Moral Responsibility In The Underground Railroad

An inherent moral responsibility exists in being in the possession of power. Sociologically, the more unchecked a population's power over others is, the more likely it is for that group to abuse it and exert this power over other populations. Colson Whitehead's novel, The Underground Railroad reflects an instance of rampant power, in the form of slavery, during a time period where it was widely accepted. Throughout the novel, white supremacists assert their dominance over slaves, belittling and abusing them for their financial gain as if they were property-- dollar bills rather than people. Our featured antagonists continuously exploit their counterparts, displaying their deep-rooted prestige by punishing their slaves if they weren't performing

up to par, upholding their control through physical and psychological violence. Unfortunately, as history can attest to, this unchecked power will culminate until something stops it similarly to slavery or other historical events like the Holocaust. One can see a repeated chain of events that stems from a motivation for power that continues into the present day in the form of human trafficking. Man's necessity for power progresses and will remain a part of everyday society just like it did hundreds of years ago. In analyzing the social issues Whitehead presents in The Underground Railroad, we can better understand human trafficking as well as reinforce the utility the novel has in reminding us about unchecked power in modern day history. The novel allows us to draw parallels to the current day and illuminates a cyclical sociological pattern of unbridled power that exists in present day human trafficking.
At the root of slavery exists an essential desire for power. In the novel, the Randall plantation is a prime depiction of man displaying his "right" to have control over another individual. In order to display their dominance the Randalls regularly degrade and dehumanize those living on the plantation, attempting to minimize those below their social standing. In the novel, Cora witnesses the maltreatment of her cohorts and is both physically and psychologically damaged by her superiors-- a result of her higher-ups boasting about their authority and abusing it to diminish others. Examples of the Randalls actions can be seen on page 33 which states, "[Cora] had seen men hung from trees and left for buzzards and crows. Women carved open to the bones with the cat-o'-nine-tails. Bodies alive and dead roasted on pyres. Feet cut off to prevent escape and hands cut off to stop theft. She had seen boys and girls younger than this beaten and had done nothing" (Whitehead 33). These examples are a demonstration of unchecked power, that continues to build throughout the novel until Big Anthony attempts to escape the plantation. After his failed attempt to flee the Randalls put him on a three day display of torment culminating in his death. By abusing violence the slave owners are able to assert their control over the slaves, continuing to strive for power. In addition, this is a tactic of psychological turmoil because his fellow slaves had to witness his brutal passing. The characters are consistently dehumanized for the duration of their time at the plantation as well as off of it. Stevens, a medical student in Massachusetts starts schooling and then begins grave-robbing with Carpenter in order to pay for his tuition. While Stevens himself wasn't approving of racial prejudice he stole the African-American cadavers because none of the sheriffs would pay attention to a missing black body. The dehumanization of the African-Americans is explored well on page 139 where Whitehead states, "In death the negro became a human being. Only then was he the white man's equal." In this part of the novel the characters believe that the only reason black people are useful is because they can be put towards medical research and that otherwise white men were superior in every sense. By limiting the black people the white supremacists held more power which would continue to grow for years to come. Racism and slavery were driven by people's sociological desire for power, which when left unchecked continues to thrive and leaves the victims people hopeless.
Inherently, human trafficking is the same in that the foundation of its ideals stem from unchecked power of its offenders.

Innumerable victims of human trafficking are faced with identical social issues to those of slavery, struggling with demoralization and violence. An article published by CNN tells the story of Sacharay, a victim of human trafficking that was thrown into the system as a pubescent 14-year old girl, ostracized from her peers. After building a friendship with a man in his 30s' he soon began asking her for "favors", pleading her to have intercourse with other men for his profit. While controlling this girl well through her teenage years her trafficker was able to continue with his power, recruiting more individuals to his service (Sex trafficking: The new American slavery). As his dominance was left unchecked, he was likely to abuse this power over more populations, continuing to build this illegal network of trafficked slaves. Just as the slaves in The Underground Railroad, as soon as these girls didn't want to answer to him anymore he would punish them, putting a gun to their head or forcing them to do some other cruel punishment. Violence and dehumanization are two common methods of exerting power on an individual that were unchecked and abused in many cases of human trafficking. The sufferers of human trafficking were treated like objects that one would lend out for certain amounts of time, even marked for ownership by tattoos that the pimp would force them to get. Sacharay stated that at the peak of her time under her pimp she had sexual relations with over forty men in one day-in which she was treated as an toy for other people's enjoyment rather than a human. To this day she still has tattoos from her years under the control of another person, reminding her of this trauma every day. Pimps like Sacharay's have a deep-seated desire for power, and since many victims of sex trafficking were vulnerable they became easy pickings for traffickers.

Human trafficking is driven by an instinctive desire for power, which is often times left unchecked.
By nature any social standing that is fueled by power is going to be similar. While they are approximately 200 years apart from each other slavery and human trafficking are based around the same ideals and are both rooted in humans sociological desire for power. By abusing their power both the Randalls and Sacharay's trafficker were able to compel the actions of other individuals against their free will for their personal benefit. In both cases the antagonists used similar methods to achieve their goals-- focusing on dehumanization and violence to belittle their targets and give themselves more control. In cases like these, unchecked power is thrown out of proportion and becomes a major societal problem for the victims involved. By comparing slavery to human trafficking we can recognize that our society is repeating a cyclical, sociological pattern of unchecked power that becomes unmanageable and in many cases like slavery or the Holocaust, ends in war. Without stopping the current control that the human traffickers have we are just watching history replay itself, which has never had a positive end result.
In our species natural social dynamic there is a latent ambition for power in one's environment. Unchecked power leads to groups that have amassed power and can abuse it to control the communities that are without it. Slavery existed and still continues to exist through many different forms and appearances, regardless of the social boundaries societies have placed to curb this unchecked power. Colson Whitehead's novel, The Underground Railroad, mirrors a point two hundred years ago where American Society was dominated by unbridled sovereignty-man's necessity to have power and it displays many of the things people would do to control people. Throughout the book, Whitehead's characters declare their control over others, turning human beings into paper bills that weren't allowed to have personal thoughts. The adversaries fed off of violence using psychological and physical tactics to belittle those they controlled to meet their ingrained desire for excess power. The novel helps us draw resemblance to current day human trafficking and spotlights the cyclical sociological pattern of unchecked power that has repeated itself for hundreds of years, and continues to repeat itself in our current day society.