MDDM "Collective Ghost" (68) Re: Washington & slavery

[Doug Millison]

jbor :
>Within the system of slavery, which is a racist institution by its very
>nature, George seems to have gone out of his way to respect the opinions and
>wishes of his slaves, and to have exerted himself quite a bit on their
>behalfs in order to ensure their ongoing welfare and humane treatment.


Except for the ones he had whipped, the ones he pursued when they escaped,
and the many who appear to have gone hungry at times and were ill-housed
while in his "benevolent" care.  As a slave-owner, he's racist from the
get-go. One big problem -- among many others -- of being the property of a
patriarch is, what happens if Big Daddy isn't consistent and you can't get
away from him.


"But here is a Collective Ghost of more than household Scale,-- the Wrongs
committed Daily against the Slaves, petty and grave ones alike, going
unrecorded, charm'd invisible to history, invisible yet possessing Mass,
and Velocity, able not only to rattle Chains but to break them as well. The
precariousness to Life here, the need to keep the Ghost propitiated, Day to
Day, via the Company's merciless Pristhoods and many-Volum'd Codes, brings
all but the hardiest souls sooner or later to consider the Primary
Questions more or less undiluted, Slaves here commit suicide at a
frightening Rate,-- but so do the Whites, for no reason, or for a Reason
ubiquitous and unaddress'd, which may bear Acquaintance but a Moment at a
Time."  (M&D 68-69)

That "Collective" pairs up with "Guilt" a few centuries later, in another
situation where slaves are worked to death as production factors in an
economic machine that feeds the War that never ends. Pynchon is after way
bigger game than slavery in the Colonies, bigger than any of the many
empires that fed on slaves, yet manages to value each of those damaged
lives, at the same time carrying the story along in rhythms and words that
almost convince that things will be all right after all.