To a slave, being sold down the river was one of the worst
things that ever could happen to them in their life. This reoccurring theme of
being sold downriver was the bases of Mark Twain’s story, “Pudd’nhead Wilson.”
The story starts out with a slave, Roxy, who has a child the same day as her
owner, and Roxy is asked to raise not only her child but also her owners. While
Roxy was raising the children, her owner came in and looked at the two children
and asked her which one was his child. Because the two looked so similar, Roxy
got the idea of switching the children’s clothing and names around for the sole
purpose that her blood line would never have to be sold down the river, ever
again.
This is where
my interest begins wondering why it as so bad to be sold down the river. In the
north the slaves were treated well, “They were incorporated into the family,
and each puritan household being a sort of religious structure, the relative
duties of master and servant were clearly defined. No doubt the severest and
longest task fell to the slave, but in the household of the farmer or artisan,
the master and the mistress shared it, and when it was finished, the white and
the black, like the feudal chief and his household servant, sat down to the
same table, and shared the same viands."[2] This showed that the slaves in
the north were very well respected, even though they were still the property to
the land owner. In the book this is also evident by Twain explaining Roxy look
and stature. He said that “she had an easy, independent carriage- when she was
among her own caste – and a high and sassy way withal; but of coarse she was
meek and humble enough where white people were” (Twain Pg.64). This showed that
she respected her owner and that she would do nothing to endanger herself from
getting sold down the river. This become very important because later in the
story her slave owner get robbed and the guys who rob him get severely
punished.
The salves
punishment was to get sold down the river. “’I give you one minute’- he took a
look at his watch. ‘If at the end of the time you have not confessed, I will
not only sell all four of you, but- I will sell you DOWN THE RIVER!’ It was
equivalent to condemning them to hell” (Twain Pg.68). Twain really expresses
how brutal it was for a slave to be sold down south to the cotton plantation. He
uses the comparison of hell to convey how bad it is to be owed in the south and
there are many stories off slaves killing themselves just so they didn’t have
to suffer the rath of the southern plantation owners.
The threat
of being sold down the river was a fear in every northern slaves mind before
the civil war. I believe that Twain implemented this major controversy into a
story because he saw it happening all the time while he was living in Missouri
and working on the steamboats. Twain saw the suffering first hand from the
slaves and he knew that the fear alone kept slaves on the right path so that
they stay out of trouble.
Twain,
Mark. Pudd'nhead Wilson. Comp. Malcolm Bradbury. Harmondsworth: Penguin,
1973. Print.
[2] Sedgwick, Catharine. "Slavery
Denial." Slavery Denial. N.p., 2003. Web. 14 May 2014.
The slaves that Mark Twain discussed in his novel "Pudd'nhead Wilson" were not slaves in the North. More precisely, they were in the middle states. The aforementioned story took place in Missouri. Other like states included Kentucky and Maryland. The economy of the North revolved around industrialization (though this development was rife with its own social tragedies, and practiced its own form of slavery, think poorly paid factory workers). Particulars aside, I agree that fear is a major subject for examination that Mark Twain introduces through the text. Due to their privileged position in the power dynamic in relation to their slaves, slave owners liberally use fear as a tool for terrorizing the slaves. Expanding the scope of this discussion, Mark Twain probably believed that even democratic governments (despite being democratic) still permitted the usage of terror and coercion within their borders, another veiled critique of democracy in general. Fear is thus the glue to keep the slaver's house of cards standing.
ReplyDeleteI think you make an interesting point about what Twain is trying to say. I have to disagree about the element of respect between the slave and the slaveowner though-- how can there be any respect in a relationship that exists on the basis of ownership in that way? Roxy switched her child because she was terrified of her master and what he was capable of (selling her son down the river) and she was meek and humble around those "above her" not because she respected them but because she was afraid of them and the idea that these people were better than her had been reiterated to her throughout her life, and I believe that Twain is trying to comment on that fact. That even though the type of slavery practiced in the middle or northern states was possibly less outright brutal than "down the river" there was still a more subtle culture of fear and brutality being practiced.
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