Entry for week of November 11

     This week what stood out to me was the book that we read, The Autobiography of a Slave. In the book, Manzano, a mulatto slave tells his story about his life. It shows the differences between how masters treated their slaves and how slaves thought and did things. With his first master, Manzano was treated as a son to her. He was raised with an education and was never punished. When she died, however, he was under the ownership of a much harsher mistress. This is where he realized that he was a slave and he was beat and treated like he was not human. He lived a very sorrowful life and through this book we are given insight to the thought and feelings of slaves at this time. Also, being a mulatto, at times he was treated like he did not belong anywhere. This would create conflict in his head and give him a sense of being lost. 

    This autobiography shows us how dehumanized slaves were and gives us information on how these slaves could try to gain there humanity back. As we talked in class about the different ways to do this, the two types of running away were mentioned. One in which slaves ran away temporarily and the other of which slaves ran away permanently. Manzano eventually used the latter form. He ran away because he could not take the torture anymore. Slaves in most cases would rather die than continue living in such an inhumane society. These ways along with other types of resistance gave them a chance to gain their life and dignity back.

Comments

  1. Emma RoseNovember 11, 2021 at 3:22 PM

    I agree with what you have to say, but I think that slaves were able to hold onto their humanity in more ways than running away. Manzano is able to make decisions throughout the entire plot (i.e. he chooses to keep one of his mothers bracelets after her passing). Making decisions is a demonstration of his free will, thus reinforcing his humanity. Also, his decision to uphold his education and learn to write, regardless of his owners' objections, was solidifying that he had his own freedom of choice and was human. I think that these more subjective acts of defiance were the ones that temporarily prevented Manzano from reaching his limit and running away.

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  2. Professor StarkNovember 12, 2021 at 8:40 AM

    Thank you, Olivia, for the post. I appreciate what you wrote about Manzano and his life experiences but I was left wanting to read more about some of the points you made. For example, was there a difference between being a mulatto and being enslaved? Also, how would grand marronage restore a person's dignity? Do you mean that running away allowed a slave to assert their humanity or free will by choosing freedom over enslavement?

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