Christianity and Slavery: Christian Slaveholders
Slave narratives are the point of origin of the Black Gothic genre. They depicted the day-to-day struggles and traumatic experiences enslaved people endured. While reading and researching, this thought occurred to me: Did Christianity affect the way slave holders treated enslaved people?
Yes.
However, not in the way you might think. I expected to discover, although they were in fact racist, maybe they had some sort of compassion in their hearts. Boy, was I wrong. In fact, many accounts such as Incidents of a Slave Girl, Narration of the life of Frederick Douglas, and The Narrative of the Interesting Life of Olaudah Equiano, they were treated worse, without any compassion or empathy. The first conclusion I came to was that Original Sin was used as means to justify even more the way slave holders treated enslaved people.
The Original Sin Doctrine was introduced during the Enlightenment Movement by Saint Augustine and was adopted by the Roman Catholic Church. According to the doctrine, Original Sin is not a result from an action but a condition of the soul. This idea was further instilled through the tradition of Christenings which is the baptizing of a small child. Without this dedication to Christ, their souls were not saved. Christian Slave holders believed in original sin and that it justified the treatment of the enslaved people because they were believed to be innately sinful and incapable of freeing themselves from it. In the Narration of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave Douglass writes “Of all the slaveholders with whom I have ever met, religious slave holders are the worst. I have ever found them the meanest and basest, the most cruel and cowardly, of all others.” Slave holders did not see them as human to the point where they did not think even Jesus could care about them. Better yet, they did not want to believe it.
My second conclusion is that Christian slave holders used the power they had over the enslaved people to elevate themselves to a Christ-like position. Physically and psychologically torturing them gave the slaveholders a feeling of exaltedness. They aimed to take away their free will and liberties that were endowed by God, and used physical torture to sustain their supposedly exalted positions. This is why many enslaved people did not dare to try to escape although most of the land was not closed off because the slave holders themselves were the fences. This submission to the slave holders furthermore instilled their illusion of deity. In this way the slave holders are God and the enslaved are Christ. Christ endured the suffering out of obedience to God; the same obedience slave masters wanted from the enslaved.
Christian slave holders worshipped a God that saved and set people free while holding people in bondage. Then they elevated themselves to God-like positions to dictate and oppress generations enslaved people. Hmm. I love America.
Richard Grant II
ReplyDeleteMs. Harris
Engl 2016-44378
2 December 2021
Black Gothic Symbolism
Black gothic literature provides supernatural reasonings that highlight contemporary issues and concerns that can be beyond our understanding. The settings of a novel can provide a sense of clarity but it leaves a missing aspect that symbolism provides. Symbolism plays a role in how something is narrated based on its deeper concepts. The complexity of symbolism is essential to black gothic elements but are often overshadowed by traumatic events within novels.
Sing, Unburied, Sing:
Animals and humans were present for Jojo specifically because of his attraction to nature. Jojo was given a gris-gris bag which provided him a sense of comfort and protection from the world. The symbolism within the three characters: Jojo, Pops, and Richie are displayed by being dead or alive.
Parchman is the prison that many of the characters were imprisoned at throughout the story. Parchman is a working farm structured as a camp, where inmates are forced to toil in the fields all the day. The prison provides a strong sense of continuity between slavery and real life.
Singing is a huge element because it is a powerful mood that aligns with the situations presented throughout the story. The song is portrayed as a spirit that everything resides on Earth. African Americans used singing as a way of expression for better living for the future. This gives a sense of freedom and joy that the characters felt throughout parts of the story. Also, Leonie had a gift of hearing songs and singing from dead people,
Native Son:
“Millionaire Heiress Kidnapped. Abductors demand $10,000 in Ransom Note. Dalton family ask for release of communist suspect.”
At that point, Bigger knew it was a matter of time that the police and family figured out what happened to her. The search and findings were becoming more distinctive and constructive.
Erlone felt as if the charges against him were false and needed to be made public. The jail system did not agree with him. Therefore, he was charged with more penalties.
Bigger finally gets a chance to read the paper with some heat from a dim light. The findings said, “Reds Tried To Snare Him.” As he reads that, he is in disbelief seeing his name and picture. Also, a black cat appears next to him which gives him a sense of guilt. Black cats are a symbol for negative energy or bad luck so the thoughts of him getting caught crosses his mind.
Bigger was forced into telling Bessie what happened to her because she kept asking if the police would be after her. Bessie was overwhelmed with anger and distraught, but Bigger was in support of her emotions. Bigger wanted a drink of whiskey; however, Bessie did not want him drinking alcohol so she fixed him some milk as he told her further details.
Bessie’s emotions took over and caused her to break down. Bigger thought she should run away with him but she does not think that is the smartest idea. His aggressiveness caused her to follow his footsteps on leaving the premises. They both took a drink together and proceeded to walk into the cold.