One
dilemma that a writer of historical fiction faces is how to make the story
historically accurate without offending readers. As mentioned last week, I
faced this dilemma when writing my middle-grade historical novel Learning to
Surrender with a protagonist who grew up in a culture where slavery was the
established way of life.
My
protagonist has never thought deeply about the issue, but here is a quote from
the first chapter showing her initial feelings.
As Charlotte waited for the artillery to
stop firing, she frowned. Why did the North want to get rid of slavery? The Gibsons
had always treated their slaves well, and Benjamin and Nettie didn’t have to
worry about anything. They had a comfortable place to sleep and plenty of food
to eat, and her parents never beat them. Yes, there were some bad masters and
mistresses, but that was the fault of the owners, not the system.
That
passage takes place while Charlotte, her family, and their two slaves are
cowering in a small cave as cannonballs and bullets fly around them. The danger
Charlotte is in and the fear it causes her create some sympathy for her in
spite of her attitude toward slavery. At the least, they give the reader a
reason not to give up on her yet.
The
story tries to be true to the historical context in which slavery existed and
was accepted by the white community in the deep South, but it also shows my
protagonist grappling with the issue and learning what slavery meant to those
in figurative (as well literal) chains. Here is the book blurb:
When the Union armies surround Vicksburg,
12-year-old Charlotte and her family find themselves living in a cave. As she
discovers what it is like to lose control of her life, will her attitude toward
slavery change?
Of
course it does. Otherwise, she would have been an unsympathetic character all
the way until the end.
If
the readers had gotten that far.
__________
My
research indicates that the image at the top of this post, titled “The Auction
Sale,” is one of six illustrations created by Hammet Billings for the 1852 edition of Uncle Tom’s Cabin by
Harriet Beecher Stowe. It is in the public domain because of its age.
