jcr

                                                            The Fear

The most important emotional knowledge communicated by slaves is fear/exhaustion. This can drive a slave to fight for what is right. In this case they are fighting for their lives. I believe a life without freedom isn’t a life worth living. Therefor desperate times call for desperate measures. When captured and put to work as a slave you will feel powerless, knowing that there is so many of them and only one of you. This can cause you to not care about anything because you have nothing more to lose. If you don’t try something you might as well be considered dead, if you are not living the way you want to.  The works of literature that best explains my arguments are From The Interesting Narrative Of The Life Of Olaudah Equiano by Anonymous, Benjamin Banneker’s letter to Thomas Jefferson by Benjamin Banneker, and When I Was A Slave by Anonymous.

“From The Interesting Narrative Of The Life Of Olaudah Equiano” there is a lot of exhaustion surfacing in this topic. Equiano once was a slave who lost every thing. He was taken from his village at the age of 11. Can you imagine losing your family as a child in a young age? I could only imagine the worst…its very frightening having to wake up every morning, only to find out it wasn’t a dream.  His rights were taken from him and all the odds seem to be against him and yet he still has hope of some day getting home. I believe he knows little of how freedom feels because when he escaped, he was panicking even though he knew he was free. It was as if that feeling of freedom was new to him, I guess the thought of being caught again tormented him inside. Being that he is far away from his home he turned right back into the hands of the people who mistreated him.  Yet this exhausting struggle is the reason why he plans for a brighter day.

In Benjamin Banneker’s letter to Thomas Jefferson, you can understand that it wasn’t just written for awareness but because he is tired of his race being labeled as creatures far lesser than man and species incapable of mental endowments. He is done with his kind being considered more like pets then as beings. Benjamin is fed up; he has had enough of the mistreatment of his race, which has long labored under the abuse. This letter is made to expresses the way he feels about slavery and how the world is against those of his complexion. In an educated yet respectful manner Benjamin states that he feels the president, Thomas Jefferson has chosen the wrong path and some how shows that he is much more of a man than he will ever be. In this letter you are also able to conclude that this man is a very religious man; in fact I believe he practices monotheism. I know this because he states “that one universal Father hath given being to us all” ("Banneker’s letter"). In other words, he feels every being is somehow related and have connection to this universal father and can’t quite understand why we are hurting family.

In the text “when I was a slave” slaves really didn’t fear much accept for starving. Mary Anderson was a slave who lived in a house called quarters with others like her. Quarters are the special names given to homes that usually had two rooms for the slaves. Though the slaves lived a some what comfortable life, they thought they wanted something that was taken from them “freedom”. Mary explains how they were finally freed at one point. The slaves celebrated, and couldn’t believe that they were no longer owned. They were waiting for this moment for a long time and when it finally came they thought this was the best thing that had ever happened to them. Slaves were set free, and none of them were really seen again. Those of them who have been seen are because they came back to their master. Most of them where wrong, and they wanted to go back to their masters. Life just wasn’t the same out in the real world. They were afraid, and when their master came back for them Mary Anderson stated, “Some were glad to get back they cried” (Yetman4). It was scary out there, they were rambling around with hunger and as slaves they didn’t have a hunger problem because they were given food and shelter. They found the world to be far crueler then being owned. Life in a world where no one looks out for you or feeds you. This was the least of their worries. Most of them didn’t have a place to go back to. In other words the slaves grew tired of barley surviving. They were exhausted of having days where they had absolutely nothing to eat. Slaves were overwhelmed to find out that the life they have nearly dreamed about for all their lives was much more of a struggle then being treated as an animal. Outside the doors of their masters they lived as animals/savages trying to survive day in and day out.

It’s hard to believe a world such as the one stated in my essay ever existed. Sometimes I find myself asking if these people ever questioned them selves, and put them in such a position. If so, did they have any remorse?  Benjamin states that, “we have long been considered rather as brutish than as human”. How dare these people consider Benjamin’s race animals when in reality it is them who are the animals. Such mistreatment; would only be done by animals. Olaudah Equiano states “they have been implanted in with great care, and made an impression on my mind, which time could not erase.” No matter how young he was or how bad he was mistreated the good memories will always overcome the bad.  I am glad the world has come a long way since 1791. Life isn’t easy, and their life wasn’t easier. In other words, close your eyes and try to imagine yourself in their shoes and walk in it for a while.