Body Theft

“Removed from the indigenous land and culture, and not-yet "American" either, these captive persons, without names that their captors would recognize, were in movement across the Atlantic, but they were also nowhere at all... culturally "unmade,” (Spiller 72) Hortense Spiller here talks about the destruction and eventual reconstruction of captive beings, historically referring to the transatlantic slave trade. This brutal institution would transform the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. At the hands of slave-traders, captives were coercively stripped of identity and freedom. Spiller calls this “body theft.” This metamorphosis created a traumatic rift between mind and body, inner and outer persona. As strong as the human will is, resistance to the new outward reality did not let the mind stay untarnished. Eventually these first slaves would have two warring world views, that of caged liberty and that of slave for life. Spiller catalogues the destructive consequences as follows:

“1) the captive body becomes the source of an irresistible, destructive sensuality; 2) at the same time-in stunning contradiction- the captive body reduces to a thing, becoming being for the captor; 3) in this absence from a subject position, the captured sexualities provide a physical and biological expression of "otherness"; 4) as a category of"otherness,"the captive body translates into a potential for pornotroping and embodies sheer physical powerlessness that slides into a more general "powerlessness,"resonating through various centers of human and social meaning.” (Spiller 67)

Can we persist in a constant state of cognitive dissonance? Can we remain free inside when stripped of freedom outside? Does captivity breed mental imprisonment? History argues that captivity creates lasting changes that live on far after enslavement ends. Our society is pervaded by slaveries hand-me downs. Reviewing the list above, is it not easy to see the modern day manifestations? Does the past still enslave people today?

Octavia Bulter’s Dawn also confronts the crisis of identity in the face of captivity. “‘And you think destroying what was left of our cultures will make us better?’ ‘No. only different.’ ‘You were wrong... You destroyed what wasn’t yours,’ she said. ‘You completed an insane act.’ ‘You are still alive,’ he said.” (Dawn 32-33) Although set in wildly different backdrops, both literary pieces examine the complex and terrifying transformation of the captive. The deconstruction of the previous self and the imposition of the captive self. Yet here Dawn’s approach is fundamentally different from transatlantic and American slavery, it is evolution towards a greater good instead of devolution for finical gain. What happens if the captor only seeks to the best for the captive?

“This was one more thing they had done to her body without her consent and supposedly or her own good. “We used to treat animals that way,” she muttered bitterly.” (Dawn 31) It is surprising that even with the best of intentions, captivity in Dawn leads to many of the same consequences found in American slavery. The captives find themselves adrift and search desperately for identity. They rebel against their perceived powerlessness. Most of all, they seek to return to their previous state of being. Again, the body is disconnected from the mind. Seduction appears to have the same results as coercion. Can we have benevolent enslavement? Is the greater good worth taking away individual freedom? What identity can the powerless have?