Mary Prince is a female African American who was born into slavery in Antigua and had many different slave owners. Semsigul is a white female teenager who was sold into slavery in Istanbul under the Ottoman control. The Indians in Mexico were being forced into labor by the Spaniards. A comparison of Mary Prince, Semsigul and the Indians in Mexico will show the various forms of slavery, the legal aspect that shaped it, the effect on the individuals involved and why slavery was so difficult to eradicate.
The various forms of slavery are domestic slavery, field slavery, child slavery, sex slavery and forced slavery. The various forms Mary Prince belongs to were child slavery, domestic slavery, field slavery and forced slavery. Mary was born …show more content…
Mary Prince was taken from her mother at a young age; she was subjected to violent punishment and forced to work even when she was ill. She was free in England but if she returned to the West Indies, she became a slave again. In order to keep her freedom, she made the difficult choice of giving up her husband and stay in England. Her owners Captain I and Mrs. I, Mr. D, and Mr. Woods were all affected by slavery. Stories about Captain I, Mrs. I and Mr. D were successfully used by Mary Prince to provoke readers by describing her horrific slavery journey. Mary would talk about the brutal beating afflicted on her and on other slaves that she witnessed. She stated, “to strip me naked- hang me up by the wrist and lay my flesh with cow skin, was an ordinary punishment for even the slightest offence” (Mary Prince, xxvii). Mary’s other owner Mr. Woods took Pringle to court and Mary was one of the witnesses, but the verdict was against Pringle and he had to pay for damages. Mr. Woods was also affected because when Mary decided to stay in England, he lost a valuable slave. Semsigul was affected by slavery by her parents selling her into slavery at a young age and being forced to engage in sexual relations with Deli Mehmet. When she became pregnant, Deli’s wife beat her. Semsigul said “she fetched a cloths press, hit me with it several times on my stomach and back, and beat me with a mincing rod” …show more content…
In Mary Prince’s narrative, Semsigul’s story and in forced labor in Mexico, slavery was accepted as part of the society. In Mary’s narrative, African Americans were born into slavery and forced to do labor for their master. The whites were able to punish their slaves and often immune when seeing other slaves getting beat. Mary stated, “Oh those white people have small hearts who can only feel for themselves” (Mary Prince, II). In Semsigul’s story the slavery in her society existed for centuries. The Spaniards did not want to let the Indians go free because they would have a negative economic outcome. Without the Indians being forced to work in the wheat farm Gomez states, “without them we would all starve and not be able to harvest single grain of wheat” (Overfield, 93). Gomez later acknowledge that without the Indians in the mines, owners would be done for, the royal tax would be lost and trade would come to a complete end. Slave owners made it so difficult to eradicate slavery because they did not want to lose the economic benefits they were receiving from their
The various forms of slavery are domestic slavery, field slavery, child slavery, sex slavery and forced slavery. The various forms Mary Prince belongs to were child slavery, domestic slavery, field slavery and forced slavery. Mary was born …show more content…
Mary Prince was taken from her mother at a young age; she was subjected to violent punishment and forced to work even when she was ill. She was free in England but if she returned to the West Indies, she became a slave again. In order to keep her freedom, she made the difficult choice of giving up her husband and stay in England. Her owners Captain I and Mrs. I, Mr. D, and Mr. Woods were all affected by slavery. Stories about Captain I, Mrs. I and Mr. D were successfully used by Mary Prince to provoke readers by describing her horrific slavery journey. Mary would talk about the brutal beating afflicted on her and on other slaves that she witnessed. She stated, “to strip me naked- hang me up by the wrist and lay my flesh with cow skin, was an ordinary punishment for even the slightest offence” (Mary Prince, xxvii). Mary’s other owner Mr. Woods took Pringle to court and Mary was one of the witnesses, but the verdict was against Pringle and he had to pay for damages. Mr. Woods was also affected because when Mary decided to stay in England, he lost a valuable slave. Semsigul was affected by slavery by her parents selling her into slavery at a young age and being forced to engage in sexual relations with Deli Mehmet. When she became pregnant, Deli’s wife beat her. Semsigul said “she fetched a cloths press, hit me with it several times on my stomach and back, and beat me with a mincing rod” …show more content…
In Mary Prince’s narrative, Semsigul’s story and in forced labor in Mexico, slavery was accepted as part of the society. In Mary’s narrative, African Americans were born into slavery and forced to do labor for their master. The whites were able to punish their slaves and often immune when seeing other slaves getting beat. Mary stated, “Oh those white people have small hearts who can only feel for themselves” (Mary Prince, II). In Semsigul’s story the slavery in her society existed for centuries. The Spaniards did not want to let the Indians go free because they would have a negative economic outcome. Without the Indians being forced to work in the wheat farm Gomez states, “without them we would all starve and not be able to harvest single grain of wheat” (Overfield, 93). Gomez later acknowledge that without the Indians in the mines, owners would be done for, the royal tax would be lost and trade would come to a complete end. Slave owners made it so difficult to eradicate slavery because they did not want to lose the economic benefits they were receiving from their