The main idea of the book was giving slavery a human face. This does not mean the humanization of a brutal and unnatural phenomenon of human history or its justification in any sense. The main theme of the whole book is a horrible reality of slavery seen through the real human faces, individuals with names and almost touchable appearances and distinct descriptions. They have souls, feelings and emotions in the process of enslavement and life in general. Subsequently, the main aim of Marcus Rediker is to show the reality of slavery as a characteristic feature of a historical epoch, which shaped or rather ruined human lives of millions and had its impact on modern development of human civilization.
Rediker tells the story of slavery through the stories of personified individuals. He does not generalize the slavery as most of the books on history of this aspect. He makes it tangible and comprehensible through human lives. In order to achieve the integrity of phenomenon description, Rediker describes numerous people belonging to different parties of slavery. Among captains are captain Tomb and Jenkin Evans, who are depicted as ruthless manipulators but have their own weaknesses of tears and sexual desire for women (202). Slave girl Sarah on the ship Hudibras embodies youth, joy and strength for survival through her dancing (19-20). James D’Wolf, member of the famous New England slave-trading family, is embodying a capitalistic approach to human lives and fear of sickness (343).
Individualization and subsequent personification of slavery are also achieved by means of detailed description of peoples’ background, their ethnic and geographical belonging. He also described tortures for the vividness of the reality. Rediker puts a specific emphasis on emotional feeling of the heroes. Three main emotions central for the book are fear, cruelty and despair. Captain Harding is punishing rebels in front of others by slashing one woman’s body to death, killing a male slave and making another one eat his heart (16). Those actions raised terror and fear among slaves and discouraged them from rebellion.
Personification of the slave ship makes the greatest contribution to the individualization and humanization of slaves’ images. Rediker does not only describe the ship as a means of transportation but as a symbol of changes and development. He emphasizes the change of epochs and human lives. The ship is full of human energy from the moment the wood was laid to build it to the time when slaves were delivered to their final destination (67). The ship is a transitional stage in human lives. The ship is terrified like Fante and his family, outraged as Robert, brave as Sarah and ruthless as Captain Jenkin Evans. Through all the things that happened on the ship and people who left their souls and hopes on it, the ship becomes an embodiment of slavery and those people perished in its holds. The slave ship speaks for them; it is the only one to remember them.
Overall, the book is extremely cognitive, realistic and alive both in its contents and narration flaw. It is hard to say that reading of this book can be enjoyable, since the depicting of slavery horrors and torture techniques cannot be enjoyable. On the other hand, it is extremely helpful for comprehension of human nature and capitalist rationale of slavery, which is particularly vivid on the example of D’Wolf’s object-like treatment of people. This book can be called “enjoyable” in a sense that it depicts the nature of the human spirit and variations of its transformation under the hardships of slavery and human intolerance. The most remarkable examples in this sense are stories of captains Tomba and Harding. Rediker describes the issue in its integrity and not just as good/bad. He shows the duality of human nature.
Work Cited
Rediker, M. The Slave Ship: A Human History. New York, NY: Viking Penguin. 2007. Print.
