The theme that I chose to work with is runaway slaves and for this blog post I chose the pictures on page 420 and 421 because I felt it fit perfectly with my theme. These pictures are torturing devices used on slaves back in the day when they would run away from their masters. I did some research to find out what exactly each device did so I could explain it a little better.
The first picture on
420, according to the caption underneath it, is a cotton screw typically used
for packing cotton. The slave will be tied to the right side a horse will be
hooked up to turn it. It pulls the slave up into the air and they just dangle
by their hands. Often, masters would put the slave into that bottom box
(labeled letter “d” in the picture) and leave them to sit there for any length
of time.
This is the picture from page
421 and it contains a mask, a collar, shackles and spurs. These were all used
in restraining slaves when they were bad or would run away. This collar had
spikes that would go into the collar and poke the necks of the slaves. The purpose
of it was to make work difficult and to make it even more difficult for them to
run away. It wouldn’t allow them to run into the woods because the spikes would
get stuck on trees or other things and it made it impossible to lay down or
lean up against something to rest. The mask was used on slaves to prevent them
from trying to kill themselves. Oftentimes when slaves were so miserable that
they’d run away but got caught, they’d try to eat and swallow dirt to suffocate
themselves. This mask made that impossible because there was a metal plate that
went into the mouth and would press the tongue down, not allowing even saliva
to be swallowed.
During this time,
slaves that were unhappy would try to escape their hell by running away into
the woods or through town or however else they’d escape. Once caught, these
methods of torture were used often as well as many others such as thumbscrews
to punish them. These pictures directly apply to my theme of runaway slaves
from Uncle Tom’s Cabin. There were many slaves in this book that ran
away and just thinking about these devices possibly being used on poor Eliza or George
makes me sad. I’m sure Mr. Shelby wouldn’t have used these methods but there
definitely were other slaveholders out there that did use them and wouldn’t
think twice about it.
My theme was dehumanization and I think that these pictures really express that. Think of these as like spike collars for dogs. There meant to control that persons property and I couldn't even imagine doing this to another human being. Using such things is just inhumane and it does make me sad and just to think that these slave owners used such devices is frightening.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what Larz said, my theme was also dehumanization and I used these pictures to represent my theme too. The restraints and cotton screw are a great example of both themes, runaway slaves and depriving someone of human qualities. Leaving a slave in a box for any length of time is complete torture isn't necessary for any reason at all. The things that slave owners made their slaves endure is just sickening.
ReplyDeleteSimilar to Bailey and Larz, my theme was the evil of slavery. And the torture devices used on the slaves certainly qualify as an evil outcome of slavery. It's hard to believe that people would subject people to such inhumane treatment because they were slaves. Both devices were meant to inflict serious harm to the victims physically and emotionally. For which case they are truly evil results of slavery.
ReplyDelete