The Happy Slave

In the film The Song of the South, Walt Disney creates one of the most iconic slave characters in cinema. He seems more than eager to live life on the plantation; after all, things aren't so bad, "Mr. Bluebird's on my shoulder."

Victor Fleming's Gone With the Wind portrays a group of slaves on a southern plantation. All are more than happy to serve the white folk. Even after the sacrifices of war have made them free souls, they stick around the plantation. The deep South is a place of wonder and beauty, where the childlike black folk live happily as slaves.

In Uncle Tom's Cabin, we get a slightly different view of slavery. Certainly, and the author is the first to admit, there were good masters who treated their slaves with love and respect. However, though these slaves are thankful to have kind masters, something is missing in their lives. Stowe seeks to uncover a myth that has endured even until this day, the myth of the Happy Slave.

When Uncle Tom is bought by Augustine St. Clare, he begins a life of relative ease for a slave. St. Clare treats slaves like family. When his daughter dies, she asks her father one request, to free Uncle Tom.

When St. Clare tells Tom of his plans to free him, Tom is overjoyed. St. Clare can not help but feel hurt by his eagerness to leave. He asks Tom if he has not treated him more kindly than any master could. Tom replies with a thankful yes. St. Clare just can not understand why Tom would want to leave a life of relative ease and luxury. As St. Clare's slave he could have any earthly thing he desired. Fine food, clothing, a warm bed, and a beautiful abode are all things Augustine has given to Tom. And yet, that is not what Tom desires. He tells St. Clare that he would rather be poor and free then live with ease, yet under the burden of slavery.

This, to me, is a very telling part of Stowe's narrative. Access to material wealth is meaningless if you cannot possess yourself.

There is much truth to this, even in a contemporary sense. I would take a job I thoroughly enjoy than a job that pays millions. We don't want to be tied down to something we have no control over. As humans, we would rather have our freedom and own little, than all the world and lack destiny over our soul.

WC:418