Celia A Salve By Mclaurin Analysis

Slavery was a topic of discussion in the United States (U.S.) in the 19th century, where almost every white man owned a given number of slaves, who were usually the blacks. These slaves were mostly used in doing the farm chores because most of the whites possessed bigger portions of land, making them benefit more from the output. Therefore, the higher the number of slaves an individual possessed, the greater the farm produces. Despite doing all the hard work, these slaves were never given even a little time to express themselves or their feelings. They were normally considered the property of the slave owners and hence had no other option but to suffer the master’ abuse and exploitation. These injustices do not only happen within the families …show more content…
Her trial of State of Missouri vs. Celia, A Slave occurred during a tumultuous period in the U.S. when the debate over whether or not the neighboring state of Kansas would be free from being a slave state at its highest. To be more specific, the story of a black female slave, who was convicted for murdering her white master for sexually abusing and raping her, occurred during a time of the tension between anti-slavery and pro-slavery groups were very high. Her trial does not only reflect the racial and social conflict, but also reflects a moral and legal dilemma. Therefore, Celia navigates “the fundamental moral anxiety” caused by slavery; her story reveals the moral reality in a way of triggering the moral, social, legal, and religious contradictions in a turbulent political …show more content…
When Celia told Newsom’s daughters, Virginia and Mary, about how their father raped and abused her, they did nothing but ignored Celia’s situation. “…but it is difficult to imagine they were not aware of this relationship. Nor does evidence indicate whether Virginia or Mary attempted to intervene with their father on Celia’s behalf.” Their action had been against their moral principle. They might face a dilemma that if they did something for Celia, their own life would be at risk while if they did not do something, Celia would continue to be raped. They did nothing; this might be because they thought of themselves as powerless women. McLaurin suggests that economic dependence would be important; “females were ultimately powerless when it came to white men, even in their families.”5 Virginia and Mary’s action of not helping Celia is a way of protecting themselves from their perspectives. Even though they were facing the moral dilemma, they chose to ignore that dilemma to make themselves