Celia, a Slave: A True Term Paper

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Unlike most of today's women, Celia could not take charge of her own life. Because she was a slave, she served others and lived at their mercy. Her relationships with the family as a whole were based on that fact that she was a slave, so it was her race that led her to that predicament. However, even George had some control over what happened in his life. He had control over Celia to a degree; at least that he could influence her. That is more than Celia had. Because of her gender and race, she was powerless, and had to submit to the will of others. She even confronted Newsom because she feared losing her relationship with George. The text notes, "While it is possible that Celia may have taken action against Newsom of her own accord, the evidence strongly suggests that she confronted Newsom only when forced to do so if she wished to continue her relationship with George" (35). This indicates how truly powerless she was in her own life and decision-making.

Her relationship with Virginia and Mary must have been strained, although it is difficult to tell from the reading. Certainly, they had little interest in her gender, other than the fact she was their father's concubine. Their interest was in her race, in that she was their servant, and black, and as such, beneath their caring or compassion. The text states, "Women within the South's slaveholding families were, after all, beneficiaries of slavery, and as such unlikely critics" (27). Thus, their interest in her was not because of her gender and her problems with their father, but rather on her race and how she could serve them. They saw black women as a threat, and as "temptresses" (28), and so, they did nothing to intervene in her behalf, leaving her to fend for herself and take matters into her own hands, which she ultimately did.

The relationships in the family are convoluted and complex.

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Worse was George's ultimate betrayal of her, leading to her arrest. She acted because of love, and was betrayed by that lover. Again, as a woman, she was the weaker of the two in the relationship. All she had was trust, and he betrayed that trust. Celia was powerless in all her relationships, no matter what element of her they were based on. The whites, male and female, held all the power, as Celia's and countless other slave stories indicate.

In conclusion, the relationships in Celia's life were varied and based on different factors. For the men in the Newsom household, she was a desirable woman, so her gender was the prominent factor in the relationship. For the sisters, she was a cook and servant, and made their lives easier, so her race was the most important aspect of the brief relationship she had with them. Had gender been an issue with the women, they would have supported her pleas to intervene on her behalf with their father. However, they turned their backs on a fellow woman and left Celia to deal with the matter on her own. If they had reacted more as women and less as slaveholders, the circumstances and outcome might have been vastly different......

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