The Longest Memory Summary

Whitechapel is the focal character of D’Aguiar’s novel, The Longest Memory however, the author has used a great many other characters whose stories also stand-alone. Why has D’Aguiar structured his novel in this way and how does it lead the reader to an understanding of the impacts of slavery?

The Longest Memory is a novel by Fred D’Aguiar, which has many different underlying themes and ideas communicated through it, but all relating back to two main themes of the book. These themes are Racial Superiority and the opposing ideas of Slavery and Christian Values. The date in which this novel is set (early eighteenth century) was a brutal and a seemingly amoral time. The white population at that time had deemed it just to enslave African peoples, whom they had caught or lured onto slave ships and brought back to America. In 1861, there were 15 slave states, which agreed and consented towards enslavement.

Slavery was a dark time in America’s past. Not only did slavery separate millions of families, it destroyed the white man’s reputation to African people. Many slave owners treated their slaves well, many did not. They forced their slaves to live in deplorable conditions. Malnutrition and overworking often led to death. If you were a slave, would you risk it all and try to run away? You might not have a choice if you wanted to stay alive.

Slavery has dependably been the most stunning wonders of our reality. Slavery, independent from anyone else appears to be exceptionally unnatural and incites blended sentiments from the heart of every individual. A few people are relatives of those who used to be slaves years prior. Some confronted "slavery" even in the contemporary times. What 's more, a few people do not comprehend the likelihood of one individual considering another person its slave. Slavery, by definition, is the primary authentic type of misuse, under which a slave alongside various actualizes of generation turns into the private property of the slave proprietor. At the end of the day slavery changes an individual person into a "thing" or even some sort of customer item. These spectacles have done a ton of mischief to millions of individuals, taking without end lives and pulverizing the destiny of the general population who could have been upbeat. It is basic learning that slavery was disposed of with the end of the Civil War. The South was discharged from the load that made the slavery to stop and that began crushing the partialities concerning the color of skin. These days, it is as of now history. Throughout the paper, the topics that will be discussed is a life of a slave on how they were mistreated, the Emancipation Proclamation, and lastly Lincoln most famous speech; The Gettysburg Address”.

Starting from a slave’s birth, this cruel process leads to a continuous cycle of abuse, neglect, and inhumane treatment. To some extent, slave holders succeed because they keep most slaves so concerned with survival that they have no time or energy to consider freedom. This is particularly true for plantation slaves where the conditions of slave life are the most difficult and challenging. However, slave holders fail to realize the damage they inadvertently inflict on themselves by upholding slavery and enforcing these austere laws and attitudes.

Slavery was one of the most tragic memories known for in the black race. Slavery is the process at which an African American is purchased by a Caucasian who is used for exhausting labor work such as picking cotton, or tending to house work and being restricted from freedom. All of the slaves were used and abused physically, mentally, and emotionally. In some cases abuse was the death of many of those slaves. The slaves were classified as the lowest of the low and were banned from learning, reading, and writing. Not all slaves’ lives ended at those abusive plantations. Two former slaves whose lives turned out a success was Harriet Jacobs and Fredrick Douglass.

Slaves were often whipped for the smallest infractions. As per Frederick Douglass, “It would astonish one, unaccustomed to a slaveholding life, to see with what wonderful ease a slaveholder can find things, of which to make occasion to whip a slave.” (87) He goes on to list some reasons a slave might be whipped for, “A mere look, word, or motion,--mistakes, accident, or want of power…Does he forget to pull off his hat at the approach of a white person? Then he is wanting in reverence, and should be whipped for it.” (89) In one illustration of said treatment Douglass tells of how cruel his first master was.

The life of a slave was harsh to say the least. They worked long hours from dusk to dawn, most of them laboring in the hot southern cotton or tobacco fields. They were often separated from their family members and suffered harsh punishments when their masters felt they did wrong. But, after the Civil War ended, the slaves were left with hope that they would be free and have the same rights and opportunities that the white men had. Unfortunately, it would take decades for them to see true freedom.

(3) When first reading these narratives one would often assume, by what history tells us, that slave owners were cruel, hated men who often beat slaves severely if they committed even the slightest infraction. While this depiction does stand true for some slave owners, I was surprised to find that most of the former slaves interviewed in the “Slave Narratives” often held their masters in high regards, referring to them as kind and good. Former slave Harriett Gresham even goes as far to say that her master, Mr. Bellinger was “exceptionally kind”. Many slaves in the narratives described their masters as good to his slaves and never whipping them unless it was absolutely necessary. However, when the former slaves spoke of the “paterollers”, white men who roamed the roads in search of runaway slaves often beating them and returning them to their owners, they were described as being very cruel to slaves showing no sympathy to any slave found running away from a

The use of blunt language constantly throughout his narrative conveys the lives of suffering slave during the 1800’s. The author states that “He dealt sparingly with his words, and bountifully with his whip” when discussing how the slaveholders treated the ones they thought

First and foremost slave’s were beaten for anything they did. If slave’s disrespecting the rules in any way that the owner

If a slave misbehaved on the plantation his owner would take violent measures such as beating him in order to teach him a lesson. Some slave owners would even whip their slaves causing massive scars and bad lashes all across their bodies (Berkin). Many of these injuries were not properly taken care of and would easily get infected, which would leave the slaves in pain for long periods of times. In his memoire Slave Life in Georgia, John Brown, a fugitive

Slavery is a stain in the history of the United States that will always be particularly remembered for the cruelty it exhibited. Up until 1865 slaves were imported in shiploads and treated as if they were merely cattle. On the farms slaves were given no mercy and had to work long, arduous days for nothing. Additionally they were often subject to cruel overseers who would beat and whip them on a regular basis. As brutal and destructive as the institution of slavery was, slaves were not defenseless victims. Through their families, and religion, as well as more direct forms of resistance, Africans-Americans resisted the debilitating effects of slavery and created a vital culture supportive of human dignity.

In the land of the free, saying slavery is a dark part of the United States’ history would be an understatement. From the early 1600’s until the abolition of the practice in 1865, slavery would be a common sight amongst plantations. The slaves would not stand idly in their predicament, learning how to improve their situations and sometimes reaching compromises or rebelling against slave masters. Slavery during the antebellum United States encompassed the ideals of whites in the North and South, the influential relationships between the whites and blacks, and the controversial lives the slaves led.

During the Pre Civil War Era (1840’s), slavery of African American people was already existed. Throughout the country the concept of slavery was widespread to every state, but primarily slavery was located in the South. They were enslaved on farms, large plantation, inside homes, out in the fields, industry, transportation. These people are considered as a property, they were forced to be slaves because they were black. These slaves were forced to be property using violence and threat. The most common threat is that the slaves will be separated from their family, murdered or even put into an auction. Slaves were often followed by the constant fear of being sold to other masters. Majority of slaves in South worked and lived in cotton plantation where it employs number of slaves, possible hundred. The master didn’t provide decent bedding and clothing, they usually sleep in a barn that was non resistance to bad weather condition and diseases. The slaves that worked in plantation are easily prone to sickness due to the blistering heat, unsanitary condition, insufficient nutrition, lack of rest since they were constantly forced to work even when they are