Slave Narrative Post #2
I felt that the life of Isaac Mason as a slave was an extremely interesting piece on slavery. The early days of this man were not horrible as were some slaves. Will, alias Isaac, was lucky enough to have been born of a fair owner. Fortunately for him, Isaac had not been born to his an owner like his mistress’ son who was tyrannical to his servants.
“His tyranical passion was so great that on the day of his death he called in the men from their work and with a stick in his dying hand struck each one across their hands. As each one received the parting gift he had to file out and another take his place. This ceremony continued to within two hours of his death, when from exhaustion he had to cease.
It is acts like this throughout the narrative that really helped to truly convey the unfairness of slavery. Unfortunately, Isaac Mason’s mistress was old and with her death came new owners. At his new master, the wife began to whip him for having putting off his chores. Isaac knocked her over and jumped out the window. After that day, he was supposed to return to other owners who had used him to pay off debt. In spite, the man he had left, (READ FROM PAGE 13 IN ARTICLE)-Dr. Hyde, demanded payment from Isaac’s father. His father had been saving up to buy his wife and daughter out of slavery and had been doing the transactions throught this doctor. Simply because he was mad, the Doctor decided to demand payment and efectively kept the daughtor in slavery for years after. A simple tantrum in this case was the cause for years of penance for Isaac’s family. These examples just go do show how there has been hatred aplenty in slavery.
Isaac Mason in this narrative reminded me of Jim from Huck Finn. When Isaac had his quarrle with Dr. Hyde (quite an appropriate name I might add) it showed how Isaac, much like Jim simply wanted to go rabbit hunting. Jim had also shirked his duties and for it, the Widow planned to sell him to New Orleans. In both cases, the men had simply wanted a break, and each time they had been repaid with an extreme amount of grief.
