THE PUNISHED SELF

Slavery is a phenomenon that has been experienced by various sections of the population who are
believed to be less fortunate in the society throughout the world. From time immemorial it has been
practiced as it started from colonial times. Around the continent the colonizers subjected those who
they colonized into various forms of treatment that suggested mistreatment of these people. Slavery is
still practiced in many parts of the world even with the gain of independence in many countries. African
countries for instance experienced slavery during the colonial eras as the colonial masters exposed them
to exploitation in order to benefit from the resources that were present in the colonies. Slavery affects
those who are exposed to it rendering them their basic rights.

Alex Bontemps in his book ‘The Punished Self: Surviving Slavery in the Colonial South’ explains the
enslavement in South America of the blacks who went there from the African content in the eighteenth
century. He further describes how slave affects the slaves’ framework of understanding and self-
awareness. The whites termed Africans as Negros that made them to face a dilemma of identity.

According to the first part of the book, objectification patterns were reinforced by visual and written
enslavement representations. The book further examines how Africans who were captives were forced
to accept that term together with the behavioral requirements and expectations that it symbolized. The
third section of the book illustrates and defines the tensions that are available in slaves as Negro for
them to survive. He offers interpretation of advertisements and portraits of slaves who have run away.
This implies the difficulties that the slaves pass through. The book has revelations that have original
examples of how individuals survive under enslavement.

The book fits into other slavery literature in the United States as we can observe that in the book the
issue of African slavery is discussed. The slavery literature in the United States is to an extent
contributed by the African descents that live in the United States. Therefore this book has contributed to
a large extent into other slavery literature such as slave narratives about the accounts of life under
slavery written by Africans themselves. These narratives are of racism, slavery and equality in the United
States.

Slavery existed even before American civil war. During the war time the blacks were involved in war and
emancipation. The special thing about the book is that it talks about the slavery in South America that
Africans were exposed to by the whites. This book is unique in it description of this phenomenon as it
talks bout how Africans were dehumanized by the whites in the American history before the civil war
and even after the war. Therefore, the book is different from other books written on the same issue of
slavery as it talks on the units of slavery for which in this case are Africans.

Alex Bontemps uses new sources in his book as it is evident that from the book there is a part that has
notes on sources. Also there is a certain part in the book that mentions about how Jefferson discussed
the intellectual and moral capacity of the blacks on his book ‘Notes on the state of Virginia.’ Therefore,
the author uses new sources in his work as illustrated above.
It is evident that the author approaches the subject matter of slavery from a different direction than the
other authors as he describes this issue using the black people whom we already know were slaves and
some are even slaves today. He also explains about this phenomenon in a region where it is
experienced.