The Kitchen House Research Paper
Rachel Hepp
Mrs. Patterson
World Literature
24 November 2014
Slavery: Diminishing Human Dignity In the United States, slavery was permitted for hundreds of years allowing for the slaves and indentured servants to be treated unjustly. The country that was so proud of their freedom was in fact not free for all; those of color or ethnicity were discriminated against. Men, women and even children were treated as property instead of human beings solely because of their heritage. Although slavery in the United States no longer exists there are still effects of this horrific time in today’s society. The Kitchen House is an accurate portrayal of indentured servitude and the brutality inhumane slave conditions pre-civil war. Kathleen Grissom clearly …show more content…
The people at the quarters were treated horribly and sometimes killed for no reason at all. Even the servants in the kitchen house sometimes faced unnecessary torment. Belle stated, “Four men jump Ben when he comes out of the pig barn. They tie him and ride off before Papa or Jimmy get there to stop them” (Grissom 71). Rankin and other men believe that Ben is responsible for killing a little white girl named Sally; even though it is evident he did not do it. They spoke harshly to him saying, “Nigga, you confess or we gonna kill you.” Ben has no idea what they are talking about and tries to tell them that, but it does no good. When a slave does something wrong, they nail an ear to the tree before they cut it off (71). The men were doing that when the captain put an end to the unnecessary and cruel behavior. It was too late, he had not died but he would never fully recover. His face became deformed, he lost an ear and it was a terrifying event that will remain with him forever. His ear was pouring blood and he was running around frantically looking for his clothes. Robinson wrote, “The despotic control of the owners led to serious abuses, especially because blacks were viewed as subhuman” (Robinson 5). Belle was raped by her unaware; brainwashed half-brother, Marshall. During the rape, Belle thought to herself, “… all I know is, I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die” (Grissom 154). There was nothing she could have done. If she tried harder to fight them off it could have ended worse, perhaps resulting in her
Mrs. Patterson
World Literature
24 November 2014
Slavery: Diminishing Human Dignity In the United States, slavery was permitted for hundreds of years allowing for the slaves and indentured servants to be treated unjustly. The country that was so proud of their freedom was in fact not free for all; those of color or ethnicity were discriminated against. Men, women and even children were treated as property instead of human beings solely because of their heritage. Although slavery in the United States no longer exists there are still effects of this horrific time in today’s society. The Kitchen House is an accurate portrayal of indentured servitude and the brutality inhumane slave conditions pre-civil war. Kathleen Grissom clearly …show more content…
The people at the quarters were treated horribly and sometimes killed for no reason at all. Even the servants in the kitchen house sometimes faced unnecessary torment. Belle stated, “Four men jump Ben when he comes out of the pig barn. They tie him and ride off before Papa or Jimmy get there to stop them” (Grissom 71). Rankin and other men believe that Ben is responsible for killing a little white girl named Sally; even though it is evident he did not do it. They spoke harshly to him saying, “Nigga, you confess or we gonna kill you.” Ben has no idea what they are talking about and tries to tell them that, but it does no good. When a slave does something wrong, they nail an ear to the tree before they cut it off (71). The men were doing that when the captain put an end to the unnecessary and cruel behavior. It was too late, he had not died but he would never fully recover. His face became deformed, he lost an ear and it was a terrifying event that will remain with him forever. His ear was pouring blood and he was running around frantically looking for his clothes. Robinson wrote, “The despotic control of the owners led to serious abuses, especially because blacks were viewed as subhuman” (Robinson 5). Belle was raped by her unaware; brainwashed half-brother, Marshall. During the rape, Belle thought to herself, “… all I know is, I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die” (Grissom 154). There was nothing she could have done. If she tried harder to fight them off it could have ended worse, perhaps resulting in her