In his autobiography, Up From Slavery Washington depicts casualties of life and grievances experienced since childhood. The book consists of 17 chapters devoted to different periods of life and events which changed the life of Washington. The strength of this book is that it depicts the system of management on large plantations where there were three classes of slaves: field hands, house servants, and skilled laborers.
Born as a slave, Washington did not know the exact date and place of his birth. “ I pity from the bottom of my heart any nation or body of people that is so unfortunate as to get entangled in the net of slavery” (Washington). The author depicts that the field hands began their work at sunrise with the sound of the horn as each was allotted his task for the day. At noon, time was allowed for lunch, after which work was resumed until three or four when the task was completed. The slave was now free to “cultivate his garden, hire himself to his master for extra labor, or take a stroll to visit his wife or mistress on some adjoining plantation.” Each morning it was the duty of the overseer to assign the daily work for the slaves and, when the task was completed, to inspect the fields to see that the work had been done properly. At the end of the day, the owner rode his horse over the fields to inspect the day’s work and to give any necessary instructions to his overseer for the next day. This schedule was performed with regularity. The work of house servants was not as regimented as that of slaves in the field, nor was their work as routine or strenuous. It was extremely difficult for Washington to receive an education, but he did everything possible to finish New Hampton University.
I like this book because it depicts the reality faced by many slaves. Similar to millions of people, Washington did resist being enslaved. As the critics of slavery Washington blamed the South’s chronic problem of soil exhaustion upon the system of slave labor. In the relationship he constructs between narrator and reader(s), Washington necessarily focuses on what is at once the most intimate and the most public manifestation of his cultural identity. The reader, thus positioned, faces not only a discomforting choice but also the recognition that the choice is artificially restrictive. Washington is a presence both beyond and within each of these specters–a complex self-represented by neither but involved in the representation of both. Washington draws attention to the multiplicity of the enslaving world and indicates his attention to that world’s multiple discourses of brutalization. In his attraction to this world that excludes civilization but not nature, Washington emphasizes both the power of culture to shape adaptable natures and the extent to which Washington himself had internalized the larger struggle. Naturally, the changes in the narratives reflect Washington’s changing concerns as his life proceeds; his changing conception of the story he lives changes the narrative of that life, the meaning he draws from it, and the implicit philosophical and moral framework he hopes the narrative will support. The changes reflect also the changing demands Washington faced as he attempted to assert control over his life and his story. Washington is a hero who changed his life and escape slavery educating himself; he tried to change the world and life of other people who suffered.
References
Washington, B.T. Up from Slavery. Web.