Pretending is Believing
For this blog post, I would like to focus on one section in chapter 7 of The Fall that really stood out to me. On page 99, Dana and Kevin saw a group of slave children around a tree stump. Upon closer analysis, they realize that the kids were playing pretend-slave auction. Dana leaves in disgust after hearing how the children argued over the price of their friends, just as they had seen white slave owners objectify and bargain over their own mothers and fathers.
In their following discussion, Kevin seems much more detached from what they had just observed while Dana is distraught and insisting that the game was much more than a mere game of pretend. Although Kevin’s point about them not being able to change part of history is sort of valid, the fact that he admits to never being shown the whippings or the terror in punishments for slaves on the plantation reveals how sheltered white people were in the Antebellum south. If you were any part of a white family that wasn’t the main plantation owner, you were most likely quite domesticated and had limited interaction with the field hands, subsequently not observing how labor-intensive, monotonous, and painstaking the work was, and not seeing how truly inhumane the punishments were for small mistakes or breaking any rules. In a way, this is the perspective we take as 21st century readers who live in upper middle class houses clustered closed to each other and in a society without slaves. We hear, read, and learn about slavery and how cruel the entire system was, but we have no way of genuinely placing ourselves in that time period and into situations where we are able to smell the sweat, tears, and blood of a whipping as Dana was able to. As much as we want to relate to Dana and want to feel like we understand the agony that slaves endured during the Antebellum period, there is an underlying layer of Kevin’s ignorance and limited knowledge that we inevitably have to live with. (To be clear, I am not arguing that people we live amongst do not feel the repercussions of the slavery era, because with no doubt do black people today receive oppression and limitations to subordinate jobs/titles/etc. I'm saying that because we live in 2018 in contrast to the American slavery era, it is objectively easier for us to take emotional standings out of these events and detach ourselves from the terrifying evil that slaves had to face.)
On a separate point, in class someone mentioned a connection between the children and Dana and Kevin that I found really interesting. The slave children have become accustomed to and, to a certain extent, have accepted that they live in the Antebellum Period and will continue to live as slaves. The slave children were born into slavery and had no say in what kind of circumstances they would live under, being forced to accept and abide by the rules of slave culture. Similarly, Dana and Kevin have been placed into this period with virtually no say in what roles they would take and where they would end up, becoming slave and slave master as a result of the structure of society at this time. Therefore, this scene is telling in the way that we see the children become so accustomed to the horrors of slavery by living under the control of white people, and this can be seen transferring over to Dana and Kevin as well. Dana, although she is only role playing a slave, is affected and haunted by the control and stress that Weylin holds above her, and Kevin can be seen to hold the ignorance that white slave owners have towards punishments, as mentioned earlier.
Just as Dana argued that the children’s slave auction game was just a game, this scene in Kindred is more than just a scene. Through seeing both Dana and Kevin’s perspectives, it evolves into a greater picture in which we are able to contrast black oppression and white ignorance in the Antebellum period as it relates to the 21st century.
In their following discussion, Kevin seems much more detached from what they had just observed while Dana is distraught and insisting that the game was much more than a mere game of pretend. Although Kevin’s point about them not being able to change part of history is sort of valid, the fact that he admits to never being shown the whippings or the terror in punishments for slaves on the plantation reveals how sheltered white people were in the Antebellum south. If you were any part of a white family that wasn’t the main plantation owner, you were most likely quite domesticated and had limited interaction with the field hands, subsequently not observing how labor-intensive, monotonous, and painstaking the work was, and not seeing how truly inhumane the punishments were for small mistakes or breaking any rules. In a way, this is the perspective we take as 21st century readers who live in upper middle class houses clustered closed to each other and in a society without slaves. We hear, read, and learn about slavery and how cruel the entire system was, but we have no way of genuinely placing ourselves in that time period and into situations where we are able to smell the sweat, tears, and blood of a whipping as Dana was able to. As much as we want to relate to Dana and want to feel like we understand the agony that slaves endured during the Antebellum period, there is an underlying layer of Kevin’s ignorance and limited knowledge that we inevitably have to live with. (To be clear, I am not arguing that people we live amongst do not feel the repercussions of the slavery era, because with no doubt do black people today receive oppression and limitations to subordinate jobs/titles/etc. I'm saying that because we live in 2018 in contrast to the American slavery era, it is objectively easier for us to take emotional standings out of these events and detach ourselves from the terrifying evil that slaves had to face.)
On a separate point, in class someone mentioned a connection between the children and Dana and Kevin that I found really interesting. The slave children have become accustomed to and, to a certain extent, have accepted that they live in the Antebellum Period and will continue to live as slaves. The slave children were born into slavery and had no say in what kind of circumstances they would live under, being forced to accept and abide by the rules of slave culture. Similarly, Dana and Kevin have been placed into this period with virtually no say in what roles they would take and where they would end up, becoming slave and slave master as a result of the structure of society at this time. Therefore, this scene is telling in the way that we see the children become so accustomed to the horrors of slavery by living under the control of white people, and this can be seen transferring over to Dana and Kevin as well. Dana, although she is only role playing a slave, is affected and haunted by the control and stress that Weylin holds above her, and Kevin can be seen to hold the ignorance that white slave owners have towards punishments, as mentioned earlier.
Just as Dana argued that the children’s slave auction game was just a game, this scene in Kindred is more than just a scene. Through seeing both Dana and Kevin’s perspectives, it evolves into a greater picture in which we are able to contrast black oppression and white ignorance in the Antebellum period as it relates to the 21st century.
interesting post Grace!! As we discussed in class I think that scene is a really important one and it's honestly a really frightening one. At least for me, the description of the game the children are playing was absolutely heartbreaking. Just the innocence of the children in contrast with the darkness of the world they were born into and the lives they were inevitably going to end up leading, was really hard to think about. Thanks for sharing!
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