In an earlier posting on the 12 Years a Slave book, I made a point to discuss how Solomon made rather derogatory statements about the
Mary, a tall, lithe girl, of a most jetty black, was listless and apparently indifferent. Like many of the class, she scarcely knew there was such a word as freedom. Brought up in the ignorance of a brute, she possessed but little more than a brute's intelligence. She was one of those, and there are very many, who fear nothing but their master's lash, and know no further duty than to obey his voice
Now here's Solomon pages later:
I think of him with affection, and had my family been with me, could
have borne his gentle servitude, without murmuring, all my days.
So here's the same Solomon who had very unkind words for the "jetty black brute" who knew "nothing of freedom" saying how he would gladly serve as a slave to a "kindly master". Essentially Solomon is saying that under the "right" circumstances he would gladly be a slave. And this is somehow better than the "brute" who bends to the lash?
I see. Slavery without the lash is OK. I guess so.
A side note: I have yet to see Solomon refer to anyone not "Jetty black" as a brute. I'm only on page 108 though.
