Chain Gangs In Toni Morrison's Beloved

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Chain Gangs
“The accusation of 'cruel & unusual punishment' is quashed by the argument that the chain gang is purely voluntary,” (Quotes). In Beloved, Toni Morrison uses Paul D and his experience in the chain gang to show that slavery never ended, it was just slavery by another name. Chain gangs are the new slavery and this is proved with evidence to the chain gang through history, Paul D in Beloved, and current events. From the era of Reconstruction in the U.S. to the 1950’s chain gangs were used to punish prisoners of homelessness and petty larceny. The conditions of chain gangs were similar to slavery, “Living conditions for chain gang convicts were frequently horrific, with sanitation practically nonexistent and diseases and illnesses common” (Ireland). This quote shows the similarities of chain gangs to slavery. Slaves were …show more content…

Slaves had to work for free, just like the prisoners in chain gangs. It was even harder for the prisoners to see the difference, “To a southern black prisoner there was little difference between his situation as a slave on the plantation, as a leased convict forced to toil in the coal mine, or as a chained prison worker on the roads” (Chain Gangs). This quote is impactful in the way it shows how the prisoners still didn’t feel like slavery was over. The prisoners did not feel free like they were supposed to. The brutally and mistreatment never changed, therefore slavery had never really ended.
Through chapter ten in Beloved, Toni Morrison shows how after slavery was over slaves weren't really free, one example is Paul D’s journey with the chain gangs. Every member of the chain gang was

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