This gallows thing

[Charles F. Albert]

Something about the gallows discussion is making me anxious. I think 
we have been building (with admittedly little help from here) a 
magnificent edifice on a questionable foundation.
Are the gallows REALLY an effective tool to exercise leverage against 
slaves? Consider the following:
Slave escapes,
Slave owner pursues his"asset" and recaptures it.
In the hope that this has deterrent value, he hangs said slave in 
front of other slaves.
He has now essentially traded an asset for a "deterrent value", the 
assumption being that the value of the lesson exceeds the value of 
the wasted slave.
I never understood slaves to be that inexpensive.
What I AM more comfortable with is that the slave-owner uses other 
means as leverage. To the slaves in Africa, it was the sjambok, to 
the serfs of Russia it was the knut, to those in the colonies 
perhaps the lash. With the exception of the knut, which when used 
properly was meant to break the spine of the passive participant, ( I 
would imagine that a crippled serf would be an outstanding deterrent) 
these represent something less than the ultimate solution. They are a 
symbol that the pain of existence is far greater than the pain of 
dying. A whipped and chastened slave would to my mind represent a 
more valuable, and LASTING, deterrent to others contemplating flight.
I could be totally wrong, but I suspect that P. has something else in 
mind, 'cause i'm not prepared to suggest that his symbolism is 
flawed.
Consider the gallows as the ONLY other alternative facing the SLAVE.
There is the hell that is his/her daily existence, there is the risk 
of severe and lasting pain in the event of an escape. The gallows are 
the only way out other than when god chooses to take you home. The 
reality of these alternatives are part of what works on the psyche of 
the slave. Imagine the despair of living with those parameters. The 
gallows are in a way a symbol of salvation, but also of the futility 
of "living" in such a state. They stand as a constant reminder, not 
of the power of the master, but of the impotence of the captive.
If any of the math or physics wizzes in the group would like to take 
on the question of what the structure of the gallows might suggest in 
such a context (the extent of my insight is to ask what the "gamma" 
like shape of it might mean), I plead with them to take a moment and 
look at this.
Thank you for your patience,
Mrs. Harrison