Blog Post for the Week of November 11
One of the more interesting but sad takeaways for this week of class for me was the psychological affects of slavery. Often when we learn about slavery, we focus on the physical punishments the slaves received, like beatings or being put in the stocks. Thus, I was surprised to read about the mental struggles slaves faced in this weeks readings. One of the more shocking ones to me was when Manzano was locked up in in a cellar where there were dead bodies. He mentions that he wasn't given much food or water, but he seems more affected by the mental trauma of being locked with dead bodies for days rather than by the lack of food and water. The psychological affects of slavery on Manzano can also be seen in his constant fear. Unpredictability, especially in the lives of children or teens, is debilitating. Manzano rarely can predict if his mistress will be furious with him, or mild and somewhat understanding. Because of this Manzano lives in a state of perpetual fear, which hinders his work at times and permanently scars his mind. This shows that the mental side of a slaves suffering was often just as bad, if not worse, than the physical side. From the Burnard reading, Sally is another example of this. She suffered many things at the hand of Thistlewood, which gave her crippling emotional trauma. So not only did she suffer physically, but the corresponding mental struggles were so strong that they forced her body to essentially shut down. Phibbah get annoyed with her because all she would do is sit despondently and not work, and Sally is infertile, most likely due to her mental trauma. In both of these examples, the physical punishments were awful. However, based on the physical manifestations of their mental state, it seems both Manzano and Sally were testaments to the psychological stress and agony the slaves had to undergo on top of the physical punishments.
Hi Joe! I think you made some really great points. I think it may be hard to say wether or not psychological or mental torment is worse but in both cases you mentioned we see that physical torment has led to prolonged psychological torment. Even once physical pain and scars heal, trauma and psychological pain can always exist, some people overcome it, Manzano does escape slavery and found an outlet, his writing, but his mental anguish probably never went away.
ReplyDeleteJoe, you make an interesting point! We often completely forget about the slaves' feelings. You mentioned Manzano, and I think this is an excellent example. He may not have physically suffered as much as slaves on plantations, but the callousness and cruelty of his mistress still scarred him. It is good that we keep that aspect of slavery in mind.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Joe, for the post. I like your discussion of the psychological effects that enslavement has on people. Good example of Manzano having been locked in a cellar and the impact that his encounter with death has. You are right about the unpredictability of an owner's actions can lead to perpetual fear and this can have physical consequences as in the case of Sally's infertility.
ReplyDeleteHey Joe! You make some very valid points, and I love how you related multiple readings together. The mental exhaustion of never knowing when you've done something wrong, and how harsh the punishment is going to be must have been so hard, that constant threat of pain. The survivors of this cruel system are indeed a testament to human resilience.
ReplyDelete