Fifty Years in Chains is a remarkable story told in the perspective of a slave in the deep south, Charles Ball. From being sold away from his mom at age four to running away for his freedom, Ball faces many struggles and narrates a first-hand tale of what it was like to be a slave. Throughout his life, Ball had numerous kinds of masters: some were kind natured while others were extremely cruel. In reflecting on his experiences with these different masters, Ball exemplified the diverse dynamics of the relationship between a slave and their master. There were many different and complex dynamics in the relationship between a slave and their master some of which were not even noticed by either party. These dynamics characterize every slave-owner
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On every plantation in the south, slaves significantly outnumbered their masters. In addition, slave rebellions occurred which combined with the previous statistic caused slave owners to live in fear that their slaves would rise up against them harming them and their families. For example, Ball once tells a story that he heard in which a group of slaves teamed up in the night and killed their master along with the master’s family. In another occurrence, Ball witnessed the full investigation of a missing girl who had been kidnapped by a slave and died as a result of the misfortune. “the young lady, who had left the house on the previous evening in company with her brother, had been assailed on the road, about four miles off, by a black man, who had sprung from a thicket, and snatched her from her horse,” (pg. 75). Hearing about these uprisings kept every slave owner on edge and fearing the violent potential of their living property. This fear that the slave owners felt was the very reason why owners disciplined and controlled their labor the way they did thus creating fear among their …show more content…
One could not exist without the other. Charles Ball reflected on this through his experiences when he said the following: “There is, in fact, a mutual dependence between the master and his slave. The former could not acquire anything without the labor of the latter, and the latter would always remain in poverty without the judgment of the former in directing labor to a definite and profitable result” (pg. 105). The slave and the owner relied on each other, whether they realized it or not. The owner provided the slave with food, shelter, and a means to possibly make a profit. The slave was the owner’s main source of labor and profit. Without them, there would be no one to work the fields and gather the cash crops. This reliance was observed countless times by Ball when the owners constantly took into account how it would affect the slave’s ability to work before they punished them and how they treated them afterwards. In one account, Ball’s mistress had him beaten too hard. “She had become alarmed, and was fearful either that I should die, or would not be able to work again for a long time”, Ball had said on page 145 in talking about his mistress. No matter how much pain the owner wanted to inflict on their slaves, they almost always took into account how it would affect the slave’s working ability and this was because they were dependent on them.
On every plantation in the south, slaves significantly outnumbered their masters. In addition, slave rebellions occurred which combined with the previous statistic caused slave owners to live in fear that their slaves would rise up against them harming them and their families. For example, Ball once tells a story that he heard in which a group of slaves teamed up in the night and killed their master along with the master’s family. In another occurrence, Ball witnessed the full investigation of a missing girl who had been kidnapped by a slave and died as a result of the misfortune. “the young lady, who had left the house on the previous evening in company with her brother, had been assailed on the road, about four miles off, by a black man, who had sprung from a thicket, and snatched her from her horse,” (pg. 75). Hearing about these uprisings kept every slave owner on edge and fearing the violent potential of their living property. This fear that the slave owners felt was the very reason why owners disciplined and controlled their labor the way they did thus creating fear among their …show more content…
One could not exist without the other. Charles Ball reflected on this through his experiences when he said the following: “There is, in fact, a mutual dependence between the master and his slave. The former could not acquire anything without the labor of the latter, and the latter would always remain in poverty without the judgment of the former in directing labor to a definite and profitable result” (pg. 105). The slave and the owner relied on each other, whether they realized it or not. The owner provided the slave with food, shelter, and a means to possibly make a profit. The slave was the owner’s main source of labor and profit. Without them, there would be no one to work the fields and gather the cash crops. This reliance was observed countless times by Ball when the owners constantly took into account how it would affect the slave’s ability to work before they punished them and how they treated them afterwards. In one account, Ball’s mistress had him beaten too hard. “She had become alarmed, and was fearful either that I should die, or would not be able to work again for a long time”, Ball had said on page 145 in talking about his mistress. No matter how much pain the owner wanted to inflict on their slaves, they almost always took into account how it would affect the slave’s working ability and this was because they were dependent on them.