In Charles Chesnutt’s “Po Sandy” (1899) and Harreit Wilson’s Our Nig (1859), black bodies are consumed and stripped of their identities and humanity. However, these characters are able to show resistance throughout their consumption.
Black characters in the texts often become commodities used by their owners for their own benefit. The characters, whether they are legally free or not, are subjected to violence that intends to rid them of what makes them human and render them lifeless objects under the whites’ hold. In Chesnutt’s “Po’ Sandy”, Sandy, a slave, is described as a “monst'us good nigger… en alluz 'ten' ter his wuk so well, dat w'en Mars Marrabo's chilluns growed up en married off, dey all un 'em wanted dey daddy fer ter gin em Sandy …show more content…
After Marrabo purchases a new wife for Sandy, Tenie, and Sandy falls in love with her, Marrabo plans to send Sandy to yet another plantation. Hearing of Marrabo’s plan, Sandy tells Tenie “'I'm gittin' monst'us ti'ed er dish yer gwine roun' so much… hit's Sandy dis en Sandy dat, en Sandy yer en Sandy dere, tel it 'pears ter me I ain' got no home, ner no marster, ner no mistiss, ner no nuffin. I can't eben keep a wife” (Chesnutt 44). Marrabo’s treatment of Sandy not only leaves him exhausted but also devoid of anything that he can call his. An object, being what it is, cannot be in possession of anything and by constantly shuffling Sandy around, Marrabo has rendered Sandy homeless and companionless. In a twisted fashion, Sandy feels that he doesn’t even have a master nor mistress. He is owned by no one and owns nothing, therefore, he is literally “nuffin”. Sandy exhausted and facing another separation from his wife, goes so far as to wishing “‘[he] wuz a tree, er a stump, er a rock, er sump'n w'at could stay on de plantation fer a w'ile.’” (Chesnutt 45) just to escape his fate. His wishes a tree, …show more content…
Sandy, born into slavery and collected as a commodity providing profit as labour, is unable to escape slavery; he is harvested as a static tree, unable to do anything to stop the consumption and violent commodification of his body once again. Already stripped of their freedom and identity as slaves, their transformation into non-humans compounds their objectification and suffering. In his tree form, Sandy’s flesh falls victim to violence in the form of a woodpecker pecking holes into his body and a black slave being ordered by a master to harvest turpentine, “hack'[ing] de bark up two er th'ee feet” and leaving a “big skyar on his lef' leg, des lack it be'n skunt” (Chesnutt 49). As a tree, his flesh continues to be harvested and “hack[ed]” in the name of profit once again. When he is transformed back into his human form, Sandy bears the marks of the violence against his flesh. As a tree, Sandy could escape parts of his enslavement – he gets to stay with Tenie-; but he was not able to wholly escape the violence endemic to commodification of people – in terms of “Po’ Sandy”, commodification of nature – by white
Black characters in the texts often become commodities used by their owners for their own benefit. The characters, whether they are legally free or not, are subjected to violence that intends to rid them of what makes them human and render them lifeless objects under the whites’ hold. In Chesnutt’s “Po’ Sandy”, Sandy, a slave, is described as a “monst'us good nigger… en alluz 'ten' ter his wuk so well, dat w'en Mars Marrabo's chilluns growed up en married off, dey all un 'em wanted dey daddy fer ter gin em Sandy …show more content…
After Marrabo purchases a new wife for Sandy, Tenie, and Sandy falls in love with her, Marrabo plans to send Sandy to yet another plantation. Hearing of Marrabo’s plan, Sandy tells Tenie “'I'm gittin' monst'us ti'ed er dish yer gwine roun' so much… hit's Sandy dis en Sandy dat, en Sandy yer en Sandy dere, tel it 'pears ter me I ain' got no home, ner no marster, ner no mistiss, ner no nuffin. I can't eben keep a wife” (Chesnutt 44). Marrabo’s treatment of Sandy not only leaves him exhausted but also devoid of anything that he can call his. An object, being what it is, cannot be in possession of anything and by constantly shuffling Sandy around, Marrabo has rendered Sandy homeless and companionless. In a twisted fashion, Sandy feels that he doesn’t even have a master nor mistress. He is owned by no one and owns nothing, therefore, he is literally “nuffin”. Sandy exhausted and facing another separation from his wife, goes so far as to wishing “‘[he] wuz a tree, er a stump, er a rock, er sump'n w'at could stay on de plantation fer a w'ile.’” (Chesnutt 45) just to escape his fate. His wishes a tree, …show more content…
Sandy, born into slavery and collected as a commodity providing profit as labour, is unable to escape slavery; he is harvested as a static tree, unable to do anything to stop the consumption and violent commodification of his body once again. Already stripped of their freedom and identity as slaves, their transformation into non-humans compounds their objectification and suffering. In his tree form, Sandy’s flesh falls victim to violence in the form of a woodpecker pecking holes into his body and a black slave being ordered by a master to harvest turpentine, “hack'[ing] de bark up two er th'ee feet” and leaving a “big skyar on his lef' leg, des lack it be'n skunt” (Chesnutt 49). As a tree, his flesh continues to be harvested and “hack[ed]” in the name of profit once again. When he is transformed back into his human form, Sandy bears the marks of the violence against his flesh. As a tree, Sandy could escape parts of his enslavement – he gets to stay with Tenie-; but he was not able to wholly escape the violence endemic to commodification of people – in terms of “Po’ Sandy”, commodification of nature – by white