Alison Rose’s Reviews > James > Status Update

They were open to me, but what I saw, looking into them, was hardly impressive. They sought to share this moment of mocking me, mocking darkies, laughing at the poor slaves, with joyful spirited clapping & stomping. I looked at one woman who might have been intrigued by me or taken with me, the entertainer. I saw the surface of her, merely the outer shell, & realized that she was mere surface all the way to her core.

There were those slaves who claimed a distinction between good masters and cruel masters. Most of us considered such to be distinction without difference.

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'Yes, but them people liked it, Jim. Did you see their faces? They had to know them was lies, but they wanted to believe. What do you make of that?'
'Folks be funny lak dat. Dey takes the lies dey want and throws away the truths dat scares 'em.'

I was as much scared as angry, but where does a slave put anger? We could be angry with one another; we were human. But the real source of our rage had to go without address, swallowed, repressed.

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I suspected at that moment that I would not die, but it was unclear whether I would be pleased about that fact.