further assimilated into the argumentation that negroes were unable to control their impulses (cf. ibid.). This binary division is even more important, as it was imposed on Blacks by the white population to secure their superior position (culture would have been open to change): the former, however, viewed the two aspects as interrelated (cf. Hall 1997: 244f), which is also discussed by Gyasi: “The need to call this thing ‘good’ and this thing ‘bad’, this thing ‘white’ and this thing ‘black’ was an impulse Effia did not understand. In her village, everything was everything. Everything bore the weight of everything else” (Homegoing: 23).
The present importance of this distinction can, for example, be found in stereotypes, which Hall (1997: 249) defines as “reduced to a few essentials, fixed in Nature [sic] by a few, simplified characteristics”. This is problematic, as it defines the status as eternal while also justifying the practice of splitting people in two separate groups: stereotyping is usually used for the subordinate and thus less powerful group (cf. Hall 1997: 258). Providing black voices with a forum hence is vital to ensure a wider understanding of slavery and history by learning about the perspective of “subordinate” individuals (see also Harding on ‘standpoint theory’). I further argue that the, though at times indirect, inclusion of nature in the narratives is crucial. Such an inclusion allows for a defiance of proclaimed ‘natural’ conditions, for example by providing the viewpoint of a child28 or using natural phenomena. This shows the inhumanity of reducing enslaved people to goods, which is further reinforced by an arbitrary fate, e.g. when one decision could have led to a completely different outcome. These examples illustrate that a natural inferiority is impossible, as there is no inherent logic or natural system underlying slavery other than economic advantages and inequality. Therefore, the discussion of slavery from a contemporary black perspective offers additional insights into the institution and thereby
28 This is crucial, as female children represent an underrepresented category in slave narratives (cf. Oduwobi et al. 2016: 390). 28 deepens the readers’ understanding of the complex history and its repercussions, which last to the present day. The aspects of nature, objectification, and twists of fate will be discussed in the following subchapters.
4.1. Natural Inferiority: A Social Construct
“As races are invented categories- designations coined for the sake of grouping and separating peoples along lines of presumed difference - Caucasians are made and not born” (Jacobson 1998: 4)29. This construction of race can also be seen in the selected texts. Gyasi, for instance, provides Effia’s perspective as a child:
“He is happy to meet you,” the translator said as the white man held his hand out to Effia. She didn’t accept it. Instead, she hid behind her father’s leg and watched him. He wore a coat that had shiny gold buttons down the middle; it strained against his paunch. His face was red, as though his neck were a stump on fire. He was fat all over and sweating huge droplets from his forehead and above his upper lip. Effia started to think of him as a rain cloud: sallow and wet and shapeless. […] The white man’s eyes grew clearer as the translation [about the African marriage customs] was given, and suddenly Effia realized that he was seeing through new eyes. The mud of her hut’s walls, the straw of the roof, he could finally see them. […] Effia forced herself to see things through new eyes, too (Gyasi, Homegoing: 5f).
This quotation is important, as she not only perceives the white man as foreign and far from superior, but further realises the existence of different ways of living. It further illustrates the individual perception of differences, which is diverse rather than uniform: “The American eye sees a certain person as black, for instance, whom Haitian or Brazilian eyes might see as white” (Jacobson 1998: 10). It therefore becomes clear that the definition of people by their skin colour is not a scientific and undisputable way of characterising ‘black’ and ‘white’ people, which is shown through the perspective of a black female child.
Another example illustrating the unnatural basis of the slave trade system is when Effia asks her father if they are trading goods “[l]ike iron and millet” with the British (Gyasi, Homegoing: 7). In the case of trading individuals being a natural phenomenon rather than a constructed one, this question would be superfluous. It is further an important question, as the reader realises how sheltered Effia still is and, due to following her journey for a while, is forced to witness her eventual disillusionment through her eyes. Therefore, Gyasi’s text contributes to a deeper understanding of slavery and its multi-faceted effects by adopting a marginalised perspective.
29 This unstable nature of race is strikingly illustrated by a presumed conversation revolving around this issue and can be consulted for a clearer illustration (cf. Jacobson 1998: 2). 29
Likewise, Hill borrows Aminata’s perspective as a child to illustrate that even culture is not uniform: “I stared at one man as he wrote. Left to right. Left to right. Others did it the same way. Had they all learned to write backwards” (Hill, Book: 128)? This confusion about a practice deemed to be ‘civilised’ highlights that the definition is coined by white people adhering to those standards, but not a natural phenomenon. It hence becomes clear that the use of alternative perspectives forces the reader to adopt different perspectives and thereby to gain a fuller understanding of the workings of slavery and its effects.
Lester also uses children’s perspectives to illustrate the harsh reality of a practice deemed natural. Even the owner’s daughter Frances, who is to inherit the plantation, is “glad Papa didn’t take me to the auction yesterday. That’s when Ovid was sold away. Ovid was teaching me how to ride a horse” (Lester, Day: 25). A child being thankful for the instruction by a slave stands in direct opposition to a natural inferiority of enslaved individuals. The author further underlines the unnaturalness of slavery by strongly focusing on the constant rain, which also occurred during the real auction: it is known as ‘The Weeping Time’ (cf. Lester, Day: 173). At the beginning, the reader already hears about “rain com[ing] down like fiery sorrow” (Lester, Day: 14). This becomes even more pronounced during the auction when the rain drowns out the applause and “[i]n between each group of slaves being sold, the rain seems to get louder and louder” while the slave sellers voice continues to lose its volume: “It’s like the rain is trying to drown him” (Lester, Day: 60, 64f). This is accompanied by the second daughter Sarah’s observation: “I want to go home. The rain is falling even harder now. It’s like God is angry at Papa for what he’s doing” (Lester, Day: 68). The impression of nature opposing the auction is further reinforced when lightning and thunder follow the separation of a young couple in love30 or when the rain stops immediately after the auction (cf. Lester, Day: 74, 93). The text thus powerfully challenges the institution of slavery by condemning it as unnatural while the reader feels the slaves’ sorrow even stronger due to its dialogic format.31 As a result, the reader contributes to a deeper understanding of the complexity of slavery while also shedding light on a less known event and untold stories.
With regard to The Long Song, Andrea Levy also includes the depiction of July as a young girl. One example is her holding flowers closer to the white mistress “Caroline’s nose so that she
30 Their sorrow becomes even clearer to the reader, as “even as loud as the rain is, the painful sobbing of Jeffrey and Dorcas can still be heard” (Lester, Day: 74). 31 Douglass “The Heroic Slave“(1853) has also been interpreted as “portraying liberty as a natural right” (Hyde 2013: 478). As the story is, however, framed by a white narrator, whose thoughts we are more familiar with than those of the heroic slave (cf. Hyde 2013: 487), the text fails to provide the black protagonist with a voice. 30 might better smell their scent” (Levy, Song: 37). While this scene is less explicit in its depiction of nature than the preceding ones, it still highlights that a separation between races is a learnt rather than natural behaviour: otherwise, July would not have made an offering to a person belonging to a different group, even less as it could have been seen as a transgression of her “inferior” role. Since this action further results in July being taken away from her mother (cf. Levy, Song: 41), separating two individuals connected by biology, it becomes even more pronounced that slavery is not a natural institution. Levy thereby forces the reader to adopt a different perspective and contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of slavery and its effects on the life of actual people.
The implementation of children’s perspectives as well as a focus on nature can hence serve as a powerful tool to defy the binary opposition of ‘Culture’/’Nature’ used to justify inequality. This is crucial to gain a more comprehensive view of slavery as well as its effects and to potentially address present issues.
4.2. The Worth of Slaves: Objectification and Value
Another pivotal aspect with regard to slavery is coins, which are an abstract means of payment: “Lindo explained that I could either barter for an object, or pay with copper, silver or gold coins. This confused me. It made no sense to me that someone would prefer to be paid with a useless metal coin than with five chickens or a tierce of corn” (Hill, Book: 219). This statement not only illustrates the arbitrary connection between coins and financial worth, but also points to its status as a product of civilization rather than nature, as money itself provides no inherent use. It also serves as a vital reminder of the dehumanisation of slaves, who were valued according to financial rather than human worth. This objectification of slaves is also present in all selected novels.
In Homegoing, British soldiers already appear near the beginning to “approve of the goods Abeeku has promised them” (Gyasi, Homegoing: 12). This terminology of ‘goods’ clearly points to the dehumanisation of captives. This becomes even clearer during a change of trade parties, which the chief Abeeku justifies in the following manner:
“Today their enemies pay more, Fifi,” he said. “Tomorrow, if they pay more, we will work with them too. […] [Fifi] went out of the cellar and brought back more men. They were white men, the first Esi had ever seen. She could not match their skin to any tree or nut or mud or clay that she had ever encountered” (Gyasi, Homegoing: 45).
The immediate mention of an unnatural skin colour is noteworthy, as it challenges the presumption of white superiority and natural slave/master relations. The trade is also addressed 31 later on, when a character states that slaves would be sold to “whoever was paying most at the time” and that everyone “was responsible”: “We all were…we all are” (Gyasi, Homegoing: 142). The change of allies not only illustrates the fragile and constantly changing nature of slavery, but also counteracts a natural division of ‘races’, even more by addressing the responsibility of all involved parties: if it was a natural phenomenon, there would be attributed blame. A different perspective is especially useful here, as it deepens the readers’ understanding of slavery while also highlighting the interrelated nature of the trade, which influenced numerous issues historically. As present structures are influenced by the past, the importance of this genre becomes even clearer.
Hill also discusses the issue of commodification in his text. “The orange-haired toubab looked in Fomba’s ears and inspected every other part of him – even his penis, which he picked up and tugged. Fomba’s mouth opened wide, but no sound came out” (Hill, Book: 75). Similarly, a leading figure during the Passage is thoroughly investigated and his stumbling results in laughter from the toubab (cf. Hill, Book: 128). The lack of individuality becomes even more evident in a later scene when Aminata comes across a former slave seller: “The man who had once sold me to Robinson Appleby now had no idea who I was” (Hill, Book: 212). These instances clearly illustrate the loss of humanity experienced by enslaved individuals. Hill’s text thereby enhances the reader’s understanding of slavery and its multi-faceted nature.
Additionally, the use of coins is addressed in the novel. Its arbitrary value becomes especially clear when Aminata sees them for the first time: “If a hole could be made, through it, perhaps a tightly woven thread of grasses could be slipped through, so that the thing could hang off a wrist, or a neck. Still, it would be ugly. I could not imagine what gave this thing value” (Hill, Book: 129). The immediate idea of using a natural resource to provide the object with beauty stands in sharp contrast with the economy-driven actual use. While it could be seen as a confirmation of Blacks belonging to nature rather than culture, Aminata’s suspicions of the coins’ longevity are affirmed during a recession period, proving that “[c]hickens were more reliable than silver” (Hill, Book: 219, 235). Furthermore, Aminata’s unbelief once she discovers that African gold was used to buy African slaves (cf. Hill, Book: 220) is also felt by the reader, as this statement forces them to acknowledge the reality of a trade system based on exploitation.32 The novel hence contributes to a deeper understanding of the complexity of slavery by addressing issues of commodification and providing alternative viewpoints.
32 It is interesting to note that abolitionists used coins to further circulate their slogan ‘Am I not a man and a brother?’ (cf. Walvin 2007: 153), thereby also contrasting the objectification of slaves. 32
In Lester’s text, money also plays a crucial role, in particular with regard to the auction. The author provides a detailed list of the monetary value attributed to individual slaves (Lester, Day: 80f). This is further reinforced by the present of a silver coin each slave receives after their sale (cf. Lester, Day: 89ff). However, this artefact is rejected by the characters Joe and Emma for a familial connection between them: “That’s more important than anything” ((Lester, Day: 92). As the reader follows their story and remains as unknowing of the later fate of the other characters as Emma herself, who reminisces about her parents (cf. (Lester, Day: 167), they are forced to acknowledge that the price of slavery had to be paid by its victims. As a result, a better understanding of the actual effects of this institution is achieved by learning about it from marginalised perspectives.
Levy also illustrates the importance of money throughout her text. A striking example is provided by July’s affair with the overseer Goodwin after the abolition of slavery. Initially, he focuses on her humanity, for instance by insisting on his wife Caroline calling her by her name or even offering July to eat with them (cf. Levy, Song: 239f). He even criticises Caroline’s haughtiness when July is unable to remain in an uncomfortable position during the painting of a portrait: “’You are comfortably seated. If Miss July were comfortably sitting then I am in no doubt that she too could remain as immovable as you’” (Levy, Song: 243). However, this behaviour changes once he encounters financial difficulties due to a lack of unpaid labour:
‘The negroes are all gone.’ His blue eyes were red. ‘All of them have taken their belongings and gone. There is not one left upon Amity. Not one. There is no one left to take off the cane. Nor to turn the mill. No one is at the coppers in the boiling house. No one filling hogsheads, nor delivering to the dock. They have all deserted me. So… So… I have decided that I will bring in the cane myself. ‘Come, you cannot cut cane!’ July said. But he shouted loud over her, ‘I’ve no need of niggers, I will do everything myself.’ […] She seized his arm again, but he shouted, ‘Get away from me, nigger, get away’ (Levy, Song: 282).33
Caroline eventually had to prevent him from inflicting physical pain on July before Goodwin went on to sexually pursue his wife, which he had not done before (cf. Levy, Song: 282f, 296f; cf. Lima 2012: 147f). This development is accompanied by cockroaches: while she initially discards those for him scary animals, she later collects them as a farewell dish (cf. Levy, Song: 195ff, 293, 297), “for far too easily hade she just been discarded” (Levy, Song: 297). This complete change of behaviour mirrors not only the fragile nature of slavery itself, but also the white population’s dependence on unpaid labour. It thus becomes clear, in Levy’s and the other
33 As “[t]he economics of mass production were applied to human beings”, resulting in an institution responsive to the economic situation (Black 2015: 45), the loss of labour was immediately tangible. 33 texts, that a distinction in ‘Culture’/’Nature’ is inefficient: a sole focus on culture cannot sustain humanity, as it also presents the basis for the arbitrary use of coins as payment. The inclusion of this inherent dilemma in the texts is further important, as we empathise with the characters and are therefore more likely to understand the implications of such a system, short- and long- term, which enhances our historical understanding and might eventually lead to the change of systemic inequalities.
4.3. Of a Fragile Nature: The Instability and Lack of Agency of Enslaved Individuals
Another pivotal aspect confirming the unnatural condition of slavery is the use of direct oppositions: a twist of fate or one choice can change the entire life of an individual. This is crucial, as it contradicts the idea of inherent subordination: the decisions are made by certain individuals for others, based on a socially structured system, rather than naturally provided. The issue is strikingly represented by Effia’s and Esi’s mother and her gift of a stone in Gyasi’s novel34. Before her capture, Esi is the daughter of the leading warrior of her village and her family even owns a young slave girl unaware of her age (cf. Gyasi, Homegoing: 34f). The girl eventually informs Esi about her mother’s past and the fragility of freedom:
The Dove let out a mirthless laugh. “My father too is Big Man, and now look what I am. Look at what your mother was.” […] “Your mother was once a slave for a Fante family. She was raped by her master because he too was a Big Man and big men can do what they please, lest they appear weak?” Esi looked away, and Abronoma continued in a whisper. “You are not your mother’s first daughter. There (38) was one before you. And in a village we have a saying about separated sisters. They are like a woman and her reflection, doomed to stay on opposite sides of the pond.” (Gyasi, Homegoing: 38f)
The connection not only creates an important link between Effia and Esi, but also illustrates that captivity was a constant threat in the life of Africans. This is further highlighted when Esi is captured and divides her life in “Before the Castle and Now. Before the Castle, she was the daughter of Big Man and his third wife, Maame. Now she was dust. Before the castle, she was the prettiest girl in the village. Now she was thin air” (Gyasi, Homegoing: 31). However, this change originated from her capture and transportation rather than a natural process. The reader is thus provided with a better understanding of history, as the characters’ lives before enslavement are also addressed.
The connection between the two sisters is further highlighted by the appearance of Governor James, Effia’s husband, in Esi’s dungeon (cf. Gyasi, Homegoing: 48): “You could walk around
34 Their mother gives each girl a stone (cf. Gyasi, Homegoing: 27, 42), which continues to remain in the family lineage over generations (see also chapter 9.1.). 34 this upper level, go into that church, and never know what was going on underneath. In fact, many of the British soldiers married local woman, and their children, along with other local children, would go to school right here in this upper level” (Gyasi, Homegoing: 298). The close co-existence of two worlds is further highlighted at the end of the novel, when the Castle is re- visited by two characters in contemporary times: “If ever there was a place to believe was haunted, this was it. From the outside, the Castle was glowing white. […] When they entered, things started to look dingier. The dirty skeleton of a long-past shame that held the place together began to show itself […]” (ibid.). On the one hand, this connection between the sisters and the eventual visit of the Castle illustrate the interconnectedness of history (see also chapter 9). On the other hand, it illustrates how a small change of circumstances could decide between freedom and enslavement and their (lack of) future. As a result, the reader is incited to ponder questions revolving around agency, freedom, and equality, deepening their engagement with and understanding of the historical time period.
This quick change of circumstances is included in Hill’s text as well:
By my eighth rain season, I had heard stories of men in other villages being stolen by invading warriors or even sold by their own people, but never did it seem that this could happen to me. After all, I was a freeborn Muslim. I knew some of the Arabic prayers, and even had the proud crescent moon carved high into each of my cheeks. The crescent moons were to make me beautiful, but they also identified me as a believer among my Fulbe villagers. There were three captives – all unbelievers – in our village, but even a child knew that no Muslim was allowed to hold another Muslim in captivity. I believed that I would be safe (Hill, Book: 26f).
This quickly changes with Aminata’s capture and sale into slavery where she is forced to build herself another existence while “only want[ing] [her] real life back” (Hill, Book: 138). These scenes counteract the binary division between the natural and the cultural, especially as Aminata had already been taught relevant knowledge before being forced to adapt to a completely new environment: this could not have been possible for a ‘race’ deemed inferior. This is made even clearer by her narrative, as it highlights the strong sense of loss while also pointing to the dehumanising nature of slavery. The reader is thus again presented with an alternative understanding, which deepens the understanding of slavery and its multi-faceted effects on people’s lives.
Lester also addresses the fragility of a life in bondage when slaves have to “pay the price for another man’s weakness”, as their sale originates from their owner’s gambling debts (Lester, Day: 6). The alleged lack of emotional control is also directly challenged in the text, for example when the character Joe is being sold and Emma realises that “[she]’ll never know if he was 35 sweet on [her] or if [she] would’ve been sweet on him” while also observing his reactions: “He’s just staring straight ahead, his face as blank as the boards of this barn. […] If I was going to be sold away I think that’s what I would look like. I would be trying to get ready for whatever was going to happen to me. I would be angry later” (Lester, Day: 58). Lester hence points to the arbitrary nature of enslavement, as external circumstances decide the fate of a considerable number of people, while also showing the strength slaves maintained during times of uncertainty and fear. The resulting adaptation to an unnatural process is further addressed by providing coping mechanisms used by slaves, thereby enhancing the readers’ historical knowledge and pointing to the complexity of slavery.
Levy also uses direct oppositions and contrasts in her text, for example when she returns to her characters after the rebellion:
In those dark days our July – that mischievous girl that you have come to know, that could twist her missus to any bidding and tease Molly to tears, that grinning girl who did slide the whole length of the hall upon her dirty apron, and gaily put a bed sheet upon a table and wine out of window – that July was forsaken by her ravaged spirit and soon departed. And a withered and mournful girl stumbled in, unsteady, to take her part. With yes dulled as filthy water, this July was so fearful a young woman that the barking of a dog, the slamming of a door, the clatter of a dropped spoon, would see her tremble as if the earth did wobble beneath her (Levy, Song: 163).
Similar to the earlier separation of her and her mother (see Chapter 4.1.), July’s whole life changes unexpectantly due to circumstances related to slavery. The author successfully manages to (re-)gain authority in narrating a story of powerlessness, which is best illustrated by the following direct quotation:
Or maybe I should find pretty words that could explain to you what befell Patience in those days? How, after the massa had been laid to rest in the churchyard, she walked from Amity in the hope of finding Godfrey in town, and returning him to his proper place; calming the fretful and arranging duties within the kitchen. She was caught upon the road by the militia, who charged that she was a runaway rebel. She received fifty lashes for her crime. Would you like me to describe the lesions upon her back and let you hear the woebegone howl she emitted when the stinking cloth that had wrapped the wound was pulled off? […] Perhaps to accompany Florence and Lucy as they hold up Molly – ragged and raging and screaming fearful that she will be sold way. Reader, would you like to hear Byron weeping (Levy, Song: 163)?
It thus becomes clear that the use of strong voices can result in increased authority while also forcing the reader to acknowledge the loss of the former character’s lively nature, which is in line with sudden twists of fate endured by enslaved individuals. Additionally, the construction of a text itself counteracts the idea of an inferior ‘race’. Levy thereby contributes to a wider
36 perspective on slavery and specific historical events by adopting an alternative viewpoint and shedding light on neglected issues.
This chapter has analysed the selected literary works and their relation to nature, especially regarding the distinction between nature and culture frequently used during slavery. It has further focused on the slaves’ objectification and the fragility of their lives, which could constantly change due to outside circumstances or other twists of fate. Such a focus is important, as it enables a more nuanced perspective of slavery and its real-life effects while also contributing to a dispute of stereotypes, which are, unfortunately, still present in today’s society, even if their contents might be different. Nonetheless, a thorough understanding of history is essential to understand and potentially combat today’s issues, and to confirm: “Weakness is treating someone as though they belong to you. Strength is knowing that everyone belongs to themselves” (Gyasi, Homegoing: 38).
5. The End of Compliance: Resisting Slavery
“The story of slavery cannot be told without addressing resistance. Indeed, the story of slavery is the story of resistance itself” (Millward 2015: 19). This quotation already points to the various instances of defying the institution of slavery. An analysis of Singleton’s narrative serves as the basis for a concise overview of numerous acts of resistance, classified according to “overt” and “covert” (Sneed 2015: online). Overt ones include, but are not limited to, physical resistance or (coordinated) rebellions35, escaping or hiding, and suicide or infanticide to escape enslavement (cf. ibid.). The frequently less known forms of resistance, where the exact aim was hidden, are summarised under covert: purposely slowing down work, spitting into food, and pretending to be ignorant or inattentive to whites’ conversations, to name a few (cf. ibid.). It thus becomes evident that resistance also represents a vital aspect in the selected texts, which is illustrated by the following example: “Guinea, I thought to myself. Guinea gold. Use me if you must, but I will use you too” (Hill, Book: 222). The resulting, direct or indirect, “uses” will be further illustrated with selected examples in the following subchapters.36 This is important, as the
35 An especially noteworthy case of an overt resistance is the Haitian Revolution, which resulted in the island’s independence and the (local) abolition of slavery in 1804 (cf. Stenou 2004: 55). 36 It is nonetheless essential to mention that this selection is far from being a complete overview of resistance acts. There are more instances to be found in the selected texts as well as in other slave narratives, past and present. Furthermore, this thesis will continue to touch upon the essential aspect of resistance, for example when it comes to literacy, storytelling, or communities. This complex interrelation of aspects clearly illustrates the importance of analysing neo-slave narratives: they constitute an act of resistance themselves. 37 multi-faceted nature of resistance points to the complexity of slavery, offering the reader a more comprehensive understanding of this time period and its effects.
5.1. Hide It ‘Till You Make It: The Importance of Covert Resistance
All selected texts include numerous aspects of covert forms of resistance. In Gyasi’s novel, for instance, it is especially interesting to focus on Quey’s, Effia’s and James’ mulatto son, involuntary involvement in the slave trade. While he is not enslaved, he can still be seen as a victim of the institution, which becomes clear in the following quotation: “Blood. He pictures the prisoners being brought into the cellars by the tens and twenties, their hands and feet bound and bleeding. He wasn’t made for this. He was supposed to have an easier life, away from the workings of slavery” (Gyasi, Homegoing: 50).37 In a way, his resistance remains incomplete, as he eventually accepts his fate, becoming married to a selected spouse, who “was an important political bargaining tool, and people had been trying to capture […] since her infancy” (Gyasi, Homegoing: 69). The incompleteness of his revulsion against the slave trade system becomes especially evident at the chapter’s conclusion: “This was how they lived here, in the bush: Eat or be eaten. Capture or be captured. Marry for protection. […] He was in the business of slavery, and sacrifices had to be made” (ibid). Nonetheless, I argue that the character still represents a form of covert resistance, namely empathy with enslaved individuals: “Quey had grown accustomed to the smell of shit, but fear was one smell that would stand out forever. […] On this shore, watching the canoe push off, Quey brimmed with the same shame that accompanied each slave departure” (Gyasi, Homegoing: 62). This is essential: the reader is forced to deal with this system from an alternative perspective, namely a trader despising his job. This thereby contributes to a deeper understanding of the system’s historical complexity and multi-faceted implications for the involved individuals.
In Hill’s text, there are also quite a few covert resistance acts to be found. One example is Aminata’s refusal to call the United States by its name: “But I refused to speak that name. There was nothing united about a nation that said all men were created equal, but that kept my people in chains” (Hill, Book: 327). Another instance is seen in a scene between Aminata and her husband Chekura when the latter offers to kill her owner Lindo as revenge: “’They might not see you, but I would know,’ I said. ‘Killing him won’t bring back our baby. I want you to stay alive, and I want you to stay good’” (Hill, Book: 242). These examples illustrate a strong desire to live according to her chosen principles despite being deprived of all other forms of agency
37 Quey’s depiction is even more important, as the novel insinuates his homosexual desire for a former friend (cf. Gyasi, Homegoing: 58-61), pointing to further frequently undiscussed issues. 38 and freedom. As the reader experiences the story through Aminata’s perspective, the respect for such a decision and the inherent morality illustrate the complexity of slavery and the importance of ensuring some sort of agency despite living in bondage. Thus, Aminata’s choice to eventually flee from her owner is unlikely to raise anything but understanding: “I decided to travel with him in the morning. It would be my Exodus. With a bit of luck, I would never return to the Province of South Carolina” (Hill, Book: 246).38 This statement can be seen as a transition from covert to overt resistance, which again sheds light on the constantly changing and complex nature of slavery. As the story is told from a marginalised perspective, the reader is more likely to actually understand the implications of resistance and to gain a better understanding of this history.
In Lester’s text, covert forms of resistance become especially evident after Emma’s being sold. While her mother spits into the prepared food and serves it with a smile (cf. Lester, Day: 104), her father struggles with his conformity:
But they expect me to bow and grin and say, ‘Yassuh’ and ‘No, Ma’am’. And I do. I hate myself for doing it, but I can’t seem to help it. It’s the way I been trained. And if I don’t pretend to be happy and bow and grin, well, no telling what Master might do, since I never thought he’d be so mean as to sell Emma. He could sell me to somebody sitting at that table and Mattie would lose her whole family in one day. Master want to pretend like me and Mattie don’t have feelings same as him (Lester, Day: 104f).
Additionally, Emma is opposed to marriage later on, as she is aware that her children might be sold without her consent as well (cf. Lester, Day: 114). This is even more important, as it precedes her and Joe’s choice to escape from a life in bondage, which is discussed in the course of the following pages (cf. Lester, Day: 114-120). Thus, Lester’s text not only shows the importance of covert resistance, but he also contributes to a deeper understanding of the system’s complexity for the reader: escaping affected family members and posed “social and […] logistical difficulties […] nearly insurmountable for the majority of enslaved people” (Camp 2004: 38). An alternative perspective hence offers valuable insights into a complex system with multiple challenges for the involved parties.
Likewise, Levy’s novel includes covert acts of resistance throughout the story. One example is July’s tricking of Caroline when it comes to punishments: she asks for being punished by whipping despite knowing that Caroline does not possess a whip, which was hidden by July herself (cf. Levy, Song: 54ff). Furthermore, July frequently escaped her “missus’s favoured
38 The story of the Exodus cannot only be found in Hill’s text (cf. Hill, Book: 221), but also in Lester’s novel (cf. Day: 13). 39 punishment” of hitting her with a shoe by physically outlasting the rather unfit Caroline (ibid.). Additionally, Godfrey plays a crucial role by representing “the figure of the obedient house- slave”, “probably less inclined to rebellion than the field-slaves […] [while adopting] subtle ways of resistance” (Lima 2012: 143). This is especially important, as house servants are frequently represented as “an obedient servant who accepts his/her condition happily, wants to please the master at all costs and is even ready to betray other slaves in order to obtain a few privileges”, even in certain slave narratives (ibid.). According to Lima (2012: 143), this is related to the master’s psychological need to be represented as a benevolent figure rather than an inhuman monster. Godfrey challenges this stereotype, offering an alternative interpretation of his obedience, for example in the following scenes:
Godfrey, who had been standing all the while through these instructions, had his head inclined. This dutiful gesture gave the impression that he was listening to his missus’s words when, in truth, he was peering out of the window at a distant tree (Levy, Song: 65).
‘My brother says you cheat me. How can everything be so expensive?’ the missus asked. And Godfrey, holding her gaze, unflinching, answered softly, ‘It is not that things be expensive, it is just that you can not [sic] afford them.’ The missus suddenly swinger her fist around and struck Godfrey hard upon his ear. Godfrey stumbled. The blow had caused him no hurt. Come, he had known worse than that. […] (Levy, Song: 69).
The reader thereby gains invaluable insights into alternative viewpoints and increases their understanding of slavery. Another character, Nimrod, takes this resistance even further by pretending to be an obedient house slave while stealing from his owner: “When you take property from your massa, for your own use, him loses nothing. For you be his property too” (Levy, Song: 99). This is essential, as Nimrod managed to purchase his freedom by enacting this stereotypical figure (cf. Levy, Song: 100). This perspective is interesting, as it represents a slave, often depicted as intellectually inferior, as cunning enough to outsmart his owner, contradicting stereotypes. This is reinforced through the chosen perspective, as the reader learns about the theft through the eyes of an enslaved individual, thereby justifying it. The use of covert resistance in Levy’s text hence challenges stereotypical representations and offers untold stories, increasing the reader’s knowledge about slavery.
It thus becomes evident that covert resistance was frequently used to escape punishment or even served as a transition to overt forms. Its importance becomes even clearer due to the narrator being enslaved, as the reader is more likely to empathise with the characters. As a result, the use of neo-slave narrative and their discussion about resistance forms increases the readers’
40 understanding of slavery and the multi-faceted effects it had on the involved individuals’ lives and choices.
5.2. Making a Stand, or: Overt Forms of Resistance
“And Godfrey, looking down on the missus, sucked loudly upon his teeth before saying, ‘Then you must pay me, missus’” (Levy, Song: 105). The quotation not only contrast to the above- described figure of the “obedient” Geoffrey, but also marks a transition from covert to overt resistance. The following chapter will focus on this latter form, especially with regard to specific behaviour patterns and the resulting consequences slaves had to endure, shedding light on another aspect of slavery.
In Gyasi’s novel, Ness and her husband Sam discuss the possibility of escaping with their child, as “’[y]ou can’t raise a baby in Hell’ […]”, before actively fleeing (Gyasi, Homegoing: 85ff). As the reader follows their journey, they are as unknowing of the characters’ fate as Ness and Sam are themselves, thereby empathising with the characters and experiences some of their trepidation. When the couple eventually sacrifices themselves so that their child can live in freedom (cf. Gyasi, Homegoing: 86f), the reader is forced to witness the subsequent horrific events as well, namely Ness’ violent beating and Sam’s lynching (cf. Gyasi, Homegoing: 87). As a result, the threats inherent in an escape attempt and sacrifices made to ensure the freedom of certain individuals become clearer to the reader, increasing their understanding of slavery.
Additionally, Gyasi focuses on two characters’ choice to start a life away from the institution of slavery: “I will be my own nation’. […] ‘Do you trust me?’ James asked. ‘No,’ Akosua answered finally. ‘Trust is a thing to be earned. I don’t trust you. I have seen what power can do to men, and you are from one of the most powerful families’” (Gyasi, Homegoing: 99f). While the choice to start over by feigning his own death results in him being called “the man without a name” and “Unlucky” due to his seeds never growing, James never regrets his choice (Gyasi, Homegoing: 105, 109f, 133): ‘My father was a slaver, a very wealthy man. […] I wanted to work for myself. I see how these townspeople call me Unlucky, but every season I feel lucky to have this land, to do this honorable work, not the shameful work of my family” (Gyasi, Homegoing: 153). The story thus shows that starting a different life might not be easy, but nonetheless worthwhile. Not only is the complexity of slavery thereby highlighted, but the reader is also incited to think about the implications of numerous choices and their role in history, which becomes even clearer due to the adoption of an alternative viewpoint.
41
In Hill’s text, the revolt aboard the ship during the Middle Passage is a crucial form of overt resistance (cf. Hill, Book: 105-108), featuring a “very real possibility on any slaving voyage” (Kelley 2016: 109). This is even more noteworthy, as it further includes an indirect form of resistance, namely infanticide (cf. Hill, Book: 105f), as well as the repercussions after the failed uprising: “After the revolt, they kept us shackled at all times. We were brought up in small groups to watch the whippings. We were made to eat and drink, and then were sent back below” (Hill, Book: 109). Hence, the reader is again confronted with the harsh reality of slavery with regard to unsuccessful revolts, which is rarely addressed in other slave narratives. Additionally, Aminata overtly resists the humiliation in a punishment forced upon her later on due to being pregnant without her master Appleby’s consent to her union with the father: not only does he burn her clothes, but he also completely cuts off her hair (cf. Hill, Book: 192-196).39 Nonetheless, she corrects, despite the threat of further retaliation, Appleby when he calls another slave’s house a ‘hut’: “’She has a home. It’s a home she lives in’” (Hill, Book: 196). Likewise, Aminata stops eating and working after Appleby sells her child as a form of revenge, resulting in her eventual sale (cf. Hill, Book: 200ff). These scenes clearly illustrate the danger of disobeying slaveholders while also shedding light on the threat open resistance posed for the system: the white owners had to prove their authority to maintain their power. This is reminiscent of Walvin’s (2007: 116) observation that their “worst fear must have been that slaves might behave like slave owners”, thereby explaining the need to immediately counteract any form of disobedience and underlining the fragility of the system itself. The reader is therefore confronted with numerous facets regarding the resistance to slavery, which appear even more cruel due to the perspective of the system’s victims.
The novel continues to follow Aminata while touching upon overt resistance. An example are conversations with her new owner Lindo, as she corrects him on her origin:
“I’m not from Guinea,” I said suddenly. The anger in my own voice surprised me. I jumped up from the table, knocking over an inkpot. “And I’m not a wench. I had a baby and I would have it now but Master Appleby stole him away. I am no wench. I am a wife. I am a mother. Aren’t I a woman”? […] You will be treated better than any Negro where you come from, I can guarantee you that.” “I come from Bayo and I was born free,” I whispered. Solomon Lindo sat back. “I beg your pardon?” “I was a freeborn Muslim.” “Well, I was born in England. But we are in the Colonies now.” I crossed my arms. He stared at me for a minute, and said, “You will be free enough. You will be free to make extra money on self-hire, as a midwife. And I will collect a return on my investment. I spent a fortune on you” (Hill, Book: 217, 220).
39 This is especially noteworthy, as hair styles usually represented a certain status, for instance marital or social standing (cf. Katz-Hyman & Rice 2011: 265). 42
This scene is especially important, as it challenges not only the idea of inferiority due to Aminata’s strong control of the (English) language, but also shows her increased understanding of the hypocrisy underlying the slave system. She becomes even more outstanding later on, as she plans and implements her successful escape (cf. Hill, Book: 246, 258f): women were less likely to escape due to less familiarity with their surrounding geography (cf. Camp 2004: 38). Hence, Aminata’s story focuses on her efforts to regain control of her life, also through telling her story (see Chapter 9.3.), thereby offering a more comprehensive understanding of slavery and its implications.
In Lester’s novel, open resistance also plays a pivotal role. After Emma’s sale, her mother Mattie verbally resists Master Butler: “All I understand is that my only child is on her way to some place called Kentucky and I ain’t never gon’ see her again. […] That’s right, Master. Run away! I ain’t got no respect for a man who does wrong and won’t own up to it. Run all you want, Master” (Lester, Day: 103). The importance of overt resistance becomes even clearer later on, when Emma and Joe escape from Mistress Henfield’s plantation and the reader is provided with the latter’s perspective during an Interlude (cf. Lester, Day: 139f):
To this day I don’t understand how they could have betrayed me like that. I wasn’t mean to them. They ate well. I even let them earn a little money for themselves, and every slave had his own vegetable garden. And this was the thanks I got. Well, I wasn’t going to wait for the rest of the niggers to run away. And I couldn’t trust that they wouldn’t. I sold every last one of them, sold them to [the violent slaveholder] Jake Pendle, who didn’t coddle his niggers like I did. Oh, they begged me not to sell them to him. They promised that they wouldn’t run away but how could I believe them? […] But if [the runaway slaves] lived, if they got the freedom they went seeking, I hope they know that the other slaves paid the price for their freedom (Lester, Day: 140f).40
This scene is in line with Davis’ (2006: 194) argumentation that owners frequently expected gratitude from their slaves, even for not inflicting physical violence. The use of multiple perspectives is especially effective here, as the reader learns about his perspective while mainly following Emma’s story throughout the text. Hence, those Interludes effectively highlight the contradictions inherent in slavery while also shedding light on the system itself, increasing the knowledge about the inherent complexity and implications for slaves.
Andrea Levy’s text includes the Christmas revolt of 1831, when more than 20 000 slaves resisted their captivity (cf. Lima 2012: 143) by “burning plantations in the west” (Levy, Song: 87). This instance is addressed from various perspectives, for example by including voices of
40 This retaliation is reminiscent of Li’s (2014: 330) remark regarding the end of the film 12 Years a Slave: despite escaping, the individuals remain powerless to help others achieve their freedom, thereby reducing their sense of achievement. 43 uninvolved slaves or the following “excessive retaliation for the Baptist War” (Lima 2012: 143), offering a more comprehensive insight into the event. The former can be seen in the following discussion between the narrator and her son:
‘The night of Caroline Mortimer’s unfinished dinner in your story is the time of the Christmas rebellion, when all the trouble began.’ He then commenced to blast me with fierce commands. […] I must write all I know of Sam Sharpe, the leader of this rebellion – of his character and looks. I should make it clear how every negro believed themselves to have been freed by the King of England; how they had promised to do no more work until that freedom was felt; and how the negroes swore to wrest their freedom from the planters’ thieving grasp if it was not given willingly. […] The reason I have little to advise upon these truths is within the nature of those olden times; for news did not travel as it does today […] What I do know is that when those fires raged like beacons from plantation and pen; when regiments marched and militias mustered; when slaves took oaths upon the Holy Bible to fight against white people with machete, stick, and gun; when the bullets sparked like deadly fireflies; and bare black feet ran nimble through grass, wood, and field – at Amity, the loudest thing your storyteller could hear was Miss Hannah gnawing upon the missus’s discarded ham bone. (Levy, Song: 89ff)
This longer quotation is essential for two main reasons. Firstly, it shows a form of resistance in itself: while her son urges the narrator to include more factual information, which is in line with slave narratives, the author resists this demand and continues her story as she desires, thereby challenging the rigid structure imposed on texts revolving around slaves. Secondly, it offers a deeper insight into history by focusing on the lives of people during that time who were uninvolved in the rebellion and thus less documented in history books. Afterwards, the author also discusses the above-mentioned retaliation, which included the killings of numerous slaves: “When slaves turn wild, they are useless to all but worms. And there would be compensation for the owners for the loss of their property” (Levy, Song: 125f). The reader is therefore provided with alternative perspectives on a rather widely known event, which results in a more comprehensive understanding of this historical event.
Another scene of overt revolt is Kitty attacking the plantation’s overseer, who had raped her numerous times before, killed Nimrod, and was currently hitting July (cf. Levy, Song: 146ff):
What happened next has been told in so many ways by so many people – some who were not even in the parish at the time, some who were not even born into the world yet – that it is hard for your storyteller to know which version to recount. […] But did Kitty, in the fierce struggle that commenced with Tam Dewar, hack her machete upon his ankles like he was a piece of cane to be cut? […] Reader, we will never know, for none saw. […] And that when she was seized, that devil nigger had a grin upon her face (Levy, Song: 147f).
This scene is of vital importance, as it discusses the issues of representing history (see also Chapter 9) while also illustrating the strict punishment of any violence against white people: 44
“‘You have been found guilty of the worst crimes that can be perpetrated, and must be hanged by the neck until dead’” (Levy, Song: 151). The novel thus succeeds in addressing the complexity of slavery itself, its representation in history, and the multi-faceted reality of overt resistance, thereby contributing to a better understanding of the institution of slavery.
Hence, it becomes evident that the discussion of resistance from multiple (affected) points of view is crucial to gain a wider understanding of the complexity of slavery and its effects.
5.3. The Power of the Word: Alternative Forms of Resistance
The construction of both physical and social realities is generally ensured via the principle of rationality, i.e. the mind rather than the body (cf. Barrett 1995: 423). This is confirmed by Culler’s (1997: 59f) argumentation that writing and the resulting lecture not only open up new perspectives of seeing the world, but can also form or contest ideologies. Hence, it becomes evident that the use of language is important for resisting slavery, which can be even further reinforced by the cooperation of individuals. The following chapter will thus focus on other forms of resistance related to those categories and power relations.
In Gyasi’s text, for instance, the importance of educational autonomy can be seen in the following example set in Africa:
“I’m too old to go to America now. Too old for revolution, too. Besides, if we got to the white man for school, we will just learn the way the white man wants us to learn. We will come back and build the country the white man wants us to build. One that continues to serve them. We will never be free.” Edward shook his head. “You are too rigid, Yaw. We have to start somewhere.” “So let us start with ourselves” (Gyasi, Homegoing: 223).
The quotation illustrates the lack of authority due to an education system designed by others, which is also crucial with regard to the representation of history or the notion of white supremacy. Another instance showing this issue is a dialogue between the teacher Yaw and his house maid, who feels inferior due to his knowledge of the English language (cf. Gyasi, Homegoing: 230):
Her body began to slip into an easy stance, and Yaw realized that it was not his scar that had terrified her, but rather the problem of language, a marker of her education, her class, compared with his. She had been terrified that for the teacher of the white book, she would have to speak with white tongue. Now, released from English, Esther smiled more brightly than Yaw had seen anyone smile in ages. He could see the large, proud gap that stood like a doorway between her two front teeth, and he found himself training his gaze through that door as though he could see all the way down into her throat, her gut, the home of her very soul (ibid.).
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These examples point to the large influence of white supremacy in Africa, which is closely linked to slavery, but outlives the trade system. While resisting the imposed norms is not immediately linked to slavery, it still defies the system of supremacy due to its connection to the past. It hence becomes clear that the history of enslaving people is multi-faceted and demands various viewpoints to achieve real understanding, especially with regard to present- day effects.
In Hill’s novel, the importance of language is also stressed throughout the story. This already becomes evident early on, as the difference of language prevents the captured individuals from communicating with each other (cf. Hill, Book: 132). Aminata here marks a form of resistance, as she learns to speak three languages, the customs of her fellow slaves on the plantation in South Carolina, and to read (cf. Borman 2014: 47). Another instance where Aminata proves her mastering of the English language is while discussing with Lindo: while he resists calling his slaves ‘servants’, insisting on providing a more human treatment than “the barbarism of St. Helena Island” (Hill, Book: 204), Aminata later challenges this notion when Lindo insists on her contributing to their expenses: “’So will you now start saying ‘slave’ instead of ‘servant’” (Hill, Book: 244)? She continues to resist him due to having found out that he facilitated her child’s sale: “’Some Hebrew you are. And you say you’re not a white man’” (ibid.). Aminata hence challenges ideas about black inferiority while also resisting the treatment she is forced to endure as an enslaved individual. The reader is more likely to empathise with her due to having witnessed her forced separation from her child and viewing the hypocrisy underlying the system from her perspective. As a result, a more comprehensive view of slavery and its numerous implications is ensured.
Aminata’s resistance can also be found in her insistence on telling her story in her own words:
Their way is better than the alternative, but their way is not enough. The abolitionists may well call me their equal, but their lips do not yet say my name and their ears do not yet hear my story. Not the way I want to tell it. But I have long loved the written word, and come to see in it the power of the sleeping lion. This is my name. This is who I am. This is how I got here. In the absence of an audience, I will write down my story so that it waits like a restful beast with lungs breathing and heart beating (Hill, Book: 117).
This is crucial, as it represents a strong contrast to older slave narratives, where the narrators frequently apologised for their ease of linguistic aptitude (cf. Andrews 1986: 8). Throughout her story, Aminata thus resists the ‘white frame’ imposed on her on numerous occasions. The resulting struggle against captivity, lack of education, and a continued control over her words
46 becomes even clearer for readers due to witnessing all events from Aminata’s perspective, thereby offering a better understanding of the myriad of aspects connected to slavery.
Lester’s novel focuses on the importance of language and literacy while also shedding light on assistance from others. This is strikingly illustrated through the figure of Jeremiah Henry, a white man asking Joe whether he has any desire to obtain freedom while offering him a potential assistance in fleeing (cf. Lester, Day: 115f). Although Joe is sceptical at first, both he and Emma start trusting Jeremiah once he teaches Joe to read (cf. Lester, Day: 117f): “Joe, I believe Mr. Henry is telling you the truth. And I ain’t never heard of no white man teaching a slave how to read. […] Any white man who wants a slave to learn to read and write has a heart like Mistress Butler. That’s a heart I trust” (Lester, Day: 119f). The importance of language hence becomes clear, as it is the basis for trusting a white person. Additionally, it shows the necessity of having white people to assist captives, even if it involves a certain amount of risk, inciting readers to ponder questions of morality and involvement while improving their understanding of slavery and its inherent complexity:
I never liked Pendle. He’s the kind of man who would kill a slave because whipping would be too much work […] Almost overnight I lost practically all my trade. I knew it was only a matter of time before Pendle would accuse me of aiding runaway slaves and have me arrested. I had no doubt that I would have been convicted. So one morning I went down to the ferry, got on, and never looked back (Lester, Day: 151f).
Andrea Levy also includes alternative forms of resistance in her text. One example is in the reversal of power experienced after July becomes Goodwin’s lover, causing Caroline to feel mortified due to the portrait, highlighting his affection for the former slave (cf. Levy, Song: 233ff, 237f). This becomes even clearer when Goodwin invites July to dinner, where “[i]t was Marguerite quietly thanking him for the invitation, but informing him that she had to return to the kitchen, that released Caroline from the promise of such shame” (Levy, Song: 241). The scene is interesting with regard to the implied power dynamics as well as due to the narrator calling July “Marguerite”, thereby implying a change of perspective to Caroline. The reader is therefore confronted with the complex power relations interwoven in slavery, improving their understanding of this time period.
Another instance of resistance, similar to Aminata’s insistence on telling her story in her own words, is the narrator’s refusal to write the story according to her son’s demands:
Reader, alas my son is not yet finished with me. Must an old woman endure this? […] Must I show you the trouble that those free negroes had to endure? Should my reader feel the fear of the harassment from planters that came upon that place almost daily?
47
[…] We must know of all of this.’ But why must I dwell upon sorrow? July’s story will have only the happiest of endings and you must take my word upon it. Perhaps, I told my son, upon some other day there might come a person who would wish to tell the chronicle of those times anew. But I am an old-old woman. And, reader, I have not the ink (Levy, Song: 335f).
This refusal and the novel’s ending have July take some of the power she lacked during her enslavement. The use of language is thus highlighted to be an important form of resistance, not only during slavery, but also later on, as it contributes to a better understanding of the system’s implications and repercussions: black voices are often expected to adhere to certain topics and to discuss specific components, even nowadays.
As mentioned at the chapter’s beginning, “[t]he story of slavery cannot be told without addressing resistance. Indeed, the story of slavery is the story of resistance itself” (Millward 2015: 19). This is even more crucial due to the system’s complexity and the dangers slaves had to endure when disobeying. However, the most essential aspect nowadays might be storytelling in neo-slave narratives to highlight the wide-reaching impact of the institution and to challenge existing power structures and inequalities. As a result, the importance of neo-slave narrative to ensure a more comprehensive understanding of slavery and its implications via alternative perspectives is again confirmed. This will become even clearer in Chapter 9, where the aspect of history will be analysed from various angles.
6. Sharing Misery: Relationships, Communities, and Traditions in Slavery
“I felt that the sound of my voice had to make up for all the things she lacked – a father, and the traditions of my native village” (Hill, Book: 347). This quotation clearly points to the lack of familial ties and customs experienced due to enslavement. In fact, “all slaves occupied two distinctive and complex worlds: the one that was dictated to them and controlled by whites, […] and the one they fashioned for themselves within their families and communities […]” (Katz-Hyman & Rice 2011: xii). This is reinforced by Gilroy’s (1993: 1) observations on the double consciousness required to be black and live in a country other than Africa nowadays. This is crucial, as the insistence on a space between two different, classified as opposed, identities marks a form of resistance to racist and/or absolutist discourses (cf. ibid.). The following chapter will tackle this aspect with regard to families, communities, and language as well as customs from an alternative viewpoint. This provides the reader with a deeper insight into the complex history of slavery and its repercussions, which last to the present day.
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6.1. Disrupted Roots: Slavery and the Fragile Nature of Families
“The family is like the forest: if you are outside it is dense; if you are inside you see that each tree has its own position” (Gyasi, Homegoing: beginning). This proverb placed at the beginning of Gyasi’s novel indicates the close relations between families. During slavery, those ties were continuously disrupted or even severed, as “families [and] marriages were fragile”, even more so as a couple could only be married with the consent of their owner(s) (Millward 2015: 20). Additionally, parenthood was incredibly difficult: “Motherhood under slavery was the farthest thing from freedom”, especially as childbirth was considered to provide the owner with a financial asset (Millward 2015: 14). This problematic aspect of familial ties is also addressed in all selected texts.
Gyasi’s novel includes both marriage between two slaves and intermarriage between a white man and a black female. This is essential, as intermarriage was a threat to the economic benefit provided by marriages between two enslaved individuals (cf. Black 2015: 53)41: “The master of Hell, the Devil himself, with red-leather skin and a shock of grey hair, prefers his slaves married for ‘reasons of insurance’, and because Ness is new to Hell and because no one has claimed her, she is given to calm the new slave Sam” (Gyasi, Homegoing: 80). The effectiveness of the procedure further becomes evident when Sam initially ceases all forms of resistance upon the birth of their son (cf. Gyasi, Homegoing: 84). The reader thereby realises the complex mechanisms used to maintain this system of oppression. Additionally, the novel focuses on the marriage between the white Robert and the black Willie after the abolition of slavery:
Being here meant they no longer walked together on the sidewalk. Robert always walked a little ahead of her, and they never touched. She never called his name anymore. Even if she was falling into the street or a man was robbing her or a car was coming at her, she knew not to call his name. She’d done it once, and Robert had turned, and everyone had stared (Gyasi, Homegoing: 208).
This becomes even more intense later on when Willie is forced to touch her in a sexual way in front of another man to prevent her from being sexually assaulted (cf. Gyasi, Homegoing: 215). The resulting damage to their relationship marks a sharp contrast to their happy marriage before moving to New York to escape their life in Pratt City, a coal-mining city built by former convicts (cf. Gyasi, Homegoing: 168, 201-205, 215; see also the discussion of H). As the reader
41 This is further reinforced by outlawing sexual intercourse between white females and Blacks: when married, the woman was designated as a slave for the duration of her husband’s life (cf. Millward 2015: 16). 49 follows the first couple’s (forced) marriage and the second one’s slow descent to ruin due to a strong presence of racism, deeper insights into the wide-reaching effects of slavery are granted.
Likewise, Hill’s novel includes Aminata’s marriage to Chekura: “I loved the light in his eyes and the way his lips turned up into a grin when he looked at me. We fell into conversation just as if we had been together the day before” (Hill, Book: 236).42 While their relationship overcomes numerous separations, Chekura’s eventual drowning on a passage to Nova Scotia results in a tragic end of their love (cf. Hill, Book: 385f). This is reinforced by Aminata losing both their children, one forcefully “[s]old, sold, sold” by Appleby (Hill, Book: 201), the other taken to England by a white family she worked for in Nova Scotia (cf. Hill, Book: 361-64): “My children were like phantom limbs, lost but still attached to me, gone but still painful. I stopped cooking, working and eating. For the first time in my life, I had no desire to read. […] All I knew was that the people I had loved more than anything else in life had all been torn from me” (Hill, Book: 366). While Nehl (2016: 155) argues that the eventual reunion with her daughter “trivializes the complexity and painful reality of the black diasporic female experience in the eighteenth century”, I disagree with this statement, as their reunion (cf. Hill, Book: 482ff) can also be interpreted as offering the reader an instance of hope after a turbulent story, thereby inciting them to wish for a brighter and less violent future.
Lester’s text also includes the separation of families, which is already mentioned at the beginning:
Master say he wasn’t going to separate husbands from wives and parents from their children. He must’ve forgot, ‘cause he sold my sister and her husband to a master from Tennessee, and their daughter was bought by lady from Mississippi. The one that bought my sister didn’t even let her come and say good-bye to me. I watched as her new master took her away, and when the door closed behind ‘em, I realized that I ain’t ever going to see her again. That was like lightning leaping out of a black cloud and striking me in the chest (Lester, Day: 9f).
The reader is thus forced to immediately acknowledge the violent separation of familial ties, which becomes even clearer once Emma has to attend the auction and her mother bids her goodbye (cf. Lester, Day: 41). The initial trepidation is confirmed upon her father’s return to the plantation: “Will was sitting atop the coach and his tears were just flowing down his face. That’s the first time I’ve ever seen that man cry” (Lester, Day: 99). Another instance focusing on separation is when Jeffrey and Dorcas are sold to different slaveholders: “But me and
42 Their marriage further points to the Collective discussed in Chapter 6.2.: it is a community celebration including presents and music (cf. Borman 2014: 48). 50
Dorcas, we supposed to be married. We supposed to be together” (Lester, Day: 73). The reader follows their journey and even the momentary relief once Jeffrey finds Dorcas again after the abolition of slavery is short-lived: accepting that she was never going to meet him again, Dorcas had become married to another man (cf. Lester, Day: 76-79). The reader experiences the family’s and couple’s separation as well and is therefore more likely to empathise with the fate of people unknown to them. As a result, a better understanding of the wide-reaching effects of slavery and a more comprehensive understanding of its history is achieved.
The text is further interesting, as it includes familial rifts in white families: not only had Mistress Butler left her husband due to his being a slaveholder (cf. Lester, Day: 23f), but Sarah also never forgave her father for selling the slaves, especially Emma, and continues to look at him with “[t]hat look of disapproval [he] saw in her eyes the last day of the auction” (cf. Lester, Day: 46). Sarah’s eventual realisation that she lacked respect rather than love for her father (cf. Lester, Day: 110f) further highlights the damage slavery inflicted on families, white and black. Lester’s text thus succeeds in rendering the multi-faceted issues slavery inflicted on families more understandable for readers, which is achieved by the adoption of numerous, especially marginalised, perspectives.
Levy also focuses on this aspect. The scene after July had been taken from her mother is especially noteworthy, both due to its content and structure:
Reader, come with me to peer through a window of the great house. But let me place you upon the inside of this fine dwelling, in a room caressed by a cooling night breeze. Rest there upon a chair cushioned in silken fabric smooth to your touch, within the shadowy gleam of several of the finest beeswax candles that perfume the air with a sweet scent. […] Come, look closer still, for amongst that unruly undergrowth, if you search with a careful eye, you will see that there are indeed fleshy fingers splaying there. The fingers of Kitty’s right hand as she leans against the window in anguish to glimpse her only child, July, there within. […] And there she would wait – staring in upon a room so sublime that she dared not take a breath for fear the air would prove too noble for her. (Levy, Song: 43f)
This separation becomes even more tragic for the reader once Kitty is sold and July expresses her desperation and grief (cf. Levy, Song: 58). The reader is enticed to put themselves in the characters’ shoes due to being directly addressed while also following July’s story, thereby gaining a better understanding of slavery and its numerous effects.
The above-quoted proverb and the family tree placed at the beginning of Gyasi’s novel, which initially represent a unifying effect, becomes less reliable throughout the text (cf. Millward 2015: 107), as the reader is “zigzagging between its two branches, but also between the text and
51 the family tree itself, fulfilling a need to firmly place each character within the family” (ibid.). Similarly, the separation of families discussed in this chapter points to a disruption of a stable entity, and the resulting desire to find one’s place among their individual family tree, which is further reinforced by providing untold voices with a forum.43 Therefore, the reader is yet again presented with an important aspect of slavery, gaining a more comprehensive overview of this historical time period and its multi-faceted effects.
6.2. Surviving Slavery: The Formation of Communities and a Collective
‘Diaspora’ is generally used to refer to a connection based on people’s exile from their homeland(s), for instance by transporting slaves from Africa to the Americas (cf. Smith 2004: 254f). While all forms of displacement are linked by challenges faced by a “scattered population”, enslavement is particularly traumatic, as it deprives individuals of any possibility of agency or cultural representation (cf. ibid.). The category of the ‘Black Atlantic’ is even more appropriate, as it “allow[s] for a truly multicultural, multidisciplinary, and broader historical focus” due to an increased fluidity (Anim-Addo & Lima 2017: 7). The use of neo-slave narratives is important to mention here, as this genre aims at the exposure of systemic inequalities endured by Blacks until the present day (cf. ibid.). A common notion of those two theoretical approaches is a connection achieved through the (forced) difference between “races”: the following chapter will thus focus on collectives and communities with regard to the selected works, showing that their analysis offers a more comprehensive understanding of slavery and its repercussions.
In Gyasi’s text, the importance of community can already be seen in Effia’s chapter: “She and Effia had not been friends when they lived in the village, but here they saw each other as often as possible, each happy to be near someone who understood her, to hear the comforting sounds of her regional tongue” (Gyasi, Homegoing: 21). This quotation clearly points to the importance of shared values and customs when being removed from one’s home. Even though those characters are still nearby, namely on the Coast of Africa, the cited scene can be used to illustrate the necessity of forming a Collective to resist the loss of one’s roots. Additionally, the positioning of this scene in Africa addresses less discussed aspects of slavery, thereby improving the reader’s understanding of the system’s wide-reaching effects.
This aspect of forming a Collective is even more evident in Hill’s novel. To begin with, Aminata frequently discusses instances of cooperation and assistance among her surrounding
43 This will become even clearer in Chapter 9. 52 community. This becomes clear when Biton insists on Fomba, who is a slave in Africa, eating with them so that no differences would be shown to their captors (cf. Hill, Book: 123). Additionally, the novel focuses on instances of mutual assistance, for instance when a guard agrees to help her for free: “’You taught my daughter at St. Paul’s Chapel, and she reads fine now. She taught me some reading too, after you taught her’” (Hill, Book: 320). This is crucial, as Aminata’s “diasporic identity is constituted by interpersonal relations, and not by physical or ethnic place” (Yorke 2010: 140). The resulting formation of what Borman (2014: 45) calls her “chosen collective identity” already starts during the Middle Passage where she starts to define herself in relation to fellow slaves (cf. Borman 2014: 46). This is essential, as the captives are, despite their various geographical origins, connected through their survival of the passage and their experiences aboard the ship (cf. Borman 2014: 46f). This can be seen in the following quotation:
On that slave vessel, I saw things that the people of London would never believe. But I think of the people who crossed the sea with me. The ones who survived. We saw the same things. Some of us still scream out in the middle of the night. But there are men, women and children walking about the streets without the faintest ideas of our nightmares. They cannot know what we endured if we never find anyone to listen. In telling my story, I remember all those who never made it through the musket balls and the sharks and the nightmares, all those who never found a group of listeners, and all those who never touched a quill and an inkpot (Hill, Book: 71f).
The importance of community is further stressed later on when Aminata records others in ‘The Book of Negroes’: “[T]hey were giving something special to me. They were telling me that I was not alone. I had imagined, somehow, that my life was unique in its unexpected migrations. I wasn’t different at all, I learned. Each person who stood before me had a story every bit as unbelievable as mine” (Hill, Book: 306). The idea of sharing stories is pivotal, as her role as a storyteller also addresses a wider audience, who can be provided with a better understanding of the institution of slavery (cf. Borman 2014: 46). Hence, her authority as a narrator offering an alternative perspective contributes to a better insight into slavery and its repercussions.
Lester also includes communities in his text, for example when Mattie and Will provide two fugitives with food over a longer period of time (cf. Lester, Day: 39). A further noteworthy character here is the slave Sampson, who is convinced that “slavery’s the best thing ever happened to us niggers. Where would we be if we didn’t have the white folks to take care of us? […] I don’t have to worry about getting a good meal every day or having a roof over my head” (Lester, Day: 97). This is in line with Davis’ (2006: 179) argumentation that the internalisation of their status as ‘fact’ was one of the most detrimental effects of slavery. While Sampson thus
53 is certain that liberty is too hard for slaves (cf. Lester, Day: 123), Lester includes a passage by Jeremiah, stating that it was difficult to respect Sampson while also conceding that it is impossible to know one’s own behaviour without having experienced enslavement (cf. Lester, Day: 152). Nonetheless, Sampson acts contrary to his obedience after his son’s escape: the desire for pride from his son outweighs the internalisation (cf. Lester, Day: 142f).44 The importance of familial ties and community is thus also stressed in Lester’s text, which also touches upon the complexity of slavery and thereby incites the reader to ponder historical representations and gain a more comprehensive understanding of this time.
Levy’s text centres on the pivotal role of the Collective in enslaved people’s everyday life, as the narrator also tells the stories of fellow slaves. Additionally, July’s rescue by her son at the end marks the need for community and familial ties to overcome the trauma of enslavement45:
And do not search for her spirited black eyes. It is time to put that younger July from your mind for another has just walked in. And her face, if the grime was wiped from it, or she was commanded to life her head, is so pinched with starvation that death’s bony skull can be glimpsed beneath it; her skin is as tanned, wrinkled, and careworn as a neglected hide; her hair so matted that it stand sin stiff locks; and her gait so stooped that the flimsy tattered raps of the dress she wears appear like a weight for her to carry (Levy, Song: 312).
It therefore becomes clear that Collective (identity) formation and community were essential aspects ensuring the survival of enslaved individuals, before and after their liberation. This is further crucial, as those aspects are still needed today to achieve change. Neo-slave narratives thus highlight the necessity of supporting minorities by providing a more comprehensive understanding of slavery and by adopting an alternative viewpoint, allowing the reader to empathise with characters facing challenges unknown to them.
6.3. Losing One’s Traditions: Slavery and Its Implications for Culture and Language
The majority of customs from slaves’ home countries only persisted in their memories and their oral re-telling (cf. Katz-Hyman & Rice 2010: xiii). The importance of traditions and their loss during slavery becomes especially evident in the following quotation: “Now I was thirty years old and had nothing to show for [my beauty]. No son. No family. No homeland. And even my beauty would soon fade” (Hill, Book: 238). The following chapter will hence focus on customs,
44 The interrelation between familial ties and the general community of slaves again highlights the complex system of slavery where various components are interwoven. 45 While this aspect would also be appropriate for the preceding chapter, her initial unawareness of the blood relation incited me to position it in this one. 54 language, and religion to provide a deeper insight into the works’ contribution to historical accounts.
Gyasi includes the use of specific roots and their Western connotation with voodoo, which Effia’s white husband frowns upon: “’Now, Effia, I don’t want any voodoo or black magic in this place. My men can’t hear that I let my wench place strange roots under the bed. It’s not Christian” (Gyasi, Homegoing: 22f). This scene is especially important due to the subsequent statement: “Effia had heard him say this before. Christian. This was why they had been married in the chapel by the stern man in black who shook his head every time he looked at her. He’d spoken before, too, of the ‘voodoo’ he thought all Africans participated in” (Gyasi, Homegoing: 23). This instance is crucial, as Effia is not even able to implement her cultural traditions in Africa due to the idea of Christianity and white supremacy. The text thus sheds light on the wide-reaching effects of the institution of slavery, which is especially effective due to providing a marginalised character with a voice.
Hill also focuses on related aspects in his novel. One example is the importance of adapting to the new environment as a slave: “She was a Negro, but she was not a homelander. She was from this place. This place was her home. It was not for her to understand me. It was for me to understand her” (Hill, Book: 144). The necessity of learning the spoken language becomes even clearer when Aminata is worried about her fellow slave Fomba being unable to communicate, as the resulting notion of ‘insensibility’ prevents him from receiving any form of favourable treatment (cf. Hill, Book: 147). These instances illustrate the forced acquisition of language other than their mother tongue. The wide-spread effects of such a focus on specific languages is also illustrated by Aminata’s return to Africa, where her “first conversation as an adult with an African in [her] own homeland should take place in English” (Hill, Book: 397). This scene shows that enslavement will continue to haunt Aminata despite her obtained freedom, shedding light on the wide-reaching repercussions of slavery, even after being liberated.
Another important aspect of this novel is its focus on religion. While Aminata initially worries about her being “worse than a captive” due to “becoming an unbeliever” (Hill, Book: 48) and is confused when seeing “an oddly simple carving, with one stick running down and the other across” (Hill, Book: 90), she eventually loses her faith rather than synthesising the two religions or choosing one (cf. Yorke 2010: 141). This not only challenges the notion of white supremacy, but it also invites the reader to consider alternative interpretations of religions: Aminata is shocked by the English and their “self-inflicted torture” during church services due to its inherent stillness and silence (Hill, Book: 250f). The reader thereby not only gains insight into 55 linguistic issues, but also into religious questions, increasing their knowledge about aspects related to the system of slavery.
Lester’s and Levy’s texts also include traditions, but mainly in the form of missing their origin and roots. The former illustrates this absence by focusing on Emma and her struggle to accept that her parents never learnt about her successful escape and fulfilled life (cf. Lester, Day: 167). As the reader also misses information about those parents and has followed Emma’s harsh journey to freedom, the implications of slavery become even clearer, especially as present generations might be unaware of having enslaved ancestors. The text itself further serves as a constant reminder of culture due to being written in dialect form.46 Hence, Lester’s text contributes to a wider understanding of the implications of slavery.
This is addressed even more directly in Levy’s The Long Song when July’s son ends the story with an appeal to anyone who might have known Emily, July’s and Goodwin’s daughter: “She may have children of her own, who have no understanding that their grandmama was born a slave” (338). This is essential, as the novel points to present effects of a history deemed past. Additionally, an absence of roots is directly linked to a loss of cultural heritage, as customs, values, and language cannot be shared by their ancestors. As a result, realises that the effects of slavery reach further than generally assumed.
The reader thus is forced to acknowledge the (intended) erasure of culture, which is even more prominent, as its close relation to slavery can tempt affected parties to avoid any engagement with potential memories (cf. Gilroy 1993: 189). As a result, it becomes evident that the engagement with neo-slave narratives can render readers more sensitive to the implications of slavery and its wide-reaching consequences, which is even more effective when adopting marginalised perspectives.
7. From Bondage to Freedom: The Implications of Literacy, Names, and Symbols
“What had she ever known of terror? […] She was tied to others; how many, she didn’t know. She didn’t see anyone from her compound. […] She had never felt so hopeless in her life” (Gyasi, Homegoing: 43). This quotation points to the desperation of enslaved individuals, who
46 This is reminiscent of Hall’s (1997: 1, 3) statements regarding culture: not only is (a shared) language vital for the creation of meaning, but the representation of objects or customs influences their perception, as their meaning is created rather than inherently provided. 56 arrived in the Americas by themselves and where stripped of any individuality through brands and designated names (cf. Walvin 2007: 128). The forced migration required the formation of new identity, for both the captives and their future generations (cf. Sweeney 2007: 7), necessitating a definition of selfhood despite enslavement: “I wondered if he owned me at all times or only when I was working for him. Did he own me when I slept? When I dreamed” (Hill, Book: 151)? The following chapter will hence focus on aspects related to liberty and identity by discussing the importance of literacy, names, and (symbolic) marks of freedom. This is crucial, as it is directly linked to the creation of history and stories, which will be analysed in Chapter 9.
7.1. Powerful Words, or: The Importance of (Il-)Literacy
Literacy represents an essential marker of independence, as its absence forces individuals “to being the objects of thought and never its subjects” (Barrett 1995: 419). This is even more important, as the symbolic distinction according to races is reinforced by literacy, increasing racialisation (cf. Barrett 1995: 420). Being literate thus is a crucial component due to the Western idea of a mind/body split and necessary to transcend the physical limitations of the body (cf. Barrett 1995: 415, 419). Both literacy and education are addressed in all selected texts, further highlighting the necessity for discussions about slavery and present-day issues originating from this time period.
In Gyasi’s novel, the pivotal role of education can, for instance, be seen in the characters of Yaw (see Chapter 5.3.)47 and his daughter Marjorie. While the latter has access to education, she still faces a sort of exclusion in her school, which becomes especially clear after her short relationship with a German immigrant, who eventually switches to her white classmates (cf. Gyasi, Homegoing: 271, 274f, 278f): “[S]he knew he was different. She saw how easy it was for him to slip in unnoticed, as though he had always belonged there” (Gyasi, Homegoing: 280). While Marjorie excels at the lecture of books (cf. Gyasi, Homegoing:268-71), she is also excluded due to her blackness from both her white classmates and her black classmates due to their different class (cf. Gyasi, Homegoing: 268). Her viewpoint thus illustrates the complexity of slavery and its effects, which reach to the present day.
Hill’s work can be read as a female Bildungsroman, thereby following not only her development, but also instructing the reader about numerous aspects related to the slave trade system (Oduwobi et al. 2016: 384, 394). The importance and danger of knowledge for enslaved
47 The discussion of Yaw’s role in Chapter 5 also indicates the close interrelation between literacy and resistance. 57 individuals already becomes evident soon after Aminata’s arrival on St. Helena Island: “’I never seen someone from Africa learn so fast.’ Georgia stopped to touch my hair. ‘But watch out, girl. You know too much, someone kill you’” (Hill, Book: 160). This continues throughout her text and is illustrated by her strong desire to read and her additional lecture of runaway slave notices (cf. Hill, Book: 224). While the latter points to one potential danger posed by literate slaves, the threat to the system is also addressed later on when she demands to be shown a map of Africa (cf. Hill, Book: 226):
“The villages are unknown,” Lindo said. “I have walked through them. There are people everywhere.” […] “It’s a monkey,” Lindo said. This “Mapp of Africa” [sic] was not my homeland. It was a white man’s fantasy. […] They knew how to bring ships to my land. They knew how to take me from it. But they had no idea at all what my land looked like or who lived there or how we lived. […] My only choice was to keep listening, learning and reading. Perhaps one day I would understand the world of white men well enough to discover how to leave it (Hill, Book: 229f).
This scene is further crucial, as the familiarity with both European and American accounts of Africa contributes to her understanding of her African identity (cf. Borman 2014: 48). This creation of identity becomes even more evident during her work on the ‘Book of Negroes’, which requires her to both listen and write, thereby fusing oral and written traditions (cf. Borman 2014: 50). It therefore becomes clear that literacy and knowledge are pivotal aspects of freedom and identity formation, which sheds light on the issues underlying an unequal education system. As a result, the reader is confronted with the multi-faceted effects of slavery, improving their understanding of history.
Lester also points to the danger of educating captives: it is prevented by slaveholders and even white people face punishment due to an implemented law (cf. Lester, Day: 118f). This can be interpreted to prevent people from further forming an individual identity, as reading contributes to this process (cf. Culler 1997: 112), but also as a way of rendering resistance more difficult due to an increased dependence on slaveholders. Additionally, “the absence of a written history implie[s] the insignificance of one’s past” (LeRoy-Frazier 2004: 152). The importance of literacy and education as well as their connection to slavery thus becomes clear to the reader, shedding light on the wide-reaching effects of the system.
Levy includes the aspect of literacy in her text as well, for example to illustrate the ignorance of certain white people: “’But me can’t, missus,’ July repeated, ‘Me can neither read, nor write.’ Her missus was nearly felled by the force of that sudden understanding. ‘Oh, Marguerite,’ she said with exasperation, ‘why ever not?’” (Levy, Song: 177). Another noteworthy instance is when the author provides the reader with a recipe, not provided by another character (cf. Levy, 58
Song: 202), openly contradicting the alleged absence of knowledge by enslaved people. This is pivotal, as it challenges not only the notion of education and which knowledge is deemed to be important, but also indicates a form of resistance to being prevent access to it. The reader thereby learns, due to an alternative viewpoint, about less frequently discussed aspects of slavery.
The selected texts thus clearly highlight the necessity of literacy and knowledge to achieve full equality. One way of raising such an awareness is the use of neo-slave narratives, a literary genre itself, to re-imagine slaves’ subjectivity and to “educate the present generation into accountability for that sordid past” (Anim-Addo & Lima 2017: 12). The importance of engaging with its history to achieve active chance therefore becomes again clear.
7.2. Stolen and Re-Named: The Connection Between Names and Identity
They had names, the seventy-two people Caleb Godfrey purchased on the Upper Guinea coast in late 1754, but we do not know what they were. They were mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, brothers, sisters, and cousins. They surely possessed a wide range of characteristics as can be found in any collection of seventy-two people, but we will never know what those were. […] It is no accident that the Hare captives’ names were never recorded. Slaves are people whose kinship has been extinguished. Names speak to kinship, belonging in a community, and personhood before law (Kelley 2016: 1).
This quotation clearly explains the importance of names and the multi-faceted consequences their forced change represented with regard to slaves’ humanity and identity. While the selected novels do not focus on the described passage, issues of names are still present in all of them and will be discussed in this subchapter.
Gyasi focuses on this aspect by addressing its role in both the intermarriages between African women and English soldiers on the African coast, and enslavement. A woman married to a soldier states: “’If he wants to call you Emily, let him call you Emily’” (Gyasi, Homegoing: 24). This is justified by captives below the Castle “look[ing] like us, and our husbands must learn to tell the difference’” (Gyasi, Homegoing: 25). Additionally, Kojo Freeman later points to a considerable number of former slaves carrying the same last name (cf. Gyasi, Homegoing: 112). Gyasi hence illustrates the multi-faceted implications of slavery while also addressing lineage and (lost) traditional names of stolen families as well as their implications for identity. The reader thereby is forced to acknowledge the wide-reaching effects of the system, as it had a strong impact both in Africa and the slaves’ designated new living areas in the Americas.
Hill includes the aspect of names as well: “In this new land, I had a different name, given by someone who did not even know me. A new name for the second life of a girl who survived the 59 great river crossing” (Hill, Book: 144). Aminata’s refusal to give up her original name throughout the novel is essential, as it opposes the forced imposition of another identity while maintaining some of her African roots (cf. Oduwobi et al. 2016: 391). This can already be seen at the text’s beginning when she explains the correct pronunciation of Aminata in detail (cf. Hill, Book: 15, cf. Yorke 2010: 137). The focus on her name also insinuates a type of circularity (see Chapter 9.1 and 9.2.), as her final encounter with the Queen of England, who manages to pronounce her name correctly, makes her “resolv[e] then and there that since the Queen of England could pronounce my name, so could the rest of the country” (Hill, Book: 481). Aminata’s insistence on her name throughout the story contributes to a deeper understanding of the effects of slavery, especially as the reader is constantly reminded of her struggle against an imposed identity, and the importance of names for heritage.
Lester also stresses the connection between names and identity: “Up here everybody has two names. In slavery we had only one name. I was known as Emma, a Butler plantation nigger” (Lester, Day: 153). This not only marks a major difference between freedom and captivity, but also highlights the notion of ownership, as she was known as Butler’s property rather than as an individual person. Freed slaves were obliged to choose a new name, even if it was the old one: the focus lay on actively choosing (cf. Carretta 2007: 47). The novel further includes the importance of names by reversing their distribution: both slaves and potential buyers are listed with numbers (cf. Lester, Day: 51). Nevertheless, a list of a few sold individuals’ names is included while the auction leader is thoroughly referred to as slave-seller (cf. Lester, Day: 30, 80f). The text thus points to the deprivation of individuals’ names while refusing to provide auction members with such an identity marker. Therefore, the alternative perspective offers the reader a different portrayal of slavery by reversing the distribution of names, contributing to a more comprehensive depiction of history.
“’John, what’s this one’s name?’ ‘How in heaven’s name would I know?’ came his reply (Levy, Song: 37). This quotation already shows the Andrea Levy’s focus on slaves’ names. It is further highlighted through the character of July, who is called Marguerite by Caroline, as the latter “liked the way the name tripped upon her tongue like a trill. Yet it was only Caroline Mortimer who did look upon July’s face to see a Marguerite residing there. And so we must return to my tale” (Levy, Song: 49). This passage is especially interesting with regard to its structure: Caroline’s choice is trivialised by the narrator’s continued use of ‘July’ and the immediate return to the tale itself. This can be seen as a way of highlighting the arbitrariness connected to a system of ownership, as Caroline expects her wishes to override both July’s and her mother’s
60 choices. This is crucial, as even Kitty’s decision to name her daughter ‘July’ is an act of resistance due to her ability to spell it (cf. Levy, Song: 21; Muñoz-Valdivieso 2016: 43). The reader is thus provided with alternative interpretations of identity and resistance with regard to slavery.
The author takes the focus on names a step further by focusing on a “gathering of slaves” (Levy, Song: 78) before immediately adding: “Let me make an amend. For some of those negroes gathered can now read. And should they perchance find themselves referred to in this publication as slaves, then trouble will chase me” (ibid.). Hence, Levy also includes the importance of individuals choosing both their own name and how they are referred to. This continues to haunt our society until the present day due to the (at times unconscious) use of degrading terms or their misuse with regard to their context. Therefore, the reader is offered an alternative viewpoint to ponder questions of identity and representation, both past and present, shedding light on the strong impact of history for contemporary societies.
Hence, the selected texts illustrate the importance of individual names and general terminology with regard to people’s freedom, which renders the reader more sensitive to the use of language: after all, the control of individuals’ names not only erases people’s past, but also implies a kind of superiority by employing different addresses based on the socially constructed category of race (cf. Andrews et al. 1997: 3). The selected texts therefore effectively offer alternative viewpoints to contribute to a better understanding of slavery and its repercussions.
7.3. Not Just Clothes or Marks: The Role of Symbolic Markers
“[I]n America, the worst thing you could be was a black man. Worse than dead, you were a dead man walking” (Gyasi, Homegoing: 260). This quotation clearly points to the effects of this historical time period and their impact on today’s world, as it is set after the abolition of slavery. The following chapter will focus on elements regarding the materialisation of ideological components necessary to integrate a worldview in a culture (cf. DeMarrais et al. 1996: 15). This is essential, as it impacts existing social and power structures through the use of symbols, which are both symbolic and material in nature (cf. DeMarrais et al. 1996: 15f). Examples, such as icons, rituals, or monuments contribute to this process while also favouring economically advantageous individuals due to the inherent cost of their creation (cf. DeMarrais et al. 1996: 16f). Literacy is vital here as well, as written documents can be used to finalise existing structures formally and lawfully (cf. DeMarrais et al. 1996: 19). This is reinforced by Bly’s (2011) observation that “[o]nce designated as chattel, slaves were bound by words on paper”.
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The importance of elements such as branding, clothing, or ideals regarding freedom in this chapter will further illustrate the impact of such an ideology on the identity of slaves and the repercussions faced by present generations.
In Gyasi’s work, for instance, the notion of freedom is addressed with regard to segregation:
For Sonny, the problem with America wasn’t segregation but the fact that you could not, in fact, segregate. Sonny had been trying to get away from white people for as long as he could remember, but, big as this country was, there was nowhere to go. Not even Harlem, where white folks owned just about everything an eye could see or a hand could touch. What Sonny wanted was Africa. Marcus Garvey had been onto something. Liberia and Sierra Leone, those two efforts had been a good thing, in theory at least. The problem was that in practice things didn’t work the way they did in theory. The practice of segregation still meant that Sonny had to see white people sitting at the front of every bus he took, that he got called “boy” by every other snot-nosed white kid in sight. The practice of segregation meant that he had to feel his separateness as inequality, and that was what he could not take (Gyasi, Homegoing: 244).
This quotation clearly indicates the influence of slavery on later generations. Additionally, the importance of making right choices is highlighted by focusing on this character. His mother criticises him for his resort to heroin and the submission to racial bias: “You keep doin’ what you doin’ and the white man don’t got to do it no more. He ain’t got to sell you or put you in a coal mine to own you. He’ll own you just as is, and he’ll say you the one who did it” (Gyasi, Homegoing: 262f). These scenes as well as the focus on other individuals involved in the slave system, either as victims or perpetrators, illustrates various ideas about freedom (cf. Tillet 2019: 407). The constant threat of violence or a loss of their free status, however, shows the illusion of choice in a system based on supremacy (cf. ibid.). As a result, Gyasi manages to show the effects of slavery in the past and its effects throughout history while also shedding light on less frequently addressed issues and providing marginalised voices with a forum.
Whereas Gyasi thus addresses issues with regard to segregation and choices, Hill includes the use of symbolic markers in his text, for example when “[j]ust above [Aminata’s] right breast, the initials GO run together, in a tight, inch-wide circle” and the character comments on her inability to erase this former mark (Hill, Book: 17). However, the symbol’s connotation with captivity, an “identifying symbol[l]” according to Davis (2006: 53), is in a way changed to one of power later on, as it is used during a parliamentary debate to prove the inhumanity of slavery (cf. Hill, Book: 476f). Slaves’ absence of rights is directly addressed by Aminata when attacking Lindo’s assertion of being able to understand her outsider role: “[E]ven though the man preferred the term servant to slave, he owned me and he owned Dolly and now he owned Dolly’s baby boy. […] He wore fine clothes and came and went as he pleased” (Hill, Book: 62
226f). She renders the observation even more striking when mentioning that “[h]e could sail to London on the next ship if he so desired” (Hill, Book: 227). As a result, it becomes clear that enslavement deprives individuals of all agency and assigns them the lowest social position, as even minority groups could own them. The reader thus enhances their knowledge of history by learning about less known aspects of slavery.
Hill further includes the aspect of clothing and owning property. While “[t]he material objects that are the easiest to associate directly with American slavery across its entire span are those related to work” (Katz-Hyman & Rice 2010: xiii), Dolly collects buckled shoes and hides them under a loose floorboard (cf. Hill, Book: 210). This is essential, as people with possessions “go from being property to having property” (Hyde 2013: 497).48 Hence, Hill shows that enslavement might have deprived people of their freedom of movement, but did not succeed in extinguishing their fire and desire for liberty. This desire becomes even clearer later on when Aminata refuses to “submit again to ownership by any man” (Hill, Book: 259) and is willing to face racial segregation, as she “had chosen freedom, with all its insecurities, and nothing in the world would make [her] turn away from it” (Hill, Book: 329). She proves these statements when she escapes traders, who had promised her to lead her back to her original village before betraying her (cf. Hill, Book: 455f): “Bayo, I could live without. But for freedom, I would die” (Hill, Book: 459). The reader is forced to acknowledge the importance of an aspect frequently taken for granted, widening their perspective on slavery and its implications for the system’s victims. This is especially effective due to providing a marginalised individual with a voice.
An interesting scene in Lester’s text is Emma’s pride in wearing a white dress as a female usher every Sunday (Day: 156):
She looks so proud every Sunday morning when she puts on her white dress all the women ushers have to wear. I put on a suit, a white shirt and black tie. Anybody look at us, they wouldn’t believe that a year ago we were slaves. I’m taking classes at night to learn how to read and write. Everything is perfect except that we left so many in slavery. Sometimes I feel guilty that we made it out. If it wasn’t for Mr. Henry we wouldn’t have. I wish there was a Mr. Henry for all the slaves.
This quotation is essential, as it points to the use of clothing to openly communicate formerly enslaved people’s freedom around the Reconstruction period (cf. Lewis & Lewis 2011: xxxii). Nonetheless, Lester manages to show the complexity of the system, as Joe and Emma were unable to help others despite their liberty and would not have been able to escape without the
48 While this observation is applied to Douglass “The Heroic Slave” in Hyde’s text (2013), it can easily be used to refer to other instances of slaves owning property as well. 63 assistance of a free person. The reader thus is faced with a system haunting individuals even after they manage to start a new life away from the institution of slavery, highlighting the impossibility to completely escape this past and improving their understanding of history.
Levy also includes symbolic elements, for instance when all slaves are barefoot (cf. Levy, Song: 30) or when Kitty’s skirt is described as “once stripped yellow and black”, but “only whispering its former lustre” due to “years of being drenched in a river, pounded against a rock and baked in the sun” (Levy, Song: 35). It is hence illustrated that slaves were also unable to influence their representation to others due to a lack of clothing. Additionally, Nimrod’s “scar upon his lip”, initially seen negatively by July, becomes a mark of bravery after his obtained freedom and his becoming “a man with his own name – not given, but chosen” (Levy, Song: 96). It further illustrates the connotation related to physical manifestations, be they brands, scars, or actual objects, and how they can become more positive during freedom. The reader is therefore confronted with the arbitrary connection between objects and their meaning (cf. Hall 1997: 1, 3) while learning alternative interpretations of slavery and its implications.
The inclusion of the above-mentioned components in the selected texts is crucial, as it illustrates their connection to enslavement and the changed connotation after liberation, pointing to the constructed-ness of racial inferiority. This is highly important, as those symbols were used to establish a system where “[t]he freedom of all southern whites […] rested on the enslavement of Africans and Creole blacks” (Camp 2004: 127), forcing the reader to acknowledge that liberty based upon other people’s disadvantage is far from being a suitable solution. The selected texts hence contribute to a better understanding of slavery and its implications for liberty, past and present, by focusing on the elements of literacy, names, and ‘symbols’ while also inciting the reader to ponder their own notions of freedom and the price others are forced to pay for it.
8. Good Whites, Bad Whites: The Role of Slaveowners, Sexuality, and Abolitionism in the depiction of History
“’He’s a good master,’ Cato said. I say, ‘Ain’t no such thing! If he was good, he wouldn’t be a master’” (Lester, Day: 12). This quotation clearly indicates the problematic aspect of holding slaves while claiming to be a moral human being. The following chapter will focus on how the selected texts and their depiction of white individuals, slaveholders, and abolitionists, contribute to a more comprehensive depiction of history. To ensure a real understanding of the analysis, it is crucial to consider that pro-slavery arguments were designed to convince non- 64 slaveholding individuals of the legitimacy of slavery (cf. Davis 2006: 192). Both the anti- slavery and abolitionist movement opposed these statements: the latter constituted a biracial group present in Europe and the United States (cf. Andrews et al. 1997: 28). As a result, the necessity of considering both proslavery and antislavery whites for a comprehensive understanding becomes clear.49
8.1. Good or Bad? The Depiction of Slaveowners and Their Morality
A pivotal aspect regarding the depiction of whites is the portrayal of slaveowners or individuals participating in the trade system. This is included in all selected texts, hence also in Gyasi’s work. Captives in Africa quickly “learned to back away at the sight of that uniform, that skin the color of coconut meat” (Gyasi, Homegoing: 29). Additionally, the novel distinguishes between more and less human slaveholders: while Ness describes “Thomas Allan Stockham [as] a good master, if such a thing existed” (Gyasi, Homegoing: 71), she refers to her former owner as “the Devil himself” (Gyasi, Homegoing: 80). Therefore, the author nuances between various degrees of humanity while also questioning the morality of any individual owning slaves. This is important, as the marginalised voice sharply contrasts the (white) construction of older narratives, thereby offering an alternative as well as complimentary version of history.
“’[E]vil ain’t got no roof’” (Hill, Book: 183) is a statement made by the slave Georgia in regard to Master Appleby. Hill includes further instances of negativity regarding whites involved in slavery: “Another chicken carcass was thrown into [the captives’] midst, and once more then men wrestled. The sailors doubled over in laughter […]” (Hill, Book: 95). While the quotation points to the cruelty and dehumanising nature of enslavement, the hypocrisy of racial bias is also addressed: “’You call a white man white, he beat you black and blue’” (Hill, Book: 146). This is further reinforced later on when a white person warns Aminata that her freedom “will be hard work. You will be given land and expected to farm it” (Hill, Book: 301). Those instances illustrate the dehumanisation inherent in enslavement on the one hand, and the ignorance regarding slaves’ daily hard (mainly physical) work on the other hand, inciting the reader to realise that the system also prevailed due to people’s refusal to think upon slavery itself. Furthermore, Hill challenges what Du Bois (1920: 463) calls “the divine right of white people to steal” when Appleby attempts to re-enslave Aminata even though she had been owned by Lindo before (cf. Hill, Book: 321ff). Not only offers the author a stark contrast between
49 The exact multi-faceted circumstances contributing to the eventual abolition of first the slave trade system and then slavery are too numerous to be discussed in the scope of this thesis. For more information, I highly recommend Black’s (2015) and/or Davis’ (2006) works. 65
Appleby, who is said to “give white men a bad name”, and Lindo, who sets Aminata free as “a matter of making peace with [his] past”, but he also challenges the notion of white supremacy when the judge asks: “’And you call yourselves gentlemen?’” (Hill, Book: 325f). Hence, the text succeeds in rendering enslavement a matter of morality rather than a dispute between Blacks and whites while also offering a more comprehensive account of this historical period.
Lester depicts Master Butler in a rather negative light as well: while the slave Will even saved his life in the past, the latter sells Will’s daughter Emma for monetary profit (cf. Lester, Day: 5, 87): “How could you do this? We grew up together. We was like brothers!” – “But we aren’t brothers, Will! Now, take Sarah out to the coach or Mattie won’t see you this evening, either”. – “I should have let you drown” (Lester, Day: 87f). These scenes illustrate Mills’ (1997: 16) assertion that freedom and equality, as mentioned in the Declaration of Independence, is restricted to white individuals while also presenting a vast difference in morality between Will and Butler. The sue of alternative viewpoints thereby shows various aspects related to the institution of slavery.
This is further accentuated by including Butler’s perspective in the story:
This is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. But it’s not like I had any choice in the matter. It’s either sell of my slaves and pay my gambling debts or go to prison. I want to tell them how sorry I am to have to do this. But I don’t know if it would matter to them. I see them standing on the auction block and I wonder what they’re thinking, what they’re feeling. Some of them cry, but most don’t show any emotion. Their faces are as blank as tree bark. They probably aren’t feeling anything. That’s one of the ways niggers are different from white people. Their emotions are not as refined as ours. Things that would hurt a white man or woman don’t affect them. If anybody tried to take my Sarah or Frances away from me, I think I would kill them (Lester, Day: 18f).
By doing this, the author forces the reader to acknowledge that while slaveowners might have been convinced of their beliefs, they still ended up on the wrong side of history. Hence, these insights provide a deeper understanding of slavery while also inciting individuals to question their own convictions. The matter of choice highlights this even more: “And if what you mean by nice is that she don’t beat us, then you right. She’s nice. But she ain’t nice enough to set us free” (Lester, Day: 135). Therefore, the importance of questioning prevailing beliefs in the present is highlighted by providing a better understanding of past time periods from marginalised viewpoints.
Likewise, Levy uses a switch in focalising characters, for example by including Caroline’s perspective, to highlight the different perceptions between slaveholders and what they deemed to be their property (cf. Ötzabak-Avci 2017: 125). This can be seen in the following quotation: 66
Soon all that Caroline beheld were negroes, like solid shadows prancing before her. Oh, how many besieged her there? And where could they all have come from? Chinks in some wall, holes within the floor? Did they reside one-on-top-the-other in some chest? Or scurry like galliwasps under the house? Where? Where? Caroline cursed that the Lord only gave her two hands! For which should she do – cover her ears against the calamitous din or her nose? For the stench of their swirling bodies was malodorous as a begrimed mule in the heat (Levy, Song: 31).
The ignorance becomes even clearer when July is confused “[h]ow the missus did not know the pitiless conditions within that dungeon at Amity”, as all slaves, “even those within the kitchen, feared its viciousness” (Levy, Song: 175). Hence, the reader is confronted with competing perceptions and forced to acknowledge that practices, even if agreed on by a majority, ought to be questioned continuously. The selected texts thereby all contribute to a better understanding of the ideology underlying slavery while also criticising its blind acceptance.
8.2. Physical Violence 2.0: The Threat of Sexual Abuse
A further crucial element regarding the portrayal of whites is sexuality, as “woman have expressed greater sensitivity to violence because they were exposed to more of it”, which also includes undesired sexual advances (Camp 2004: 42). This results in enslaved women frequently being regarded as victims, inciting pity rather than respect (cf. Foster 2017: 620). Neo-slave narratives challenge this victimisation: even though sexuality, both chosen and (violently) imposed, plays an important role in all selected texts, none of the characters is reduced to the role of a victim of sexual assault.
Gyasi addresses this topic from various angles, including the intermarriage between English soldiers and African village girls to improve business relations (cf. Gyasi, Homegoing: 15). Such a deal, however, did not guarantee equality to those women: “She’d heard the Englishmen call them ‘wenches’, not wives. ‘Wife’ was a word reserved for white women across the Atlantic” (Gyasi, Homegoing: 19). The precarious situation of those so-called ‘wenches’ becomes clear in the novel:
After that first day in the Castle, James never spoke to Effia about the slaves they kept in the dungeon, but he spoke to her often about beasts. That was what the Asantes trafficked most her. Beasts. […] She wondered what such a bird would be worth, because in the Castle all beasts were ascribed worth. She had seen James look at a king crown brought in by one of their Asante traders and declare that it was worth four pounds. What about the human beast? How much was he worth? Effia had known, of course, that there were people in the dungeons. People who spoke a different dialect than her, people who she had never thought of where they went from there. She had never thought of what James must think every time he saw them. If he went into the
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dungeon and saw women who reminded him of her, who looked like her and smelled like her. If he came back to her haunted by what he saw (Gyasi, Homegoing: 25).
This inclusion of intermarriage is important, as it widens the readers’ understanding of all black women’s role during the slavery period, indicating that they faced numerous challenges rather than solely sexual assaults. Nonetheless, those interracial obstacles are not reduced to females, as the couple’s son, Quey, also struggles with his status as a mulatto, unable to “fully claim either half or himself, neither his father’s whiteness nor his mother’s blackness” (Gyasi, Homegoing: 55f). The complexity of the system thus is, again, highlighted by providing marginalised viewpoints.
The novel also includes the rape scene of Esi by a young officer (cf. Gyasi, Homegoing: 47ff). Gyasi, however, manages to not only describe the girl’s shock and pain, but also to address the rapist’s inhumanity: “When he had finished, he looked horrified, disgusted with her. As though he were the one who had something taken from him. […] Suddenly Esi knew that the soldier had done something that even the other soldiers would find fault with” (Gyasi, Homegoing: 48). This is vital, as Gyasi portrays the soldier as inferior to the captive, resorting to unmoral choices not even other slave traders can justify. The reader is confronted with the complex question of morality, as there are even nuances in a system as horrifying as slavery. Furthermore, Esi’s strength contrasts simple victimisation, thereby using her voice as an alternative representation of slavery and its implications.
Hill clearly points to the double threat females faced during enslavement when Aminata states: “Some say that I was once uncommonly beautiful, but I wouldn’t wish beauty on any woman who has not her own freedom, and who chooses not the hands that claim her” (Hill, Book: 17). This is quickly affirmed during the sexual abuse endured by females during the Middle Passage (cf. Hill, Book: 90, 93). However, the text presents an interesting contrast to the above- mentioned scene in Gyasi’s novel, as Aminata manages to escape rape on the ship due to her young age (cf. Hill, Book: 90). The relief, also felt by the reader, is only temporary: when Appleby learns about Aminata’s involvement with Chekura, he rapes her to stake his claim on her, asking: “’Who owns you’”? (Hill, Book: 178f). Instead of leaving her in this victimised position, however, Aminata is brought outside by a fellow slave, pointing to the importance of community (see also Chapter 6.2.), and provided with herbs to prevent a pregnancy by Georgia, thereby taking some control over her body again (cf. Hill, Book: 179f). Nonetheless, another woman soon is sexually abused by Appleby, who can only be saved by death: “It had taken another woman to save me from Appleby, and only the pox had saved her” (Hill, Book: 180).
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The text thus addresses the omnipresence of sexual violence endured by women while also including certain ways the commodification of their bodies was resisted, showing that resistance varies greatly depending on the respective situations and contexts. As a result, a more comprehensive understanding of slavery, its challenges, and incredible strength is achieved.
Lester includes this element less directly when a slave states: “I didn’t like the way that man [a potential buyer] was looking at me” (Lester, Day: 55). While Lester does not explicitly state the danger of sexual abuse, it can be inferred by the reader, forcing them to cognitively engage with the text, which is more likely to result in empathy (see Chapter 2.1.). Additionally, the absence of actual sexual violence creates a contrast between the strong physical victimisation of females while still forcing the reader to acknowledge the harsh reality of female slaves.
Levy also addresses female’s punishments, which, according to Camp (2004: 33), were more prone to containing sexual components: “’Me no steal, massa, me no steal.’ July said. His finger had a jagged nail that scraped across her skin as it probed to find other holes to fill. ‘You’re a little thieving nigger, aren’t you,’ he almost whispered in July’s ear” (Levy, Song: 86). Nonetheless, July reclaims her sexual independence later on when she becomes involved with Goodwin (cf. Levy, Song: 221f). While he sends her away initially, Levy remarks on the scarcity of such a behaviour:
Reader, I must whisper you a truth. Come, put your ear close to this page. Lean in a little closer still. For I am moved to speak honestly regarding the last chapter you have just read. Are you listening, reader? Then let me softly impart to you this fact. That is not the way white men usually behaved upon this Caribbean island (Levy, Song: 223).
This is crucial, as the narrator uses a separate chapter to force the reader to acknowledge the frequency of abuses endured by slaves, even if it is not directly included in the text. Additionally, the demand to “[l]ean in a little closer still” (ibid.) blurs the binary opposition between here/there or now/then, thereby creating a closer connection between the past and present (cf. Ötzabak-Avci 2017: 138). As a result, Levy sheds light on the frequency of sexual abuse and punishments, contributing to the reader’s understanding of slavery and its dangers.
The texts thus focus on the agency of women victimised through sexual abuse while still acknowledging the horror of their situations: “At times, I still panic when surrounded by white men with a purpose” (Hill, Book: 19). As a result, the reader is provided with a better understanding of sexual threats endured by females during slavery, rendered even harsher due to adopting their perspective.
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8.3. Blurred Lines: Abolitionists and Remaining Racial Restrictions
In contrast to the above-mentioned chapters, there were also white individuals set on assisting slaves: “Abolitionists were moved and subsequently moved against slavery” (Lamb-Books 2916: 69). The final abolition of slavery is essential, as “the trading in men would continue for as long as people were free to take others as their property” (Hill, Book: 440). Despite the good intentions of those abolitionists and other white people, white supremacy was still present in their endeavours. The following texts are therefore crucial to provide a better understanding of this issue while also inciting readers to ponder their own unconscious behaviour patterns and beliefs.
Gyasi’s text includes the remaining ignorance to the complexity of black history when a teacher asks Marjorie for a contribution to an organised black culture event (Gyasi, Homegoing: 273):
“All you have to do is tell your story,” Mrs. Pinkston said. “Talk about what being African American means to you.” “But I’m not African American,” Marjorie said. Though she couldn’t exactly read the look on Mrs. Pinkston’s face, Marjorie knew instantly that she had said the wrong thing. She wanted to explain it to Mrs. Pinkston, but she didn’t know how. She wanted to tell Mrs. Pinkston that at home, they had a different word for African Americans. Akata. The akata people were different from Ghanaians, too long gone from the mother continent to continue calling it the mother continent. She wanted to tell Mrs. Pinkston that she could feel herself being pulled away too, almost akata, too long gone from Ghana to be Ghanaian. But the look on Mrs. Pinkston’s face stopped her from explain herself at all.
This is essential, as it points both to a lack of reflection on the part of the teacher, and on an impossibility of expressing herself for Marjorie. Hence, the reader is forced to acknowledge that the issue of ‘race’ and history has more profound impacts than widely believed and that hearing alternative, marginalised viewpoints is crucial for a better understanding of its implications, past and present.
Hill includes this element with regard to abolitionism:
Believing I am deaf, Sir Hastings murmurs to his neighbour that I can’t be expected to grasp the details in their complexity. […] Sir Hastings says that the British people are still haunted by the bloody slave uprisings in St. Domingue. Nasty business, all that butchering of white men (Hill, Book: 116f).
Such a quotation points to the underlying racism present in abolitionism, which can also be seen in Black abolitionists being advised to report facts while leaving argumentations to whites (cf. Bacon 2011: 142f). It further shows that Blacks were deprived of a voice in a movement aimed at their liberation. Nonetheless, abolitionism needed a former slave’s story and voice to be
70 effective (cf. Hill, Book: 442), confirming Lamb-Books (2016: 6) characterisation of charisma as mobilising aspect. Hill’s decision to make Aminata the movement’s voice is essential, as black females faced double binds, i.e. their Blackness and gender (cf. Lamb-Books 2016: 189). Hence, the text problematises white supremacy within abolitionism while providing a doubly marginalised individual with a voice, highlighting the importance of alternative viewpoints for a comprehensive understanding of history.
The novel addresses further components related to abolitionism. One is a division among abolitionists: John Clarkson lacks real power within the movement and is rather quiet, but the only one Aminata considers to be trustworthy (cf. Hill, Book: 16, 117). This is interesting, as it indicates that there are further untold perspectives, also from white individuals, presumably those questioning elements of abolitionism itself. Another mentioned aspect is the resistance via sugar abstinence to avoid “drink[ing] from the blood of slaves”, even suggesting a red colouring of sugar products (Hill, Book: 115f). This refers to the boycott of sugar (cf. Walvin 2007: 159f), attacking the crop’s profitableness (cf. Black 2015: 42), as “sugar equals plantations equals African slavery” (Walvin 2007: 39). Hill hence criticises abolitionism while also showing the numerous resistance acts taken to challenge slavery, thereby illustrating the system’s complexity. Due to the adoption of Aminata’s voice, the text further achieves a more comprehensive depiction of this time period.
In Lester’s text, white resistance is especially addressed through Mistress Butler, who is based on an actual abolitionist (cf. Lester, Day: 172) and can be seen as the foil to her former husband Master Butler. On the one hand, her absence until a latter point in the novel, i.e. the assistance of Joe’s and Emma’s escape to Canada (cf. Lester, Day: 157-65), can be seen as the impossibility of fighting an established system. On the other hand, her eventual realisation that she might have had a bigger impact than anticipated (cf. Lester, Day: 164) illustrates that small contributions are also important, insinuating that unknown individuals are just as necessary for equality as leaders. Hence, alternative viewpoints are used to achieve a more comprehensive understanding of slavery while also inciting the reader to think upon the system’s repercussions and possible ways of resistance, both past and in contemporary times.
Levy also challenges “narratives that infantilize slaves by rendering them in need of the protection of white paternal figures” (Ötzabak-Avci 2017: 132). This can, for example, be seen when July corrects Jane Kinsman’s assertion that she allegedly replied “’No, missus, him was born in de wood – where be wedlock?’” when asked if her son had been “born in wedlock”: “Reader, let me assure you now and make as plain as I might – July said no such fool-fool thing 71 to that white missus, at that time or any other! Cha” (Levy, Song: 166; cf. Öztabak-Avci 2017: 131f). Similar to Hill’s attempt to “tell a corrective story that redirects the existing slave narrative tradition” (Yorke 2010: 143), Levy hence challenges the traditional format by focusing on the story’s fictionality and unreliability rather than authenticity (cf. Ötzabak-Avci 2017: 122). Additionally, the fact that she refuses to have other mentioned documents, such as a referred pamphlet (cf. Levy, Song: 90), outweigh the importance of her tale (cf. Ötzabak-Avci 2017: 129), clearly insists on her voice. The marginalised perspective therefore challenges a system of white supremacy, which last to the present day, contributing to a more comprehensive account of slavery and its consequences.
All selected novels thus shed light on less frequently analysed elements regarding slavery by including various perspectives, resisting female victimisation, and highlighting the complexity and hypocrisy inherent in resisting or even abolishing slavery, thereby offering a deeper historical understanding. This is further achieved by “troubl[ing] the boundary between the fictional and the historical, opening to reconfiguration not only narratives, fictional or nonfictional, but the ways in which we engage with them” (Ötzabak-Avci 2017: 129). The necessity of storytelling for history will become even clearer in the following chapter.
9. Whose Story Is It? The Importance of Perspective and Voice in History and Storytelling
“’History is Storytelling’” (Gyasi, Homegoing: 225). This is especially important with regard to the selected texts, as humans have an innate desire to both tell and hear stories (cf. Culler 1997: 83). To be a narrator further implies a certain level of authority given by listeners or readers (cf. Culler 1997: 87). Furthermore, stories influence people’s understanding of individual and national identity, thereby shaping our understanding of history, society, and values (cf. Garcia et al. 2014: 1). As the majority of authorised narratives are, however, white (cf. ibid.), neo-slave narratives by black authors featuring black voices are an essential genre to analyse.50 The implemented re-telling and re-interpretation of the past, which is accompanied by various voices and a metalinguistic focus on the process of knowledge creation and acquisition, contribute to an inclusion of black experiences in history (cf. Fabi 2004: 38). The importance of historical dimensions, circularity as well as the connection to Africa, storytelling
50 The importance of considering various viewpoints is also addressed in Adichie’s TedTalk “The danger of a single story” (2009). 72 as well as viewpoint for a comprehensive understanding of history will be the focus of the following chapter.
9.1. Not in the Past: Slavery, and Its Continued Legacy
The impact of slavery on history is frequently underestimated (cf. Walvin 2007: 2). This is related to a strong presence of white supremacy, contributing to the formation of society as known and resulting in the so-called ‘racial contract’ (cf. Mills 1997: 1, 11). The contract refers to a collection of ‘agreements’ between superior group members, in this case white people, to classify other colours as inferior (cf. Mills 1997: 11f). This not only transforms these classified individuals into objects, but also results in an adaptation of morality, equality, and jurisdiction standards according to the superior entity’s preferences (cf. ibid.). Due to the historical basis for this inequality, the importance of connecting past and present becomes evident, and is also addressed in all selected texts.
Gyasi clearly marks the connection between past and present already at the novel’s beginning by including a family tree, linking past and present generations. This is reinforced by the recurring symbol of the stone (cf. Gyasi, Homegoing: 18, 46, 49, 54, 152, 267), which is said to not only provide “great comfort”, but also to be constantly worn (Gyasi, Homegoing: 18, 54). Its origin in Effia’s and Esi’s mother (cf. Chapter 4.3.) establishes a firm connection between the two sisters and their lineage. Nevertheless, their different fates also impact their ability to keep this object:
Esi took the stone from against her cheek and swallowed it. […] That day, she had found her mother’s stone in the river of shit. […] ‘No, my stone!’ Esi shouted, remembering the golden-black stone her mother had given her. She flung herself to the ground and started to dig and dig and dig, but then the soldier was lifting her body […] (Gyasi, Homegoing: 46, 49).
This symbolises not only the difference between the two sisters’ fate, as “Esi is unable to retain the only physical item that she was given by her mother” (Yothers 2018: 217), but also between their descendants, as “Marjorie [is] able to carry the stone that she inherited from her distant ancestor Effia back and forth across the Atlantic” (ibid.). The stone is given to descendants throughout the novel, for example to Abena before she leaves her village (cf. Gyasi, Homegoing: 152f), or to Marjorie later on: “It had belonged to Old Lady and to Abena before her, and to James, and Quey, and Effia the Beauty before that. It had begun with Maame, the woman who had set a great fire” (Gyasi, Homegoing: 267). The resulting circularity and connection across their lineage becomes especially clear at the novel’s end when Marjorie and
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Marcus, the last descendants of the respective family trees, meet and the latter describes a feeling of being found and eventually even overcomes his fear of water, approaching Marjorie “where the fire met the water” (Gyasi, Homegoing: 293, 300). The author hence powerfully illustrates the importance of addressing repressed memories, i.e. the roots, before achieving true freedom (cf. Vint 2007: 245). This transition seems complete, as Marcus, in contrast to his father Sonny, whose “mind was a brilliant mind, but […] trapped underneath something” (Gyasi, Homegoing: 285), manages to approach this healing: “[O]nly by accepting this history as part of ourselves are we able to resist its pernicious influence and work toward the healing that might come with more complete stories” (Vint 2007: 255). As a result, the necessity of a more comprehensive history of slavery to truly understand the system’s contemporary effects is effectively underlined.
Gyasi further highlights a past that continues to affect individuals even after attaining freedom (cf. Weinstein 2007: 131) through the story of the firewoman: Akua is haunted by dreams of a fire “shaped like a woman holding two babies to her heart” (Gyasi, Homegoing: 175) before she eventually kills two out of her three children in her sleep, resulting in only Yaw’s survival (cf. Gyasi, Homegoing: 197f, 237-42). The firewoman is described as an ancestor returning to visit Akua, which further results in her discovery of evil in their lineage, i.e. the involvement in the trade system (Gyasi, Homegoing: 241f): “No one forgets that they were once captive, even if they are now free” (Gyasi, Homegoing: 242). This is crucial, as Akua grows up separated by her parents and thereby loses part of her lineage (cf. Yothers 2018: 215). The eventual reconciliation with this lineage’s past via Marjorie thus illustrates a successful engagement with history from multiple perspectives to look ahead into a brighter future.
While Hill also fuses past and present, he does so in the character of Aminata: “In South Carolina, I had been an African. In Nova Scotia, I had become known as a Loyalist, or a Negro, or both. And now, finally back in Africa, I was seen as a Nova Scotian, and in some respects thought of myself that way too” (Hill, Book: 401f). The earlier discussion of her new collective identity (see Chapter 6.2.) and the immediate connection to her role as djeli, i.e. village storyteller (see Chapter 9.3.), highlight the complexity of slavery and the vast impact on her future life: “The change in geography does not erase either the prior memory of having been a slave or the complex psychology and emotions associated with it” (Bassard 2014: 170). Her acceptance of her role as a djeli (cf. Hill, Book: 460-64) as well as her final insistence on writing her own story illustrate her decisiveness to leave her lack of agency behind for achieving an impact via her story: “’This is not a question of your literacy,’ Wilberforce said. ‘It is rather an
74 issue of ensuring its authenticity.’ ‘That is precisely why nobody will tell my story but me’” (Hill, Book: 472). The importance of sharing past experiences for a peaceful present thus becomes clear in Aminata’s journey to her final identity, thereby also confirming Oduwobi et al.’s (2016: 393) assertion that “identity is a social construct rather than a geographic one”. The reader is hence confronted with a more comprehensive account of history and identity.
Lester also includes the past-present connection in the form of various generations in his novel when Emma talks to her granddaughter in the final chapter (cf. Lester, Day: 166-71). As the former provides her relative with information regarding slavery, Goldberg’s (2017: 63) statement that captives were forced to tell their stories to their descendants to achieve lawfulness at a later time is inferred. The reader hence is incited to focus on the future while engaging in a story set in the past, i.e. to “look at what is happening and what will happen” (ibid.). Day of Tears also incites its readers to engage with a past, which continues to haunt the present, widening the historical repertoire available to present generations. This is reinforced by including ‘Interludes’, which offer alternative viewpoints at various points in time, rendering the account more comprehensive and multi-faceted.
Levy strikingly creates a tie between the past and present, for example by continuously switching between the narrator (present) and the July (past). The constant changes also highlight a combination of individual and collective memory (cf. Lima 2012: 138). This is reinforced by including the traditional slave narrative layout, i.e. a frame around her tale, but challenging its conventions at the same time by having her black son devise this text. The metafictional nature of her tale further “highlight[s] the extent to which slave narratives were founded upon a fundamental lack of knowledge” (Lima 2012: 138). Levy thereby educates her readers on ideologies underlying history by explicitly challenging generic boundaries and focalising the writing process (cf. Lima 2012: 141), which contributes to a better understanding of the complexity underlying slavery. The focus on the writing process can also be seen in the following quotation: “This tale is of my making. This story is told for my bemusement. What befalls July is for me to devise” (Levy, Song: 158). Her latter fast-forwarding of thirty years (cf. Levy, Song: 311) further highlights the narrative process while also pointing to Lima’s (2012: 144) observation that her story is told from memory, and that “[h]istory and memory are never completely merged”. Levy thereby powerfully challenges historical accounts while also inciting her readers to question prevailing stories, their veracity, and their connected worldviews.
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All selected texts use a connection between the past and the present to provide a more comprehensive understanding of history and its implications to the present day, which is especially achieved by providing numerous, alterative viewpoints.
9.2. Running in Circles: Circularity and the Role of Africa in Neo-Slave Narratives
As can be seen in the early discussed doubt regarding former slave narratives’ credibility, “[t]he voice of the slave, it seems, is doomed to be doubted where it is not absolutely prescribed” (Rushdy 2004: 98). The employed strategies of contemporary texts to adapt a voice, which “is discontinuous and part of a larger communal voice” (ibid.), links the above-discussed connection between past and present to this chapter. Additionally, it implies a level of circularity, creating a connection between their various lives and integrating a discussion of Africa and its role in coming to terms with history: to come full circle, in a way. While this chapter hence is closely related to the preceding one, a stronger focus on circularity itself and Africa will be the focus over the course of the following pages, setting it apart from its predecessor while also illustrating the close connection between numerous aspects regarding slavery and their effects.
The connection to Africa is addressed in Gyasi’s novel. Initially, a character remarks: “’We can’t go back to something we ain’t never been to in the first place. It ain’t ours anymore. This is” (Gyasi, Homegoing: 255). While this quotation points to a necessity of picking and creating an identity despite harsh circumstances, the character Marjorie is offered another option by repeatedly visiting her grandmother Akua, who informs her about their lineage and the impossibility of finding peace without knowing “where they came from” (Gyasi, Homegoing: 268). The two relatives further engage in “their summer ritual, her grandmother reminding her how to come home” (ibid.). This conclusion is especially noteworthy, as Gyasi overall refuses to provide her readers with closure by keeping the two family lines separate throughout her work (cf. Selejan 2019: 107). Nonetheless, her final “closure of sorts by making the descendants of the two sisters, a young woman and a man, meet in the U.S. and travel together to Ghana, to Cape Coast Castle” (ibid.) presents a circular structure, beginning and ending the story in Africa around that Castle, the sisters’ two lineages finally connected. It can be interpreted as coming to peace with one’s past and disrupting a certain downward spiral, escaping a lineage of immoral choices by individuals involved in the slave trade system: “Evil begets evil. It transmutes, so that sometimes you cannot see that the evil in the world began as the evil in your own home. […] ‘Be free, Yaw. Be free’” (242). As a result, the reader is confronted with the
76 haunting nature of slavery while being incited to use their increased knowledge of the past to strive towards a better future.
Hill also includes such a circularity accompanied by disillusionment when Aminata returns to Africa: “I was now standing on the continent of my birth, but as lost as I had been across the ocean” (Hill, Book: 411). Aminata is even called “a toubab with a black face” (ibid.), which forces her to re-adjust her “notions of group belonging” so as to “encompass her African origins and her identification with Black Loyalists and Nova Scotian returnees” (Borman 2014: 51). This is especially important with regard to her role as a djeli later on, which makes her address “an imagined community of listeners and readers, where her life story has the power to bring people together under a common commitment” (ibid.). This idea of a, in a way, global audience as well as her fulfilment of her childhood dream to become a djeli (cf. Borman 2014: 52) point to a level of circularity, which can also be seen as the ever-changing nature of identity emerging from a past of enslavement, even nowadays. This is described by Nehl (2016: 152) as “a dynamic understanding of home based on discontinuity and change”. The text thereby offers an alternative way of interpreting the past and its connection to contemporary times.
Another essential element regarding Aminata’s return is her employing a focus on her roots as a coping mechanism to adjust to changes and horrible events (cf. Nehl 2016: 147). This becomes even clearer when she comes across a small girl in a coffle upon her return to Africa, a girl that “appeared to belong to nobody but her captors” (Hill, Book: 413). The young captive’s experience reminiscent of Aminata’s childhood becomes even clearer when nobody “look[ed] back, but the girl did” (Hill, Book: 416). Her impossibility to save that girl is noteworthy, as it forces the reader to acknowledge that resistance sometimes has to occur strategically, for example through Aminata’s work with abolitionists in England. Nonetheless, the novel does not provide an explicit answer regarding this dilemma, which complicates questions of identity and resistance, illustrating slavery’s complexity. The reader is hence refused an end of the circularity regarding children’s capture in the novel, resulting in a more comprehensive understanding of the repercussions of slavery endured by its victims, even after when free.
The link to Africa is absent in Lester’s novel, which focuses on the auction of slaves itself. Nonetheless, the dialogical format is important, as it is reminiscent of Sievers’ (1999: 192) assertion that readers are to make the choice whether to enter a dialogue with authors of neo- slave narratives and question “preconceived notions of identity in which ‘difference’ is constantly reaffirmed as a barrier to communication”. In a way, the reader thus faces the choice of whether to disrupt the circularity of racial bias or remain impassive, challenging the notion 77 of slavery being a thing of the past. Despite the absence of Africa, the text thereby incites the reader to engage more deeply with slavery and its effects.
“But before you slap this book shut in frustration at your storyteller having strayed so far from her tale, let me bring you back so you can find reason within this old woman’s diversion” (Levy, Song: 137). This quotation illustrates The Long Song’ narration with regard to circularity, diverting and returning to the tale throughout the novel. The importance of such an approach is highlighted by Goldberg (2017: 57f):
[N]eo-slave narratives embed the past, present, and future together in an “excessive present” within their texts and thus enact both continuity and rupture through literary acts which reach back in time in order to call into the future through engaging with and making demands on the immediately present readers to bear the burden of witnessing.
The readers’ insecurity of the story’s actual end due to Levy’s repeated efforts to end her tale before its actual “final dot” (Levy, Song: 335; see also 157 or 305) is important, as it forces the reader to experience a level of uncertainty themselves. While this is done in a safe environment and nowhere near the threats experienced during slavery, the reader is nevertheless forced to acknowledge the insecurity between July’s social life or death, thereby being in “the discomforting position of considering the time of slavery” (Goldberg 2017: 67). The circular or at times even repetitive structure of the novel’s narration can thus be seen as representing the continuous insecurity of enslaved individuals, contributing to a fuller account of slavery’s multi-faceted consequences over history.
The selected texts’ focus on both present, past, and circularity, illustrating the complex nature of slavery and its effects while also contributing to a better understanding of its implications, both past and present.
9.3. A Myriad of Unheard Stories: The Importance of Storytelling and Perspective for History
“They kept as many as two hundred and fifty women here for about three months at a time. From here they would lead them out this door.” He walked further. […] It was a wooden door painted black. Above it, there was a sign that read Door of No Return. […] Them. Them. Always them. No one called them by name. No one in the group spoke. They all stood still, waiting. For what, Marcus didn’t know (Gyasi, Homegoing: 299).
This quotation clearly shows the importance of focusing on untold stories and unheard voices to gain a fuller understanding of history. It is further directly linked to Harding’s (2004: 3) comments on standpoint theory, which stresses the different perception of social order from the oppressed group’s perspective. Hence, it is essential to consider “marginality as position and 78 place of resistance” rather than desperation to prevent a complete colonialization of people’s subjectivities and minds (Hooks 2004: 157). This is reinforced by Culler’s (1997: 91f) statements regarding the capacity of stories to provide other viewpoints and to identify with oppressed people so as to understand the intolerability of the status quo. The speciality of neo- slave narratives lies, according to Sievers (1999: 189), in its capability to create a platform for marginalised black voices while escaping the reversal of old power structures: rather than excluding other groups, it creates a space where readers of different backgrounds are incited to become involved in issues regarding history. The following chapter will therefore focus on the importance of viewpoint, storytelling, and history to create a more comprehensive understanding of slavery.
Gyasi directly addresses the issue of history and the necessity to question accounts, their ideology, and veracity in a lesson taught by Yaw:
[W]e cannot know which story is correct.” He looked at the rest of the class, slowly understanding. “We cannot know which story is correct because we were not there.” […] “This is the problem of history. We cannot know that which we were not there to see and hear and experience for ourselves. We must rely upon the words of others. Those who were there in the olden days, they told stories to the children so that the children would know, so that the children could tell stories to their children. And so on, and so on. But now we come upon the problem of conflicting stories. Kojo Nyarko says that when the warriors came to this village their coats were red, but Kwame Adu says that they were blue. Whose story do we believe, then?” The boys were silent. They stared at him, waiting. “We believe the one who has the power. He is the one who gets to write the story. So when you study history, you must always ask yourself, Whose story am I missing? Whose voice was suppressed so that this voice could come forth? Once you have figured that out, you must find that story too. From there, you begin to get a clearer, yet still imperfect, picture” (Gyasi, Homegoing: 226f).
The novel tackles this problematic aspect by offering numerous perspectives of the past and by continuously switching between characters, showing contrasting viewpoints and shedding light on less frequently addressed aspects. Additionally, Gyasi points to the impossibility of reducing history to a single component when Marcus struggles with the research for his dissertation: his initial decision to discuss the convict leasing system (see chapter on H) becomes complicated once he realises that it is impossible to write about this issue without addressing other distinct, yet related ones (cf. Gyasi, Homegoing: 286, 289f). This highlights not only the impossibility of discussing ‘race’ without addressing its history, but it also disputes the idea of slavery being ‘a thing of the past’ by pointing to its countless repercussions, lasting to the present day. The reader thus gains a better understanding of the complex interrelation of the institution and issues faced over the course of history or nowadays.
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“If I live long enough to finish this story, it will outlive me. […] Sometimes I imagine the first reader to come upon my story. […] One of these people will find my story and pass it along. And then, I believe, I will have lived for a reason” (Hill, Book: 119). The quotation is directly linked to Aminata’s desire to become a djeli (cf. Hill, Book: 463f), i.e. a figure retelling stories connected to collective history. This, however, seems impossible at first, “for she is doubly handicapped: She is both a woman and enslaved” (Borman 2014: 45). By overcoming those “handicaps”, she engages with the past rather than repressing it: “I vowed not to let the noises of the city drown out their voices or rob me of my past. It was less painful to forget, but I would look and I would remember” (Hill, Book: 207). As a result, she shares an alternative perspective with her readers while also telling the stories of a few enslaved individuals unable to do so themselves, in a way counteracting Chekura’s statement that “’[w]e do not know their stories” (Hill, Book: 52). The reader thus is forced to acknowledge a painful past with numerous effects, increasing their knowledge of history and its impact in the contemporary world.
Lester also points to the importance of storytelling in the depiction of history, for example in Emma’s ‘Interlude’ (Lester, Day: 15ff):
I remember that morning like it was yesterday. I don’t know how old I was. I reckon I was around twelve, but nobody kept track of things like that back in slavery. What good would it have done us to know how many years we’d been slaves? I can still hear the rain. It was so loud we had to almost shout when we had something to say to each other. But wasn’t much to say that morning. Or maybe there was a lot to say, but we didn’t know the words. […] Sarah, my oldest girl, told me that in one of her books it said a picture is worth a thousand words. I told her whoever wrote that didn’t know very much. When I think back on slavery and all what happened that day when God cried, couldn’t no picture make you feel what it was like. Maybe a picture could show you the rain, but that picture couldn’t make you feel how thick and heavy the air was and how hard it was to breathe. That picture couldn’t make you feel how our skin was covered with a sweat that was like grease that had been used too many times to fry chicken in. […] That picture would be a lie.
This is further reinforced by the structure in dialogical form and the inclusion of spoken language, thereby “experiment[ing] with the tension between a literacy that captures and an orality that liberates” (Rushdy 2004: 102). Lester further challenges the simplification of history when Emma talks to her granddaughter and explains that “a lot of people, white and black, died because of slavery. […] And that’s all that matters in life. If your heart hurts when you see somebody suffering, you have a good heart” (Lester, Day: 170). This is essential, as it includes the importance of morality while also establishing a basis for dialogue without diminishing the painfulness of enslavement for Blacks. The reader is thus again confronted with the multi- faceted nature of slavery and the numerous lives of subsequent generations affected by the system. 80
Levy’s novel also offers a marginalised perspective during slavery, a historical time period rarely addressed due to a combination of an overruling white perspective and the initial desire to forget slavery by Blacks (cf. Lima 2012: 142). Such an avoidance is linked to it being perceived as “a long dark period during which blacks were denied individuality and even their humanity” (ibid.). This is essential, as Levy not only provides insights into enslaved individuals’ lives, but also creates a powerful narrator, recuperating some of the lost agency. This can, for instance, be seen when the reader is asked to “worry no more upon my son’s rudeness, just follow me close” (Levy, Song: 26) or to stop the lecture of the text in case of “find[ing] your head nodding in agreement at this man’s bluster [in a pamphlet] […] for I no longer wish you as my reader” (Levy, Song: 91). It further trivialises the alleged white supremacy: “But, reader, let us follow the fiddlers’ example and run from this place. For I fear you will never forgive your storyteller for resigning you to listen upon the puff and twaddle of such dull [white] company” (Levy, Song: 78). As a result, Levy contributes to a better understanding of history through an alternative viewpoint while also ironically challenging the notion of black inferiority and stereotypical representations found in other accounts.
The authors of the selected texts thereby force the reader to engage with contested and harsh realities of a past that continues to haunt the present, counteracting “the way most people liv[e] their lives, on upper levels, not stopping to peer underneath” (Gyasi, Homegoing: 298).
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10. Conclusion
“Englishmen do love to bury one thing so completely in another that the two can only be separated by force: peanuts in candy, indigo in glass, Africans in irons” (Hill, Book: 118f). This quotation illustrates the close connection between separate components, which can also be seen in the institution of slavery and its numerous repercussions, which last to the present day. Neo- slave narratives contribute to a better understanding of this frequently suppressed “past with the goal of strengthening possibilities for a more meaningful, richer, black […] present and future” (Lima 2012: 145).
In line with this observation, the focus of this thesis lay on neo-slave narratives and their contribution to a better understanding of the workings and diverse effects of slavery due to the use of black voices with the aim of achieving a more comprehensive and multi-faceted depiction of history. This has been done by analysing four selected works with regard to aspects, including, but not limited to, the portrayal of enslavement itself, the role of nature, rebellion, or community, as well as the discussion of freedom and whites’ involvement. The work was concluded by analysing history and storytelling itself as well as the implications of merging past and present or offering marginalised viewpoints. The initial overview of empathy, white supremacy, and the genre question has helped to provide a guiding framework for this analysis.
Where does this leave us now? It forces us to acknowledge the implications of the genre for real-life situations, for example with regard to the debate about reparations: while those are frequently associated with “cold cash”, measures, such as the improvement of educational institutions or black neighbourhoods, offer alternative options (cf. Anim-Addo & Lima 2017: 11). It is further important to listen to stories from marginalised viewpoints, as the description and representation of groups influence or even control their perception (cf. Bahri 2004: 205). After all, Du Bois’ (1920: 465) question whether the world is “wide enough for two colors” should not be a question, but rather a statement: the world is wide enough for as many colours and identities as individuals desire to adapt.
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Works Cited and Consulted
Primary Literature
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Filmography
McQueen, Steve, Director (2014). 12 Years a Slave [2013]. [Film/Video]. Hamburg: Universal Pictures Germany.
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