LITR 5731: Seminar in American Multicultural Literature
Sample Student Midterm, Fall 2007

Philip R. Jones

09 / 27 / 2007

The American Nightmare:

Stolen Innocence, Lost Identity, Physical Abuse,

& Suppression of the American Slave

One intriguing aspect dominating the minority experience is the idea of the “American Nightmare.”  For decades the African American culture has been terrorized by the social monsters of racial, educational, and discriminatory abuse ultimately smothering the human spirit.  The “American Nightmare” originates from much more than the typical struggles, obstacles, and restrictions of everyday life such as financial, social, and spiritual hardships, it is the result of the inhumane, dark, violent, suppressed existence that many African Americans are involuntarily forced into.  Their innate sense of innocence, identity, and self respect are stolen from them in early youth in an effort to diminish not only their self worth as human beings, but ultimately their spiritual, psychological, and aesthetic ambition to rise to or above the level of equality of all. 

The institution of slavery is the horrific entity which sets the “American Nightmare” in continuous motion.  It dramatically transforms the inner spirit into the embodiment of fear ultimately creating enormous levels of doubt, regret, and an insecure sense of self.  The “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass,” “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl,” Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon, and Amiri Baraka’s poem “Somebody Blew Up America” are works that in many ways epitomize the horror, darkness, and trauma that engulfs the African American minority experience.  The “American Nightmare is dramatically exhibited in these works through lost identity, suppression of desire, and several very dark and graphic scenes of physical, and psychological brutality.

The horror of the minority “American Nightmare” presents itself in the opening passage of the “Narrative of Frederick Douglass on a very shocking level.  Douglass lacks knowledge of the most sensitive and intimate facts such as his age and date of birth which clearly defines one’s identity, and existence as part of the human race:

I had no accurate record of my age, never having seen an authentic record of it . . . It is the wish of most masters within my knowledge to keep their slaves thus ignorant . . . A want of information concerning my own was a source of unhappiness to me even during childhood.  The white children could tell their ages.  I could not tell why I ought to be deprived of the same privilege.  I was not allowed to make any inquiries of my master concerning it.  He deemed all such inquiries on the part of a slave improper and impertinent, and evidence of a restless spirit.  (Douglass 340)

This passage illuminates the ultimate situation of one experiencing a true “American Nightmare.”  Douglass is not only trapped within a human injustice here, he is denied the key, basic knowledge of the self which separates the human species from animals.  Living on a daily basis without knowledge of age, time and place of birth, or even the mere existence of a birth certificate classifies him as not only humanly and socially ignorant, but also bestows a dehumanizing characteristic upon his existence.  Forced to live without these significant aspects of identity is not only a psychological nightmare resulting in Douglass experiencing feelings of rage, confusion, and inferiority, it also labels him as “The Other” within his society,  He is an outcast denied the chance to proudly speak his age and date of birth. 

Interestingly, this passage also highlights the objective of “Voiceless and Choiceless” discussed in the seminar.  The fact that Douglass “was not allowed to make any inquiries” to his master concerning his age and date of birth, illustrates how the institution of slavery has stolen his voice from him and as a result, he has no choice except to remain ignorant, and emotionally repressed.  He is involuntarily trapped within an existence of biological ignorance and forbidden to attain the most delicate facts which create a sense of wholeness within the self.  Moreover, this passage also highlights the issue of “The Color Code” as Douglass expresses that “the white children could tell their ages, and he could not tell why he ought to be deprived of the same privilege.”  This suggests that although he is forbidden to voice his desire to learn his true age, he is psychologically acknowledging the color barriers that clearly contribute to the reasoning behind his stolen voice and lack of choice to overcome his repressed, faceless existence.

Douglass is clearly suggesting how the colors black and white are associate with bad and good, inferior and superior, and irrational and rational.  In a previous student midterm exam from Spring semester 2006 entitled “The Passing Trend of Color Lines,” Karen Daniel states that,

black is consistently seen as evil, while the whiter things are, the more purity they are perceived as possessing.  We find bad and evil in all things dark; even something as innocent and benign as a black cat is seen as dangerous and predicative of bad luck.  On the other hand, white, by its very nature, is seen as virtuous and Godlike.  (Daniel 1)

This passage significantly illustrates how the color white is conventionally characterized as the ideal embodiment of cleanliness and purity, and black is characterized as dirty, hideous, and holds many historical ideas of evil regardless of the innocence attached to it.  The passage also provides insight into Douglass’s internal realization that being denied knowledge of this major portion of his identity is ultimately the result of much more than his slave status; he is also the inappropriate color.

            A key passage in Toni Morrison’s novel Song of Solomon interestingly relates to Douglass’s battle with skin color.  The issue of race is the primary cause of much of the emotional, psychological, and physical suffering in the novel.  The scene in which Guitar is assumed to be completely illiterate based on his African American ethnicity, is a powerful scene that also illuminates “The Color Code” portion of the “American Nightmare:

The nurse gazed at the stout woman as though she had spoken Welsh.  Then she closed her mouth, looked again at the cat-eyed boy, and lacing her fingers, spoke her next words very slowly to him. ‘Listen.  Go around to the back of the hospital to the guard’s office.  It will say Emergency Admissions on the door.  A – D – M – I – S – I – O – N – S.  (Morrison 13)

The significance of this passage lies not only in its racist motive, but in the fact that a Caucasian nurse whom is traditionally thought of as the embodiment of superiority and highly educated as a result of her white skin, feels compelled to slowly spell out the word “admissions” only to misspell it.  The nurses misspelling of the word “admissions” by omitting an “s” speaks volumes concerning the credibility of the nurses presumed superiority.  Morrison is highlighting a fascinating moment of irony in this scene.  Black prevails over white in the sense that the nurses effort to label Guitar as illiterate, ultimately reveals the illiteracy if herself, and the literacy of Guitar.

            A very dramatic scene in the Douglass narrative where we gain a visual and psychological insight into the “American Nightmare,” is the scene in which Douglass recollects upon the horror he feels when he is awakened by the screams of physical torment that his aunt endures as she is beaten by her master.  Douglass witnesses first hand the actual sound of pain, suffering, and the terrific cry for help of someone who is physically and emotionally confined to the dark, sinister world of slavery:

I have often been awakened at the dawn of day by the most heart – rendering shrieks of an own aunt of mine, whom he used to tie up to a joist, and whip upon her naked back till she was literally covered with blood.  No words, no tears, no prayers, from his glory victim, seemed to move his iron heart from its bloody purpose.  The louder she screamed, the harder he whipped; and where the blood ran fastest, there he whipped the longest.  He would whip her to make her scream, and whip her to make her blush; and not until overcome by fatigue, would he cease to swing the blood-clotted cowskin.  I remember the first time I ever witnessed this horrible exhibition.  I was quite a child, but I well remember it . . . It was the first of a long series of such outrages, of which I was doomed to be a witness and a participant.  It struck me with awful force.  It was the blood-stained gate, the entrance to the hell of slavery, through which I was about to pass.  It was a terrible spectacle.  I wish I could commit to paper the feelings with which I beheld it.  (Douglass 343)

This passage thoroughly surpasses the outer level of emotional and psychological pain that Douglass experiences as he actually witnesses this terrific scene.  It penetrates deep into the soul and subconscious of Douglass’s spirit bringing this nightmare for him into real-life existence.  This scene is ultimately the horror movie that Douglass will soon take the leading role in himself.  The fact that no amount of pleading, crying, screaming, or praying from his aunt would diminish her master’s intense, bloody beating of her, interestingly characterizes him as the monster that actually sets this nightmarish scene in motion.  He is the embodiment of a demonic force intent on leaving a permanent scar of physical, emotional, and psychological trauma. 

            In relation to a powerful scene in the narrative “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl,” the brutal beating of Douglass’s aunt uniquely explains Harriet Jacob’s instant state of terror concerning her new-born baby girl.  Jacobs becomes engulfed by an overwhelming sense of sadness the moment she learns that the child she has given birth to, is female rather than male.  She is all too familiar with the horrible fate that she is destined for as she grows into a young woman:

When they told me my new-born babe was a girl, my heart was heavier than it had ever been before.  Slavery is terrible for men; but it is far more terrible for women.  (Brent 526)

Like Douglass, Jacobs is able to see the future constraints of slavery, and its bloody days of physical, emotional, and psychological abuse.  Just as Douglass’s aunt experienced relentless beatings from her master, Jacobs can see this identical scene in the future for her own female daughter.  Interestingly, the birth of Jacobs’s female child can also be seen as the death of its innate innocence.  The chance for the “American Dream” is instantly stolen from the child as a result of gender.  She has entered the world with the “American Nightmare” waiting to claim her as its next victim. 

            This passage also exhibits how a significant portion of Douglass’s innocence is stolen from him as he recollects upon that horrific day in his childhood in which he initially witnessed his aunt being brutally beaten.  When Douglass asserts that this abusive scene was “the first of a long series of such outrages, of which I was doomed to be a witness and a participant,” illustrates how Douglass has emotionally and psychologically internalized this nightmare as a future fate that he will eventually endure.  The fact that this horrific scene “struck him with an awful force,” interestingly symbolizes how it has not only stolen a major portion of Douglass’s psychological innocence, it has permanently etched the sounds, ideas, and explicit pictures of this monstrosity into his heart, mind, body, and spirit. 

            This horrible experience tends to evoke universal questions within all of us such as who in America could possess such a frightening level of cold, dark, inhumane cruelty within their soul?, who could be so numb in emotion to allow a child to be exposed to such a graphic, bloody scene as this?, and who is bold enough to characterize themselves as an entity who exceeds the superiority of God, dramatically demolishing one’s hope of attaining the “American Dream?”  These questions could have a variety of answers, but in relation to the minority experience, the answer is clearly the wealthy, powerful Caucasian community who founded the institution of slavery.  These questions significantly mirror several questions presented in Amiri Baraka’s controversial poem “Somebody Blew up America.”  In this poem, Baraka indicts America’s socio – political and military response to the foreign terrorist acts of September 11^th while at the same time, pointing out our country’s own litany of unpunished domestic and international terrorism.  He represents the minority voice of all those who have suffered under the oppression and terrorism of Americas unjust tyranny and imperialism that functions to maintain domestic and global domination and power.  Baraka presents very dramatic lines within the poem that illuminates an eerie relation to Douglass’s aunt’s situation: 

Who got the tar, who got the feathers

Who had the match, who set the fires

Who killed and hired

Who say they God & still be the Devil

Who bought the slaves, who sold them

Who run the slave ship

Who run the army.  (Baraka 34-7, 51, 65-66)

These lines tend to dramatically echo the cold, dark motives of the master who brutalizes Douglass’s aunt.  In relation to these poetic lines, Douglass’s aunt is also being tarred with her own blood that streams from her body as she is beaten.  She is feathered with the bruises and bloody scars created by the masters whip.  Her skin is on fire as a result of the forceful strikes that cuts into her skin as she is beaten with the whip.  Her master is ultimately the Devil reincarnated and her entire soul, mind, body, and spirit is succumbed by the demonic power of his slave ownership.  Baraka’s poetic lines thoroughly symbolize beneath the surface Douglass’s aunt’s horrific, abusive situation.  The very bitter, accusatory tone of Baraka’s lines not only brings the abusive situation to life in the minds and hearts of his readers, they also inspire the acknowledgement of the dark, innermost demons that many are repressed about.  Ultimately, Baraka is not only pointing his finger at the master who is directly beating the actual blood out of this woman’s body, but rather at the entire institution of slavery.  Baraka is challenging us to realize that if the master is the leading entity, someone has to be following and supporting his evil deeds which would be the entire institution.  It is clear that Douglass has witnessed the hellacious gate which is the entrance to the “American Nightmare.”  It is the precursor to the heavy chains of slavery which is destined to sink his spirit to immeasurable depths.

            Both the “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass,” and “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl,” present very insightful, intriguing passages that illuminate the idea of “chains” as the actual links that materialize the cold, dark, reality of the “American Nightmare.”  In the Douglass narrative, the scene in which he speaks of the sublime, calm, aesthetic aura of the Chesapeake bay, and the awe inspiring freedom of the ships that sail freely out into the waters provides an almost artistic insight into his inner cry for freedom:

You are loose from your moorings, and are free; I am fast in my chains, and am a slave!  You move merrily before the gentle gale, and I sadly before the bloody whip!  You are freedom’s swift – winged angels, that fly around the world; I am confined in the bands of iron!  O that I were free!  O that I were on one of your gallant decks, and under your protecting wing! . . . O, why was I born a man, of whom to make a brute . . . I am left in the hottest hell of unending slavery.  O God, save me! God deliver me!  Let me be free!  (Douglass 388)

This passage portrays the embodiment of the “American Nightmare” as it consistently compares the aesthetic sense of freedom that is ideal to everyman, to the horrific, suffocation, suppressive constraints of slavery that engulfs Douglass’s entire existence.  The significant idea presented here is the underlying darkness of the word “chains.”  On the surface, the word appears to be used as a metaphor to describe his inhumane situation but ultimately, Douglass is challenging his readers to realize that this word is not a metaphor.  He is actually weighted down with actual chains as a dangerous, wild animal would be.  This passage expresses the excruciating emotional, psychological, and spiritual pain that these chains have caused Douglass to endure.  He expresses deep envy toward the ship that freely caresses the waters unrestricted, unrepressed, and uncorrupted while his aesthetic freedom is non-existent. 

            Mirroring Douglass’s symbolic idea of “chains” is a fascinating passage in “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.”  Jacobs reveals her emotional scars from the nightmarish world of slavery when she rejects a gold chain given to her baby daughter.  This gold chain reminds her of the constricting, suppressive, dark world of slavery:

When we left church, my father’s old mistress invited me to go home with her.  She clasped a gold chain round my baby’s neck.  I thanked her for this kindness; but I did not like the emblem.  I wanted no chain to be fastened on my daughter, not even if its links were of gold.  How earnestly I prayed that she might never feel the weight of slavery’s chain, whose iron entereth into the soul!  (Brent 528)

This passage exhibits the “American Nightmare” on a much darker level because it is affecting the innate, conventional innocence of an infant.  The child’s natural, innocent, pure act of possessing the gold chain, whose initial purpose is merely to accentuate the child’s natural beauty, is characterized as an ugly, sinister jewel as a result of the nightmarish world experienced by Jacobs. Not only is Jacobs shielding her child from the actual chains of slavery, she is preventing the child’s innate innocence from being crowned by the dirty world of experience.  As Jacobs expresses that she prayed that her baby “might never feel the weight of slavery’s chain, whose iron entereth into the soul,” she is suggesting that this gold chain will actually penetrate below the surface of the skin and torch the child’s emotional, psychological, and spiritual well-being making it an early product of slavery’s hellacious institution. 

            Ultimately, what has been exhibited by the authors discussed thus far, is how the “American Dream” has been stolen from its rightful place in American society, and has been replaced by a nightmare which has dominated the American minority civilization for many years.  The Douglass and Jacobs narratives, Song of Solomon, Baraka’s controversial poem, and the previous midterm on “The Passing Trend of Color Lines” written by Karen Daniels have all clearly shown the struggles, the hardships, and the physical, psychological, emotional turmoil which have plagued the African American community and experience for decades.  The burden of “The American Nightmare” will continue to be an intriguing, yet frightening aspect of the American culture.  The devastating loss of innocence, suppression of identity, and endless, countless beatings endured by many American slaves has dramatically shaped the minority experience into the icon of progress and success that it is today.  Although “The American Nightmare” is very graphic, horrific, and dehumanizing to the human species, one must thoroughly analyze, engage, and penetrate their heart, mind, soul, and spirit into its cultural uniqueness, and historical importance.   All must make an effort to fully comprehend and respect the many lives that it altered, the terror it once inflicted, and the dramatic role it played in the overall shaping of the African American minority experience. 

Bibliography

Baraka, Amiri.  “Somebody Blew Up America.”

Brent, Linda.  “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.”  The Classic Slave Narratives.

         Ed. Henry Louis Gates, Jr.  New York: NY, 2002.  437-665. 

Daniel, Karen.  “The Passing Trend of Color Lines.”  LITR 5731: Seminar in

         American Multicultural Literature Sample Student Midterm, Spring 2006

         http:// coursesite.uhcl.edu.

Douglass, Frederick.  “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.”  The Classic

         Slave Narratives.  Ed. Henry Louis Gates, Jr.  New York: NY, 2002.  323-436.

Morrison, Toni.  Song of Solomon.  New York: Alfred A. Knopf, INC, 1977.