Nicole Bippen

May 1, 2010

Slavery: Turning Something Awful into Something with Meaning

            What kind of impact would it have on literature if Europeans had never brought the Africans over as slaves?  The obvious answer is that we would not have slave stories but I am interested in how these stories have shaped other writings.  Admittedly, I know very little about the African slave stories.  This course aside, I had only been exposed to Sojourner Truth and Fredrick Douglas and it was only after high school that I had been introduced to Truth.

            I decided to first go back and browse through the slave narratives to get a good feel for the writing style before I began my research.  I also reflected back on Dr. Frances's lectures from when I took her for Early American Literature at San Jacinto.  She had told us "that slave narratives paved the way for a lot of gothic, sublime, and especially romantic literature.  Their tales were romanticized and writers began trying to capture that romantic essence."  The romantic quality in these narratives is obvious; most of them include attempted escapes and their success/failure and the level of treatment they received from their owners.  All of this is dramatized (not to discredit them) and because so many Northerners did not know exactly how the slaves were treated, it was that much more influential and dramatic to them; after all, they were not exposed to this.

            The [slave] narratives told of the horrors of family separation, the sexual abuse of black women, and the inhuman workload. They told of free blacks being kidnapped and sold into slavery. They described the frequency and brutality of flogging and the severe living conditions of slave life. They also told exciting tales of escape, heroism, betrayal, and tragedy. The narratives captivated readers, portraying the fugitives as sympathetic, fascinating characters.

            This style of writing even prompted whites like Harriet Beecher Stowe to write Uncle Tom's Cabin and others to write anti-slavery pieces.  What is important to note is how they mimicked the African slave style; romantic qualities (dramatized settings and events), sublime (the severe mistreatment and bonds between their loved ones), and of course the gothic (mistreatment, dark settings).  Later writers would copy this and create their own works.  Still today, as Dr. Frances has pointed out, "slave stories are very much alive. There are still current books being released about slavery or a love story between two slaves.  It's still popular material.  Without these narratives, we wouldn't have these sympathetic characters forced into bondage who find a way to overcome it, and I'm not just talking about the literal slave stories.  There have been fiction writers who have copied that and published it."

            I believe the question is better asked, what kind of impact have African slave stories had on literature?  They have shown us how to manipulate the romantic, gothic, and sublime in order to create a sympathetic but powerful character who overcomes all obstacles.  Whether metaphorically in chains or literally in chains, stories written today have the slaves to thank for that.  To further my research, I would need to look at more slave stories from the past and compare them to ones written recently to really see all the parallels. 

Works Cited

Frances, Sherrin. Lecture material. San Jacinto Central.

"Slave Narratives." PBS Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 May 2010. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2958.html>.