Did Thompson provide persuasive evidence that South’s slave system was morally evil
After reading Mr. John Thompson’s autobiography, there are many fascinating moral tales. It is written very well, and the stories are entertaining. Mr North put it as a “page turner”, and I agree with that. Not only is the narrative interesting, but there is also a lot of history in each one. Some stories reveal details about that era or place in which they occurred. One thing that I really found fascinating, is that the book is about his two different lives. In the story he not only reflects on himself being a slave, but also talks about being a whaler. For each account he goes into great detail, and never leaves a dull spot.
As stated previously, Mr. Thompson made his outlooks transparent in the book. One opinion that he has is that he did not like slavery. Or course, no one should like slavery, but he hates it. In the the book he writes about how he would want to kill his master, and he did not fear the punishment of being hanged. He was not the only slave who felt like this either. Many slaves at the time did indeed want to do the same thing. This is evidence that the Southern slavery was evil and cruel. Of course many smaller plantations treated their slaves better. This is because they wanted the slave to do their work. Thompson also discovered that slaves that were abused did not have the same motivation as the slaves that were not abused.
Another piece of evidence that he includes in the book is an example of unjust whipping and abuse. These things are immoral and evil, and are an example of why the South was wrong. One example was an 8 year old girl brutally whipped until she died. She bled out because of the trauma to her body. Nothing happened to that slave owner. He was not prosecuted nor was he in any form of trouble. This is evil, wicked, and unprincipled. It becomes very clear in the book he deeply believed the slave system was beyond reproach and had to end.
As noted above, not all slaves were treated in such a terrible manner, however the concept of slavery still applies. One human owning the other is unjust. That is morally repugnant, and is something terrible. Even if the slaves were treated kind, they’re are still owned by another human being. People may not have realized this at the time. Slavery is vile, unjust, and unethical.
John Thompson was born in the clutches of evil, yet found a way out and led the life of a whaler. He led a gripping life. With each tale, the book gets easier to read and more compelling. Although he escaped bondage and enthrallment he kept his opinions locked on about slavery. He wrote about the evils and dangers of captivity and servitude. His book would convince anybody who thought otherwise.
JBSchool 