The Incarcerated and Bare Life

Bare life refers to a kind of living, whereby, one does not interact with the society and enjoys only the biological life. One is inhibited to rights such as politics, social events, family sharing, religion, and conjugal rights. The bare life condition is basically characterized by subjecting an individual to sovereign power.

Bare life pertains to incarceration. This is clearly depicted by several narratives. These narratives do so by exhibiting characters that are faced with difficult situations. The narratives seem to be biased on the basis of race. This is evidenced by the fact that, most of the characters who are assigned these roles are portrayed as black people.

In the narrative The Birth of a Nation: Confederate Myth, it exhibits presence of slaves. The slaves are depicted as the people who are to work in the fields the whole day. The day working hour’s being from six in the morning to six in the evening. The slaves are seen to just enjoy a two hour break which was for feeding their bellies. The author further acknowledges that for the slaves, they faced numerous difficulties that nobody took note of them or showed a sign of concern (Wallace 91).

Further depiction of bare life is illustrated by the narrative of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. In this narrative, one character who is Topsy, is depicted as a slave subjected to difficult lifestyle. She appears as a slave with uncombed hair, poorly dressed, and she is ever moving from place to place.

Various factors and processes that an individual is exposed to in life, lead him to incarceration. The narrative red as an example, the author talks of a story of three people. He clearly points out that, the three do not know their fate, but the kind of lives they will live will det...

... middle of paper ...

...that, the incarcerated people are not necessarily criminals. Some find themselves there due to various situations that they are faced with in life. This varies from the time of growth and development of an individual point of view, to the interaction with the society or surrounding environment. Also, the encounter has helped in the change of the perception that, the incarcerated should receive severe punishment of their acts.

Since the incarcerated are exposed to bare life only while in prison, there is a need to have a look at the situation and help in creating systems that will enhance interaction between the bare life and other kinds of life for the incarcerated.

Cited Works

Sherwin, R, Nomos and Cinema, Hein Online 2000-2001

Wallace, M, The Good Lynching and “The Birth of a Nation”: Discourses and Aesthetics of Jim Crow, University of Texas Press 2003