Christopherson, Slavery: Moral Implications

Frederick Douglass’s Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass illustrates some of the moral dilemmas faced by slave and slave owner. Slave owners were not considered to be monstrous people in Douglass’s era; in fact many were Christian and considered themselves men and women of virtue. This created a sort of double standard for slave owners to abide by. On one hand they were told to “love they neighbor as thyself” yet as slave owners they saw it perfectly fit to own and horribly mistreat another human being. Owning slaves was detrimental to one’s soul. The narrative demonstrates how slave ownership corrupts a soul when Douglass is sent to Baltimore. At first Hugh’s wife Sophia is kind to him and helps him learn how to read but eventually she comes to see Frederick in the same light as every other slave owner.

I find that Harriet Jacob’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl has the most profound examples of the moral implications of slavery. Jacob’s novel dramatically demonstrates how slavery destroys the moral fibers of not only the slave owner but the slave as well. The decline of the slave’s morality is demonstrated with how Linda tries to rationalize her immoral acts. Linda desperately wants to be a moral person, but some of the decisions she makes would not be considered virtuous, yet she argues with herself that she is in a position in which she has little to no choice. Such as when she decides to have an affair with Mr. Sands; Linda rationalizes sleeping with Mr. Sands as opposed to Dr. Flint using a few reasons derived from her circumstances. Linda argues with herself that Mr. Sands is a better man, that perhaps even an affair with him could rescue her from Dr. Flint. She knows it is not the right choice, but it is her best choice and sees it as the only way out of her predicament. The internal struggle that we see in Linda is powerful in illustrating how one can do corrupt things without having or meaning to have ill intentions behind them.