By: Avi Cantor
Thomas Jefferson had 187 human slaves, but an uncountable amount of enslaved quills. In the late 1700's and early 1800's, quills were hand plucked from the safety of their home on a bird's back. Their use was as a device that sucked ink into a bone-like structure to write whatever it's user wished. This bone, if you will, would be whittled down relentlessly to a sharp point in order to make the quill able to write. This process repeats until just feathers remain. These quills, after being thrown out, would be replaced as soon as possible with a similar quill. Quills similar to African slaves, were taken out of their homesick, worked relentlessly for hours on end and replaced like broken chair legs after they were deemed no longer useful or dead. The definition of a slave is "a person who is the legal property of another and is forced to obey them." Quills clearly have earned the title as the undervalued slave. They were slaves to Thomas Jefferson’s hand and were ground to dust in order to convey what makes us Americans.
What a fascinating and thought-provoking connection you make here! Great alliteration too!
ReplyDeleteAs someone who owns about 25 quills, I have a hard time comparing them to slaves. The pain that the goose suffers when a quill is plucked does not compare with the injustice that every slave was faced with. The quill becomes a tool usually not abused. The slave, well what can I say...that is a dark period in our history. Enjoy reading your writing.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading this writing piece. It would be interesting to do more research on the life of a quill compared to the the life of an enslaved person. This will provide you with a more in depth perspective of both.
ReplyDeleteThis was a great piece. What a great way to point out the absurdity of thinking you can own another person like you could own an object like a quill. But yet, that thought was once accepted. You also confront the idea that the pen is mightier than the sword. The sword was used to enslave people. Some used the pen to defend the practice. But others seized the pen to challenge that idea. Thomas Paine wrote essays that urged people to fight for our independence. Thomas Jefferson wrote words that we use today as the definition of our independence. Frederick Douglass wrote "what to the slave is the fourth of July?". Eventually we had to resort to the sword again. Countless others have written their questions challenges and replies and have shaped not only themselves and others but history as well. MLK wrote about his dream. We haven't reached that dream yet. But when people, like you, take up the quill we shake off some of that dust and move forward. Thank you and keep it up.
ReplyDeleteCan it really be said that quills are "undervalued slaves" if a slaves is defined as "a PERSON who is the legal property of another..." and quills are inanimate? If this piece is about the animals that these quills are taken from and not the quills themselves then I can see a connection to abuse, but if we are talking about the quills themselves I think it could be seen as insensitive to compare inanimate objects to enslaved humans. Especially in a country where the enslavement of those people is constantly being brushed under the rug and ignored.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the use of a word other than "slave" would be useful in this piece. Just a thought, keep writing.