The Fugitive as Class Exemplar

Abstract

Chapter 4 reviews the fugitive slave narrative’s role in rehabilitating the character of the slave by representing the fugitive slave as a special class of “superior” men and women who proved themselves worthy of freedom by refusing a degraded, victimized status. Traits of admirable character, such as initiative and intelligence, sometimes distinguish aspirants for freedom from so-called ordinary slaves, implying that those whom the fugitives left behind them were liable to judgment for acquiescing to their enslavement. However, many narratives note multiple factors, including emotional ties and fear of reprisals, that made flight for freedom untenable for most slaves. In some narratives scenes of parting, in which fugitives struggle emotionally and ethically with the idea of abandoning enslaved loved ones, dramatize an excruciating dilemma: how to justify a final and irrevocable assertion of an individual priority, freedom, over the needs and welfare of loved ones, family, or community.