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Taj Taher
Chrisman
ENGL 494
2 February 2016
A Brutal Paradox: The Slave Narrative as a Historical Novel
Inability to understand the great problems of the age is accompanied by brutality in the
presentation of physical processes. The historical novel idealized by Georg Lukcs is one which
eschews sensationalism, and here specifically he seems to suggest that depictions of savagery or
violence bear no place in a meaningful knowledge of history. However, this assertion is
apparently problematized when applying this conception of the historical novel to the black slave
narrative. As Frederick Douglass once wrote, the slave must be brutalized to keep him as a
slavethe whip, the chainand all the other bloody paraphernalia of the slave system are
indispensably necessary to the relation of master and slave. While the historical novel and slave
narrative may appear ideologically irreconcilable, Arna Bontempss Black Thunder is an
exemplary case of a slave narrative which maintains Lukcss criterion for the ideal historical
novel; it avoids sensationalism by making the brutal violence a critical historical aspect of
slavery implicitly manifest through the slaves stream of consciousness rather than explicitly
through physical description. In this way, Bontemps avoids objectifying the slave and eliciting a
shallow, conditioned sympathy from the reader, and instead establishes a human connection
between reader and subject which allows for a more felt, resonant sympathy. The result is a slave
narrative of which Lukcs would approve, where the reader comes to understand slavery as a
brutal historical experience rather than a historical collection of brutal acts.
The first instance of violence in the novel is Old Bundys murder at the hands of Master
Prosser. Although this is the catalyst for Gabriels revolt, Bontemps refrains from portraying
Prossers brutality in a manner that dramatizes death, neither for the benefit of the slaves nor of
the readers observing. Of course, the reader can hardly be considered observing given that he

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is allowed direct access to Bundys thoughts as Bontemps writes Yes, suh, Marse Prosser, Im
taking it allCant nobody lay it on like you, Marse ProsserLordy, me. Aint that nough,
Marse Prosser? You see me crumpled up here in the bushes. Howcome you keeps on hitting?
Howcome you keeps on hitting me around the head, Marse Prosser? Lordy, what was that?
Felt like a horses foot. Lordy (Bontemps 15). The assault on Bundy is referred to only as it
from the beginning of and throughout the ordeal, only explicitly called hitting near the end.
Bontempss use of the pronoun does not diminish the readers understanding that Bundy is being
attacked, but the ambiguity and surreal quality it imbues upon the action causes the reader to
attune himself to the experience of violence instead of simply the violence itself.
This impression is facilitated by Bundys stream of consciousness, since he himself does
not treat this beating melodramatically. In fact, his tone within the first half of this passage
borders boredom. The lack of surprise or outrage with the opening Yes, suh suggests that this
occurrence is commonplace, one that Bundy has not only grown accustomed to, but has accepted
as part of his everyday life. This is reiterated in the fact that he is actually able to inject humor
into this beating with the wry Cant nobody lay it on like you, a patronizing appeal to Prossers
slave-owner conditioned ego that reflects a rapport established over repeated beatings. The
humor and lack of sensationalism, far from making light of the violence, in fact illuminates for
the reader how such a jaded individual as Bundy could come to be: a reprehensible master-slave
dynamic, predicated by the entire institution of slavery allowing such routine violence.
That reprehension becomes all the more resonant, then, when the violence escalates and
climaxes with Bundys murder. The reader is made aware of this shift not through explicit
physical description but again in Bundys tone, as it shifts to one of confusion and helplessness.
Immersed in the slaves stream of consciousness, the reader shares the brutal experience and
feels for himself Bundys emotional pain, invoking a deep sense of sympathy because the

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brutality is understood to be truly brutal for the turmoil it wreaks on the human experience.
Having established such a connection, when Bontemps concludes the scene with the ellipses
suggesting Bundy passing into death, the emotionally invested reader is left with a haunting
sense of horror. In this way without sensational graphic detail or brutal imagery Bundys
death accrues meaning for the reader beyond being a plot device or an objective fact of history.
This effect is paralleled by Bundy himself becoming more than a temporally distant historical
figure for the reader. Thus, the reader understands for himself how slavery was a brutal system
for the human experience rather than superficially accepting brutality as an aspect of the age.
Critic Dan McKahan would agree in contributing Bontempss accomplishment of this
feat through utilizing the stream of consciousness narration in conjunction with unsensational
language, thereby avoiding brutal rhetoric to overshadow the brutal historical process of slavery.
While McKahan does not specify Bontempss particular rhetorical strategy in his historical
exploration of the fugitive slave narrative, he does assert that the shortcomings of many slave
narratives published during the antebellum period was rooted in simply focusing on the slave
body without considering the slave voice. McKahan writes that emphasizing the former offered
a static vision of the horrors of slaverythey showed the marks of violence but failed to narrate
it as an eventthey may have inspired revulsion and a desire to retreat into a safe, private world
rather than a desire for solidarity, (McKahan 135). With Bundys stream of consciousness,
Bontemps provides a dynamic understanding of slaverys horror instead of an objective snapshot.
In this regard, McKahan would praise Bontemps for using Bundys voice to narrate the
brutality as an event, an outcome which Lukcs would find pleasing since it demonstrates to
the reader how the history of slavery is a process facilitated by human relations and social
conditions. While Bontempss methods may leave the reader with just as much inspired
revulsion, this feeling is not the purely physical gut reaction to the language utilized in the

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antebellum narratives McKahan describes, but an ideological and emotional reaction to the
institution of slavery. Indeed, both Lukcs and McKahan would find that Bontempss success in
crafting the ideal historical novel and slave narrative rests in his ability to portray the brutality of
slavery without relying on brutal rhetoric, and the stream of consciousness which makes that
brutality present, relevant, and relatable for the reader.
In one of Black Thunders most brutal sequences, however, these considerations
ostensibly fall apart, especially since the perpetrator of the violence is actually a slave. The
readers initial impression of Criddle is far from flattering, as he is introduced as a predatory
creature in the night bent upon rape and murder. While this comes from the perspective of a
white frightened female, even the omniscient narrator goes on to describe Criddle as analogizing
his planned murder of the white folks to hog-killing (Bontemps 90). This is established in such a
matter-of-fact and blunt tone that the reader is left chilled, if not terrified. The reader may
objectively find Criddles brutality justified as recompense for his slavery, but because he comes
off as an inhuman killer, the reader cannot identify with him as with Bundy; the sheer brutality
on display becomes the definitive feature of the passage rather than the historical conditions of
slavery.
As such, some might argue that the revulsion and resultant alienation towards Criddle the
reader experiences may be an indication that Bontemps does indeed engage a form of
sensationalism, specifically in a literary tradition described in Sarah N. Roths How a Slave
was Made a Man: Negotiating Black Violence and Masculinity in Antebellum Slave
Narratives. Roth writes of black males in antebellum slave narratives unleashing violence in
retributive fantasies that did little to inspire the sympathy of an already anxious white readership,
and in fact were portrayed as such to frighten white audiences into turning against Southern
slavery, (Roth 257). While Bontemps did not share this political agenda, it could be argued that

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the similarly sensational characterization he utilizes with respect to Criddle would draw the ire of
Lukcs since Bontemps appears to be brutalizing history to elicit fear from the reader rendering
its value apparently to the level of entertainment rather than an invitation to consider the
historical process of slavery.
However, as the sequence in question progresses, it becomes clear that Bontempss slave
narrative maintains the criterion for the ideal historical novel. For one thing, the actual murder
occurs outside of the novels plot, thus establishing the emphasis of the scene not on explicit
violence but the implications of that violence (made implicitly evident) upon human experience.
Again, this is facilitated through the slaves stream of consciousness which it is imperative to
note had thus far not been employed: hog-killing may be attributed to Criddles thoughts, but
he himself does not think in such an inhuman fashion. In this way, Bontemps consciously
establishes a powerful juxtaposition between the static image of brute we are initially given with
the more nuanced character who reflects after the murder I didnt tell you to be so fidgety. You
could of stayed in yonder and woke up in the morningAnd that there galSqueeling and ahollering round here like something another on fire. She need a big buck nigger to no, not that.
Gabriel done say too many times dont touch no womens, (Bontemps 107). While his deed is
made no less brutal, Criddles stream of consciousness invites some sympathy from the reader.
His rationalization of the murder reflects a certain degree of regret which the reader can identify
with, and that he has this debate at all is indicative of the emotional conflict and turmoil the
murder has wreaked upon him, thus humanizing him. Knowing that the girls frenzied panic is a
response to the mere sight of him also elicits sympathy, for his bitter resentment as victim of
unfair prejudice is completely understandable. As such, he seems all the more noble when he
expresses restraint towards harming her, not letting those feelings get the better of him. With all
this, Bontemps challenges the reader to look beyond the mere act of brutality and consider the

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conditions which would compel someone like Criddle to violence. A true understanding of
slavery, after all, is not just the recognition of historical horrors, but the conception of those
horrors within a process of human experience.
Such an understanding of history one touted by Lukcs is made possible in Arna
Bontempss Black Thunder by manifesting violence implicitly in a stream of consciousness
narration rather than explicitly with sensational imagery: the former emphasizing the slaves
experience of brutality and the latter simply emphasizing brutality for brutalitys sake. The deep
sympathy from the reader this invokes is indicative of Bontempss success in crafting an ideal
historical novel in which the experiences of the past are made relatable to the present. That he
does this with a slave narrative, the intrinsic brutality of which is physically and temporally
detached from the reader, makes it clear that the genre can function within Lukacss
historiographical framework. Lukcs himself expressed discontent with the bureaucratic
classification of genre, finding it disruptive to recognizing the living dialectics of history. It
appears that as long as art inspires such a consciousness of history, it need not be constrained to
any particular formula but allowed to flourish at the discretion of both the artist and history.
Works Cited
Bontemps, Arna. Black Thunder. Boston: Beacon Press, 1992. Print.
Douglass, Frederick. Frederick Douglass : Selected Speeches and Writings. Chicago, IL, USA:
Lawrence Hill Books, 2000. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 1 February 2016.
Lukasc, Georg. The Historical Novel. Boston: Beacon Press, 1963. Print.
McKanan, Dan. Identifying the Image of God : Radical Christians and Nonviolent Power in the
Antebellum United States. Cary, NC, USA: Oxford University Press, 2002. ProQuest
ebrary. Web. 1 February 2016.
Roth, Sarah N. How a Slave was Made a Man: Negotiating Black Violence and Masculinity in
Antebellum Slave Narratives. Slavery and Abolition 28.2 (2007): 255-275. Web.