THE SLAVE NARRATIVE

LEQ3: WHAT IS A SLAVE NARRATIVE AND WHAT ARE ITS ELEMENTS?

Previous Knowledge

What do you think slave narratives are?

What issues might be discussed?

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.

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

Traits of the Narrator 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.

Common themes Exposes physical and emotional abuses of

slavery: scenes of whipping, sexual abuse, starvation, especially of women or children

Exposes (sometimes satirically) white owners' hypocrisy and inconstancy

Describes quest for freedom Includes vignettes of other character types

and the experience of slavery: those who succeed and those who fail

Makes overt appeals to imagined audience Details loss of significant family

member(s) and the destruction of family ties

Relevance to Reason?

How does this form of literature fit within the Age of Reason?

How might these narratives be similar to other narratives we have read?

Turn to the excerpt of “The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano” on page 22 (Academic) or page 188 (Advanced)

Slave Narratives

What have you noticed in the reading so far?

Why does this fit within the Age of Reason?

LEQ3: What is a slave narrative and what are its elements?