Who Was To Blame In The Poetry Of The Slave Trade Essay

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Elisa Cha Literature Core Professor Goel March 12, 2024 Blame: A Throughout history, the word blame is often used as a way of division: pointing fingers, labeling the villain, and limiting the oppressed. However, in a glimpse of a slave’s inner turmoil on murdering his tyrant lord, Robert Southey uses blame in a way that does not condemn but acts rather as a bridge to the reader. In his cry, “Oh! Who shall blame him?”, there lies a silent plea for empathy, not judgement – leaving readers at a moral clash at his justification. Defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as “to lay the blame on, to reproach; to fix the responsibility upon; to make answerable. Also, to blame (something) on (or on to) someone,” blame takes on a dual nature: it signifies both the …show more content…

Despite this time when slaves were considered nothing more than animals and shadows of existence, Southey reminds the reader of the shared humanity between the reader and slave through the experiences of home, friendships, liberty, and love; stripped of everything but his memories, Southey shows that the slave’s contemplation of violent revenge emerges not as an act of unwarranted aggression but as a fundamental human reaction to unimaginable oppression. His expression in line 8, “All lost for ever!”, evokes both sympathy and reflection, as it emphasizes the clear loss of hope the enslaved have in ever finding these experiences again. Southey again challenges the conventional notion of blame by foregrounding the slave’s humanity and the natural inclination anyone in that position would have towards seeking justice. By evoking these shared human experiences, Southey not only dissolves the barriers created by societal constructs of blame, but also reminds the reader of forgiveness and

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