This is a fail attempt
to understand an African American during slavery. No!! This is my attempt to
transcend any notion of understanding of what it means to be a woman and give
Dana’s experience justice. After reading the book I realize it was more than being
an African American during slavery, but to be a woman at the same time. In the
mind of Dana she had two things working against her. I try to figure out what
aspects of life can be transfer from the 19th century and still be
predominating in the 20th century. I realized at the end it was the
fact she was a woman that was the most crippling to her existence. Women are
more than a field hand, more than a wife; more than someone that can do a task
for a man. Women most importantly are sexual objects used at the expense of men’s
personal will. To be rape is worse than
being a slave. It is an experience that destroys all aspects of being a human
and transforms the person into a shell of person they use to be. Being a slave takes away your freedom, it
dehumanizes the person. However, being raped takes always the moral compass and
the person is permanently enslaves; unable to escape that moment. Escape is
always possible for a slave, but a slave that has been rape escape is not. Rape
is something that will travel with the person. If Rufus was able to rape Dana
there would be no going back to Kevin, she would forever remain with Rufus spiritually
and mentally. In addition, the experience would not have forced her home it
would lock her in that space in time.
I think this is a great point that we have not yet discussed in class. Alice decided to take her own life because of it. It's interesting to think about the similarities and differences between physical lack of freedom in slavery, and mental lack of freedom in slavery. For the most part, slave holders can physically harm slaves to a horrific degree, and can deprive them of education, but can not affect their thoughts. However rape is a way for a white man to not only physically hurt a woman, but also emotionally, a pain that usually takes a lot longer to heal.
ReplyDeleteI think it's interesting that the threat of rape to herself is the action that finally causes Dana to end her relationship with Rufus (by killing him). She forgives him for many other things, including physical violence and rape of another woman, but she cannot comprehend when he finally thinks of her sexually, once Alice is gone. Perhaps this final act is the straw that breaks her back, or perhaps it is not the act itself that she cannot forgive Rufus for, but its implication. If Rufus raped her, he would be commiting the weirdest type of incest that I've ever heard of. However maybe that is why their relatioship must end then. Not because she cannot forgive him for raping her but because of the ripples that would cause throughout time.
ReplyDeleteI like (but not in a moral sense) the point you made about rape imprisoning female slaves to their masters. Emotionally they are bound, and as a followup I would say that they become physically bound too. The ultimate breaking point for Alice is when she believes her children will be taken away from her. Her children serve as a leash for Rufus. Even when Alice tries to run away, her progress is slowed by her children. Then, there are others, like Sarah, who never contemplate running away, because they have children. Excluding the extremities in slavery, an interesting extension could be made to present times. Are women bound to relationships after they have children? I do not in any way mean to equate the wrong sexual relationships of masters and their slaves, but as a followup on how children keep slave mothers on the plantation do children actually prevent mothers from leaving relationships in which they are not happy?
ReplyDeletePersonally, I think this is a fairly subjective post. It is not fair to put one group's sufferings above another's. I don't think many people have the experience to judge whether or not slavery or rape is more crippling to them as a person, and therefore, it is not something that we can make judgements on.
ReplyDelete