Butler Play Analysis

Florida Studio Theatre’s production of Butler by Richard Strand is witty, full of word play, and all too relevant. As a country embroiled in conversation around race, immigration, identity, and at the core of it all who has the right to humanity, this question is posed to us once again as with this play. Butler embodies both the past and present while presenting a unique opportunity to learn from it and change our future.
At the top of Butler, both Major General Butler and Lieutenant Kelly refer to Shepard Mallory as “The Negro Slave.” Neither man knows Mallory’s name. As their conversation about “The Negro Slave” continues issues of legality and more specifically the fugitive slave act are of the heart of the conversation as to what their
course of action should be. Mallory as “The Negro Slave” is property and is treated as such in conversation. Neither Kelley nor Butler has a reason to treat “The Negro Slave” as a human being. Without a name, Mallory is not a man.
As the play continues, Major General Butler and Lieutenant Kelly learn that “The Negro Slave” is a man by the name of Shepard Mallory.
Underneath the hilarity of their interactions and the word play engrained in all of their relationships Shepard Mallory becomes a human being to both Butler and Kelly as they begin to learn more about him. But legality keeps them aiding him.
Later in the play as Major Cary, a member of the Confederate army, comes to retrieve Mallory, as well as two other slaves, language again plays a huge role. In a last ditch effort to save Mallory, Butler uses a loop hole within the Articles of War to claim Mallory as Contraband, an implement of war. As such he can be impounded by the Union Army. The shift in terminology from Slave to Contraband changes Mallory’s status. This shift in status put Mallory in a much better position than his original status as a Slave.
Terminology, language, and how we categorize people socially decides who has humanity, who has a story, and who doesn’t. Butler and Kelley in their interactions with Mallory, even the simple act of learning his name begin to gain empathy and even interest in his story. In today’s society with categories and identity constantly shifting how individuals identify themselves versus how society identifies individuals becomes just as important as the difference between Slave and
Contraband.
As Immigrant rights are more and more entangled in National politics, the word Illegal is often used to describe Immigrants. Illegal? It is a word we often use to describe actions and objects. More recently we have used this word to describe people. If we use a word that has been historically used to describe actions and objects to describe people we move those people further from humanity and commonality with ourselves. This allows us to emotionally disengage with their stories and struggles. It is reverting Mallory back to just “The Negro Slave.”
This word Illegal and its use in categorizing people underneath a negative connotation has given those in positions of power the ability to take advantage of immigrants particularly in the Migrant Farmworkers community all across the country and specifically Florida. Florida is home to a large agricultural economy which is largely dependent on migrant farmworkers. In the underbelly of this industry looms the shadow of human trafficking and modern day slavery. Immigrants from across the globe are smuggled into the country under the guise of opportunity and the ability to work for a living in the fields.
Often the individuals who traffic them use the concept of debt to as a way of keeping them working in the fields for little to no pay. As undocumented immigrants, threats of deportation, arrest, and physical and sexual violence are used to keep workers in bondage. Those with documentation under H-2A visas, or Temporary Agricultural Workers Visas, are coerced and abused due to a lack of education on American labor laws. The National Labor Relations Act, enacted in 1935, precludes agricultural workers rights to unionize. As such when issues of abuse such as the withholding of passports and other documentation occur protections are not in place nor is there someone to advocate for this vulnerable population.
While on paper Farmworkers can make up to $10,000 a year, employers and smugglers use their debt concept to garnish the wages of these workers under the pretense of transportation costs, accommodations, food, equipment maintenance, and false tax and social security costs.
This often leaves workers without sustainable income and forces them to become dependent on their employers for basic necessities. Florida has been at the center of conversations around migrant farmworkers and modern day slavery. In fact in the past 10 years there have been six federal prosecutions of Florida Farmworker employers. Language has plays an instrumental in how these atrocities can occur and shifts in language can change how often these situations can occur.
The movement for Immigrant rights has fought take ownership of this language. Many in this movement refer to themselves as Undocumented Immigrants. What if we as a whole shifted our language? In referring to this demographic as Undocumented rather than Illegal we can start to move away from the negative connotations the word illegal holds much like the shift from Slave to Contraband changes Mallory’s
future.
As we look at Butler, the issue of enslavement connects to the struggle of modern day farmworkers but it is also an issue of language. Butler navigates the importance of language and establishes how changes in familiarity and terminology can dramatically change the course of a conversation and the status of marginalized individuals.
In a perfect world we would be able to meet the countless men, women, and children who grow and harvest our food. We would learn their stories, their names, and the issues they face would become more visceral for us. But alas, we do not live in perfect world, so how can our language be shifted to change their status and public perception?
We can use something as simple a shift in how we talk about people to change the course of conversation around Migrant Farmworkers. As status shift from illegal to undocumented makes it more difficult for us to ignore the issues these individuals are facing and moves us towards a more just world.