Topic for discussion - manumission

[epeeblade]

(I haven't done one of these in a while, so here goes...)

I was reading the latest bit of A Kept Boy last night when something occurred to me.

In it Jensen vehemently denies being part of any family, and denies any identity other than that of slave. He's not the only one raised from childhood to be the perfect slave.

So what would happen then if the abolitionist movement does pass a manumission clause? Now granted, it's probably not going to cause hundreds of people freeing their slaves en masse, but I can imagine wealthy owners "freeing their slaves" in their will after they pass. What happens to the slaves who can't imagine a life outside of slavery?

(And yes this would probably be AU like whoah, but it's something I'm interested in seeing explored in fic...)

Comments

[kaylez4ever.livejournal.com]

I had the same thought when reading controlled violence.

What would happen to people who embraced slavery or were brainwashed into excepting their place in the system?

And when they were freed would they have the same rights or would they be forever separate? Denied the same freedoms and rights as everyone else?

[khemlab.livejournal.com]

What would happen to people who embraced slavery or were brainwashed into excepting their place in the system?

In my mind (and my little corner of the AU), there are definitely those, such as Liev, who view their enslaved position more as a job than as a total loss of freedom. Of course, they can't do just anything they want, but who can, really? I suspect this would be more the case with slaves at the level of Agent or a similar position of (relative) power, and of course only the case with those who have at least a reasonably pleasant relationship with their Master.

I don't think it's a very far-fetched concept - most of us wage-earners these days are essentially wage slaves, especially in an economic downturn like this one. While we could leave a job voluntarily, it's not what you would call a true option because there are so few jobs available. So essentially, even if we are treated badly, we will stay until involuntarily forced to leave.

EDIT: This was a bit of an incomplete thought, lol. What I mean to say is, I'm pretty sure that certain slaves would happily continue to do what they've always done, whether free or enslaved. Liev, I suspect (assuming freed slaves became citizens), would open his own gym if Bale wouldn't support him anymore.