Slave Narrative

From Unawiki

• Geschichten von Sklaven die der Sklaverei entflohen und in den Norden gelangt waren
• Teil des Anti-Slavery Movements
• Biblische Allusionen und Bilder
• Oftmals mit Vorwort von weissen um der Geschichte Authentizität zu verleihen (da die meisten Sklaven nicht schreiben konnten, mussten sie ihre Geschichten einem weissen diktieren, der dann bezeugen musste diese Geschichte sei wahr)

• Purposes

   * Attempted to arouse the sympathy of readers in order to promote humanitarianism.
   * Emphasized traditional Christian religious ideas.
   * Showed acceptance of the ideals of the dominant white society
   * Emphasized the cruelty of individual slave owners.

• Influences

   * King James Bible
   * New England sermonizing traditions
   * Rhetoric and aims of abolitionist orators
   * Devotional books like Pilgrim's Progress.

• Reasons for Popularity

   * Lurid scenes of horror and violence that served as an acceptable gratification of the popular appetite for sensationalism.
   * Religious influence: didactic content
   * Interesting descriptions of life in the South
   * Propaganda weapons during abolition and Civil War

• Parallels with captivity narrative. Typically, the narrator of the slave narrative

   * Is abruptly brought from state of protected innocence to confrontation with the evil of slavery and captivity
   * Suffers from forced existence in an alien society
   * Is unable to submit or effectively to resist
   * Balances yearning for freedom against the perils of escape.
   * Sees his or her condition as a symbol of the suffering condition of all the lowly and oppressed
   * Grows in moral and spiritual strength as a result of suffering and torment.