Audita Sum (![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} auditasum) wrote,@ 2008-06-26 21:54:00 |
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Slavery
This is kind of weird, but I remember, as a little kid, thinking that I would be the best servant to an evil overlord ever. Think about it-- usually the servants of evil overlords are snivelling little bitches who can never get anything done right. I could certainly do better, and then the evil overlord would reward me instead of cutting off my hand or something, like evil overlords are wont to do.
Anyway, I just thought of that because I was reading Limyaael's rant on slavery (it's wayyyyyyyyyyyy back in the archives), and thinking about how I disagree with her. Sometimes, slaves don't hate their masters, and indeed, glean some sort of happiness from serving them. I'm thinking ancient Rome-type slaves, particularly, where any common household would have at least one or two personal slaves. It wasn't a big deal back then like it was in America's history, with all those race relations. Or something.
Anyway, I have this character in this thing I'm writing who becomes a slave. She was raised in a patriarchal society and has has very firmly-rooted beliefs that men are the head of the household, that what they think and say is way more legitimate than what women think and say, etcetera. When she becomes a slave, some of the guys in the raiding party are total bitchholes, but one of them, the rich guy leading them, is nice to her. The guy comes from a rich background, but he lives in an apartment (in a Romanesque society, this is not glamorous) and will end up only having a couple of slaves. Eventually, he chooses her as one of his slaves. In a manner reminiscent of Stockholm syndrome, she works hard to be a good slave and takes pride in her work. Maybe it's a responsibility thing-- she doesn't have to worry about her own life when serving another. And it was partially that, in order to cope with her new life, she had to latch on to the only male she could respect. So yeah, Stockholmy.
Anyway, I didn't think that her non-rebellion is unreasonable. It's not the fatuously servile black slaves of old propaganda who say 'massah' and shit like that; her cousin, another slave, is apathetic and lazy about her slavery, but gets by without doing much work because she's been employed in the city opera and is making her owner lots of money.
This is kind of weird, but I remember, as a little kid, thinking that I would be the best servant to an evil overlord ever. Think about it-- usually the servants of evil overlords are snivelling little bitches who can never get anything done right. I could certainly do better, and then the evil overlord would reward me instead of cutting off my hand or something, like evil overlords are wont to do.
Anyway, I just thought of that because I was reading Limyaael's rant on slavery (it's wayyyyyyyyyyyy back in the archives), and thinking about how I disagree with her. Sometimes, slaves don't hate their masters, and indeed, glean some sort of happiness from serving them. I'm thinking ancient Rome-type slaves, particularly, where any common household would have at least one or two personal slaves. It wasn't a big deal back then like it was in America's history, with all those race relations. Or something.
Anyway, I have this character in this thing I'm writing who becomes a slave. She was raised in a patriarchal society and has has very firmly-rooted beliefs that men are the head of the household, that what they think and say is way more legitimate than what women think and say, etcetera. When she becomes a slave, some of the guys in the raiding party are total bitchholes, but one of them, the rich guy leading them, is nice to her. The guy comes from a rich background, but he lives in an apartment (in a Romanesque society, this is not glamorous) and will end up only having a couple of slaves. Eventually, he chooses her as one of his slaves. In a manner reminiscent of Stockholm syndrome, she works hard to be a good slave and takes pride in her work. Maybe it's a responsibility thing-- she doesn't have to worry about her own life when serving another. And it was partially that, in order to cope with her new life, she had to latch on to the only male she could respect. So yeah, Stockholmy.
Anyway, I didn't think that her non-rebellion is unreasonable. It's not the fatuously servile black slaves of old propaganda who say 'massah' and shit like that; her cousin, another slave, is apathetic and lazy about her slavery, but gets by without doing much work because she's been employed in the city opera and is making her owner lots of money.