Slave Conformity

    As  I continue to read Douglass's narration it leads me to understand more and more of slavery and how it sometimes works as a great reflection of society, and by society I don't mean the nineteenth century southern society. I'm referring to our twenty first century society.

    Theres a point in the narrative in which Douglass describes the slaves leisure time specially at the time of Christmas. In Douglass's words, "But by far the larger part engaged in such sports and merriments as playing ball, wrestling, running foot-races, fiddling, dancing, and drinking whiskey; and this latter mode of spending the time was by far the most agreeable to the feelings of our masters."(pg. 79) The masters wanted to dumb down their slaves by giving them this leisure time in which they didn't have to work, but instead of allowing them to do something productive they just threw some whiskey at them and watched them wreck themselves. It's a primitive, yet effective strategy to maintain that control over people. It's the master throwing the dog a bone, the mother giving her children some candy, and in this case the slaves enjoying that small sample of freedom. Most slaves conform just as most people do. Slaves lift their spirits and eliminate any thoughts of insurrection as Douglass says, "These holidays serve as conductors, or safety-valves, to carry off the rebellious spirit of enslaved humanity."(pg. 80)

    There was a book I read last year that dealt with the issue of conformity in a distopia. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley presented this place in which people were subject to profound psychological manipulation. The idea behind it all was to make everyone happy. That was the key to a harmonious society as happiness was predestined. The state promoted promiscuity and delivered a drug called "soma" to the people and this kept everyone in line. They all conformed to their lives as they were. No one strived for change or difference, just what a southern slaver would dream of. Fortunately there is always an outlier, another Douglass. Someone who finds disconformity and uneasiness where others find conformity and tranquility. Bernard, one of the central characters of the book, is different and finds troubling how society functions. Like in slavery, there was no love and no feeling. No family ties and no fathers nor mothers. You existed as you were and you were there to fulfill a specific purpose. It's intriguing to me to find so many similarities between the slave community and society in Brave New World as I'm just starting to connect these as I write.

    To finish up it's interesting to see how conformity played such a crucial role in the institution of slavery but it also brings up another question. How do we see conformity in our daily lives? Do we strive to fit in or to stand out as different? Are we slaves to social pressures and the ideas that rule modern society? Those are just some questions to ponder because to answer them would be impossible and the attempt would certainly be very time consuming.