The Unacknowledged Legacy of 19 th Century Slave Narratives
assault of her in the show ’ s first episode , Dolores grabs him by the shirt collar and drags him outside . It is not difficult to overlay Douglass ’ s words —“ at this moment — from whence came the spirit I don ’ t know — I resolved to fight ”— onto this scene as viewers watch Dolores suit her “ action to the resolution ” ( Douglass 50 ). That the show ’ s first season concludes with Dolores yet again taking action is unsurprising . As the articulate hero , it is what viewers have come to expect of her . Unlike Douglass , however , she has little interest in escape . Instead , as she raises her gun to the back of her “ father ” Ford ’ s head and fires , Dolores wants revolution .
It is necessary to pause and consider this act . Viewers are meant to see it as heroic . Dolores , like the other Hosts in the park , has been used by the Guests as an object upon which they can enact their basest desires : her daily loop , or park narrative assignment , typically ends with her parents ’ death and her rape . Though her creators intended otherwise , she remembers many of these events . This particular act of revolt may appear warranted ( as viewers find themselves on the side of an android over humans ). Despite similar circumstances and treatment , the enslaved persons in Douglass ’ s narrative would not have been able to both kill their enslavers and continue to receive support from white Northerners . Douglass could not construct a narrative where he kills Covey ; his escape is the most he could hope for . Even in the 21 st century , Westworld shows a Black sheriff ’ s deputy gunned down in the street for entertainment , but not a Black person executing the creator and controller of their suffering . Ford ’ s execution is carried out by Dolores perhaps because white-on-white violence deracializes the scene and furthers the claim that the Hosts ’ oppression disregards race . In that case , the choice to have a white woman kill Ford
11