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Writing the Journey: June 1999

"An Inside View of Slavery"


Phil A. Cavalier
Department of English
Auburn University
cavalpa@mail.auburn.edu

In my paper, which focuses on An Inside View of Slavery , a travel narrative written by the Northerner C. G. Parsons in 1854, I argue that Parsons dedicates a significant portion of his text to establishing his authority as a credible, if amateur, ethnographer, in order to claim that his depiction of the South as a place of spectacular, violent, and barbaric rituals of leisure and punishment is objective and accurate. Among other things, Parsons underscores the uniqueness of his method for collecting data. Parsons chooses to observe life in rural planting districts and stays in each location longer than a tourist would in order to observe closely the customs of the community. By concentrating primarily on rural areas, Parsons claims that he can study the inhabitants in their natural state. Hidden away in the back country, the rural Southerners he describes are beyond, and untainted by, the civilizing influence of the Northerners who travel in Southern cities. The result, Parsons tells us, is that he can see behind the veil which the Slave Power uses to pacify Northerners. An introduction by Harriet Beecher Stowe authenticates and further authorizes the ethnography of the unveiled South which Parsons produces.

Parsons describes sensational and disturbing rituals which he implies are fundamental in defining the identity of particular Southern communities and the South generally. I focus on two: a gander-pulling festival at which gambling, drinking, and violent games are the primary activities; and the burning and mutilation of a slave accused of striking his mistress with a hatchett after she had inflicted a punishment on him which Parsons will not "name, or describe." Parsons selects these kinds of rituals because they constitute graphic and conclusive proof that slavery must be abolished. By putting on display various outrageous and sensational acts and customs, Parsons appeals to the readers' emotions in order to move them to act against slavery.


Dr. Philip Acree Cavalier
Department of English
Auburn University
cavalpa@mail.auburn.edu

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Updated May 23, 1999