Slavery Stories

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that the fictional world of Tara in "Gone with the Wind", where slave are well-treated and loved, just like family, even though they aren't free to come and go as they please and are forced to work, is grossly inconsistent with the slavery stories of Frederick Douglass' "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" and Harriet Jacobs' (aka Linda Brent) "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl". The author points out that Douglass graphically and appallingly, better than any other narrative, shows the cruel and inhumane treatments of slaves; Jacobs describes the soul of a slave by demonstrating how she holds herself in high esteem, despite the fact that others see her primarily as property. The paper concludes that, when one knows what truly happened in the days of slaves, it becomes clear that "Gone with the Wind" was made to justify slavery and glorify the actions of the South with pretentious nonsense that glossed over the true reality of the situation.

From the Paper:

"The hard details of life as a slave begin with the realities of childhood. Slave children were taken from their young mothers at birth and placed in the care of an elderly slave that no longer could work as efficiently in the field or house. As such, Douglass never saw his mother more than four or five times in his life. In fact, she was hired out by a man who lived twelve miles from Douglass and when she did make the journey she did so in the middle of the night, on foot. His mother knew the penalty for not being in the field at sunrise, and slaves were rarely given permission to not be at work during the daylight hours (Douglass). For children it was just as brutal."

More papers on Slavery Stories:

• Analytical Essay # 131151 : "The Gender Factor in American Slavery"
• Essay # 36629 : "Slavery"
• Essay # 66233 : "Slavery in "The Odyssey"

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