earticle

영어

Although there are various reasons why slaves had written their narratives, the common themes are the negation of slavery and the restoration of slaves’ humanity. Slave narrators attempted to prove themselves to be human beings with emotions and intellect and to refute the inhumane and animalistic stereotypes of slaves. Their interests are often focused, but not limited, on the relationship with slave-owners: while describing slave-owners’ abuse and violence, they also expose their relationship with the opposite sex—either a slave-owner or a lover. Their relationships with the opposite sex are associated with the claim of their own bodies, the negation of slavery, calculation for freedom, and the legitimacy of marriage. Examining three slave narratives—The History of Mary Prince (1831), Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb (1849), and Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861), this essay considers such questions as “How did slaves express and use their relationships with the opposite sex of either race?” “What restriction and oppression did they have in the relationships?” “What does their love mean to themselves and to slave-owners?” Responding to those questions, this essay scrutinizes the social, cultural, and ideological significance of slaves’ relationships with the opposite sex and ruminates on the effect of the exposure of the “secretive” relationships in slave narratives.