The Issue of Objectivity Regarding Fictional Slave Narratives in Caryl Phillips’ Cambridge

Onavlik 1

TU Chemnitz

Faculty of Humanities

English and American Studies

SS 2012

Slave Narratives

Birte Heidemann

The Issue of Objectivity Regarding Fictional Slave Narratives

in Caryl Phillips' Cambridge

Hande ONAVLIK

English and American Studies, B_AA (Erasmus)

Tel: +905546161656

hande.onavlik@gmail.com

Onavlik 2

Table of Contents

- Introduction (P. 3 - 5)

- A General Outlook on Objectivity and Persuasion (P. 5 - 8)

- Fictional Characters as Sources of Objectivity (P. 8 - 14)

- Conclusion (P. 15)

- Works Cited (P.16)

Onavlik 3

INTRODUCTION

"Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold,

and are forced to work." (Brace 162). Now, in the 21st century we are only 200 years away

from a time when this system was the most influental profitting system known to mankind.

The historical implications on this matter are best conveyed by William L. Andrews. He says:

"Close to two million slaves were brought to the American South from Africa and the West

Indies during the centuries of the Atlantic slave trade. Approximately 20% of the population

of the American South over the years has been African American." (Andrews 2)

This large man force that consisted mainly of black people is what maintained the

main labor constitution for many years even after the emancipation. In those years of racism

and slavery black people have been exposed to a certain principle that automatically makes

them inferior to anything that is remotely white. This hierarchial culture was embedded to the

black person and white person alike to "sanction and support the whole range of

discrimination that has characterized white supremacy in its successive stages." (Andrews 2)

The slaves' opinion and experiences in these matters were for many years devoid of

form and communication; however the victims themselves had not...