Reflection Paper 2: Worse Than Slavery
I thought that after a while that history couldn’t shock me anymore. It’s bursting of many disturbing stories, hypocritical beliefs and actions and simple bloodthirsty ignorance. I was wrong, history is full of ironic situations, beliefs and actions that shocked me. The Book: Worse than slavery, is a book that contents don’t skirt around issues and is chock full irony that can be amusing and some that is just plain sickening. In the Book, I found Irony in the situation of prisoners becoming guards, how whites were expected in prison to do what southern society saw a slave work; and the irony of just when human bloodlust was considered perfectly okay, and when that line was considered crossed, or barbaric. …show more content…
One of the many that stuck out and caught my eye was the hypocritical way that society deemed the blacks unsafe, but in prison they used them as guards for both prisoners and the prison. Looking back at the social system, where the blacks were considered by southern society as: criminals. Nothing more than idiots that were so immoral (ruthless perverts) that they couldn’t be expected to succeed in life or become anything more than low-down troublemaker. Just could not be trusted around anyone. And yet the people in charge of the prison farms deemed them safe enough to arm and guard the other prisoners. (Oshinksy 140-141) Not only is it ironic, it is also twisted. The prisoner is armed, and has free will to whip other prisoners to keep them in line. Not only that, essentially there are several things that might happen. If ‘prisoner’ guard loses the position and gets knocked down regular prisoner, he’s entering a hostile situation (those who were whipped, treated poorly, etc. might come looking for revenge.) Another point: What is keeping the prisoner from turning back on the warden/man in charge? There are many events in that situation that can go wrong by …show more content…
When white prisoners start to join the mix, as it turns out: the white prisoners have to do work that was once considered slave work. The irony, is where the whites are infuriated that they have to show respect, to be submissive and actually do work that they considered beneath them. Work that was picking and growing cotton, something that the whites considered strictly to be for slaves, freedmen or black prisoners. (Oshinksy 164-165) It is, in simple terms, just desserts! If you don’t want to do the time, then do not break the law in any way. They were getting whipped, put into solitary confinement, etc. any time they refused to cooperate or misbehaved. In this one aspect of prison life, where all prisoners have to actually do the work its equal! Having to work for your crimes, or rather pay for a crime committed is a part of the law and the structure of the punishments system; and the system isn’t always a very pretty thing, the irony is when something is considered barbaric or the line where enough was enough. Especially when Human beings are
I thought that after a while that history couldn’t shock me anymore. It’s bursting of many disturbing stories, hypocritical beliefs and actions and simple bloodthirsty ignorance. I was wrong, history is full of ironic situations, beliefs and actions that shocked me. The Book: Worse than slavery, is a book that contents don’t skirt around issues and is chock full irony that can be amusing and some that is just plain sickening. In the Book, I found Irony in the situation of prisoners becoming guards, how whites were expected in prison to do what southern society saw a slave work; and the irony of just when human bloodlust was considered perfectly okay, and when that line was considered crossed, or barbaric. …show more content…
One of the many that stuck out and caught my eye was the hypocritical way that society deemed the blacks unsafe, but in prison they used them as guards for both prisoners and the prison. Looking back at the social system, where the blacks were considered by southern society as: criminals. Nothing more than idiots that were so immoral (ruthless perverts) that they couldn’t be expected to succeed in life or become anything more than low-down troublemaker. Just could not be trusted around anyone. And yet the people in charge of the prison farms deemed them safe enough to arm and guard the other prisoners. (Oshinksy 140-141) Not only is it ironic, it is also twisted. The prisoner is armed, and has free will to whip other prisoners to keep them in line. Not only that, essentially there are several things that might happen. If ‘prisoner’ guard loses the position and gets knocked down regular prisoner, he’s entering a hostile situation (those who were whipped, treated poorly, etc. might come looking for revenge.) Another point: What is keeping the prisoner from turning back on the warden/man in charge? There are many events in that situation that can go wrong by …show more content…
When white prisoners start to join the mix, as it turns out: the white prisoners have to do work that was once considered slave work. The irony, is where the whites are infuriated that they have to show respect, to be submissive and actually do work that they considered beneath them. Work that was picking and growing cotton, something that the whites considered strictly to be for slaves, freedmen or black prisoners. (Oshinksy 164-165) It is, in simple terms, just desserts! If you don’t want to do the time, then do not break the law in any way. They were getting whipped, put into solitary confinement, etc. any time they refused to cooperate or misbehaved. In this one aspect of prison life, where all prisoners have to actually do the work its equal! Having to work for your crimes, or rather pay for a crime committed is a part of the law and the structure of the punishments system; and the system isn’t always a very pretty thing, the irony is when something is considered barbaric or the line where enough was enough. Especially when Human beings are