Ch. 39 "he saw none"

[jbor]

      In all Virginia, though Slaves pass'd before his Sight, he saw none.
    *That* was what had not occurr'd. It was all about something else,
    not Calverts, Jesuits, Penns, nor Chinese. (398.5)

I take this to mean that Jere had not really noticed the injustice of
slavery, or that he had simply taken the institution of slavery for granted,
during this early trip south, and that Wicks (or the narrator) is
reaffirming for Ives (and the reader) what is significant in the tale of
Dixon's progress he is relating to the listeners.

I think that one important subtext of _M&D_ is to do with slavery and the
American Civil War, and that these episodes with Dixon's growing awareness
of the injustice of slavery and of the need to take an active stand against
it play out as a microdrama of the lead-up to that violent and bloody time
in American history. I think that one question being asked in the text is
whether the abolition of slavery in America could have been achieved without
a resort to war and bloodshed, such as that which did actually occur.

best

> 
> Returning to the Harland farm Jere reflects on the pointlessness of his trip,
> and soon breaks into song. A cryptic final paragraph details what was not
> seen, what the trip was not about, what "had not occurr'd".

best