The Unacknowledged Legacy of 19 th Century Slave Narratives
storylines : the enslavement of white women and their work towards rebellion and release . In the first season of HBO ’ s Westworld , Dolores Abernathy ( played by Evan Rachel Wood ) is an android Host in an adult theme park modeled on the American West , where she serves at the pleasure of its guests and is often raped and / or killed each evening . Her struggle to escape this repeated trauma comes with both a newly discovered sense of self and the killing of her creator . Hulu ’ s The Handmaid ’ s Tale ’ s first season focuses on June Osborne ( played by Elisabeth Moss ), who is enslaved by the post-American society of Gilead to produce children for their leaders . As she struggles through the rape and abuse of her day-to-day life , June works to rescue her daughter , Hannah , and escape . While both shows offer compelling parallels to # MeToo , the enslavement of these characters should point viewers instead to 19 th century America and the narratives offered by formerly enslaved persons . This body of literature features distinct themes and formal elements that are recontextualized in the inaugural seasons of Westworld and The Handmaid ’ s Tale to propel narratives of gender-based enslavement . However , in misappropriating the techniques of slave narratives and applying them to white women , these series tell white feminist stories that neglect to recognize the complicated legacy of slavery in America and its impact on intersectional Black women .
To understand how both The Handmaid ’ s Tale and Westworld appropriate the techniques of 19 th century slave narratives , it is necessary to briefly review the genre and identify two of its representative texts . In the mid-19 th century , the slave narrative as a generic form developed to advocate for abolition , establishing some key characteristics . These first-person narratives are constructed by escaped slaves , following their movement from South to North , but require validation from
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