ALTHOUGH NOT EXACTLY THE SAME ASSIGNMENT AS YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN THIS TERM, THIS PAPER, A DOCUMENT ANALYSIS FROM AN HST202 COURSE IS AN EXAMPLE OF AN “A” PAPER.

Southern Novel Depicts Slavery, 1832

While it is certain that there were plantations where slaves were treated better than at others, and it is certain that some slave owners of the time were decent human beings who treated their slaves well, John P. Kennedy’s fiction is far too utopian to be believed. He over dramatizes the ‘good nature’ of slave owners and is almost patronizing in his presentation of an unrealistic (or at least somewhat implausible) account of everyday lives of slaves. While some of his account may have been accurate in some of the cases, it is highly unlikely that the dramatization he presents held true for the majority of slaves and slave owners.

The problem with Kennedy’s account is that it is far too difficult to believe, especially from reading other accounts from both owners and slaves alike from the same period. Since he is looking for sympathy and understanding towards slavery, it is understandable that he would dramatize and perhaps ‘fudge-over’ the facts a bit to persuade the reader into his point of view. Kennedy seems to take this too far though and tries to cover-up the atrocities visited upon the slaves by providing the reader with a fantasy and not a true account of the lives of slaves.

While Kennedy praises the African American race at points in Swallow Barn, he does so in a condescending manner and follows these statements closely with obvious slights and insults that he unsuccessfully tries to hide beneath the surface of fictional fluff to distract the reader from these truths. Kennedy describes them as “parasites,” as possessing the “helplessness of a child,” and describes them as “aping” the white man. He tries to provide these descriptions in such a way as to make them seem complimentary, while still using more phrases such as “little negroes,” “grotesque in nature,” and “lazy, listless” people. If he is trying to mask his contempt and feelings of superiority for the African American race, he does so poorly.

His comparison to the slaves as “terrapins,” as a “prolific…redundant brood…full of idle curiosity,” is patronizing if not nauseating. He then in turn, creates the character Meriwether (the slave owner), as “kind and considerate,” a man prepared “to add to their comforts or relieve their wants” who is always met with pleasure by his slaves. The likely hood of this being the norm is highly suspicious and is just another example of Kennedy’s devoutly racist and egotistical faith in slavery as an institution and inalienable right of the white race.

Kennedy justifies slavery in his belief that not only is the African American lower on the evolutionary ladder than himself, but also that the slave would be completely helpless if left to his own devices. In Swallow Barn he states that “he [the slave] presents himself to my mind as essentially parasitical in his nature...a dependant upon the white race; dependant for guidance and direction even to the procurement of his most indispensable necessaries…[with]… the helplessness of a child.” In Kennedy’s mind, it is not only the right of the white man to ‘protect’ the African American from himself, but it is also his duty to do so, so that their civilization can succeed where (in his belief), were they to be left alone, they would not.

The use of such a work of fiction as John P. Kennedy’s Swallow Barn, as racist and shameful as it may seem to the 21^st century reader, is important in elaborating many of the other issues encompassing slavery. It is essential to read such narratives to gain a perspective on what their side of the argument felt, just as it is vital to read such accounts as those of Henry Watson or Harriet Jacobs. To read all of these together in the context of the historical timeline, gives the reader a better grasp on the issues and ideals surrounding the overall subject. Without knowing all the concerns surrounding the larger argument, the reader gains little real knowledge about the events and will only possess a one-sided, bias education regarding the subject.