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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 3 page book review, which focuses on ethical issues pertaining to slavery. Contemporary society’s perspective of this institution is understood to be that slavery is purely evil. In his novel The Known World, Edward Jones examines a little known fact of Southern antebellum society, which is that freed blacks were often slaveholders themselves, and the novel addresses the complex question of whether black slave owners differed in any appreciably way from their white counterparts. No additional sources cited.
Page Count:
3 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_khejknw.rtf
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a little known fact of Southern antebellum society, which is that freed blacks were often slaveholders themselves, and the novel addresses the complex question of whether black slave owners differed
in any appreciably way from their white counterparts. The narrative focuses on the plantation of Henry Townsend, a black slaveholder and former slave, who was aided by his former
master, William Robbins, in acquiring his own land, wealth, and also title to 33 slaves. Townsends unexpected early death is the first incident in the unraveling of the fabric of
this ultimately unsustainable society, showing that the foundations supporting slavery were unstable prior to the Civil War. While slavery is perceived by society to be unequivocally evil, there are no
two-dimensional people in this narrative. For example, Moses, Townsends black overseer, is a man renowned for the meanness in his nature. This quality is so well known that when his
second wife and child disappear, Sheriff Skiffington assumes he murdered them. However, Jones begins his novel by relating the way that Moses perceived nature, as he has just finished a
long days work on the "evening his master died," and this lyrically beautiful description shows a man who has an intimate relationship with the earth that he tills (Jones 1).
As this suggests, the novel abounds in paradoxes. Moses, the cruel overseer, did not murder his wife and child, but actually sent them away to freedom. Townsend, whose ambition is
to be an exemplary slaveholder, is gentler with his slaves than most of his neighbors, but has no qualms about cutting off part of a slaves ear as punishment for
trying to run away. Robbins initially owned Townsend, but he allows Townsends father to buy his freedom and gives him land, and buys slaves for him until state laws allows
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