The Slave Dancer by Paula Fox
"The Slave Dancer" by Paula Fox is a Newbery Medal-winning novel that explores the harrowing realities of the pre-Civil War slave trade through the eyes of a young protagonist, Jessie Bollier. At just thirteen, Jessie is forcibly taken from his home in New Orleans and made to serve aboard The Moonlight, a slave ship involved in the triangular trade route. His role as a fife player becomes a means to keep the enslaved individuals healthy for sale, highlighting the brutal commodification of human lives. The narrative not only sheds light on the inhumane treatment of enslaved people but also illustrates Jessie’s gradual awakening to the moral complexities of his situation and the broader implications of power and greed.
Through a series of traumatic events, including witnessing the suffering of enslaved individuals and the cruelty of the ship's crew, Jessie grapples with his own loss of innocence and the nature of right and wrong. The story serves as a poignant reflection on the impact of slavery, offering readers insights into historical injustices and encouraging a deeper understanding of empathy and moral development. By engaging with the experiences of both Jessie and the enslaved characters, readers are invited to confront uncomfortable truths about the past and consider their relevance in today’s society. "The Slave Dancer" ultimately provides a narrative space for reflection on shared histories of suffering and the importance of acknowledging painful legacies.
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Subject Terms
The Slave Dancer by Paula Fox
First published: 1973; illustrated
Type of work: Historical fiction
Themes: Race and ethnicity, and social issues
Time of work: 1840
Recommended Ages: 10-13
Locale: New Orleans, a slave ship en route to Africa and back, and the Mississippi coast
Principal Characters:
Jessie Bollier , a young fife player, who is kidnapped by the crew of The MoonlightCaptain Cawthorne , the captain of The Moonlight, who is noted for cruelty to slaves and crew membersNicholas Spark , the ship’s mate, who is thrown overboardClay Purvis , a sailor, whom Jessie admiresClaudius Sharkey , a sailor, who befriends JessieBenjamin Stout , a hard man, who replaces Spark as mateRas , a young slave boy, whom Jessie befriendsDaniel , an escaped slave, who runs a stop on the underground railroad
The Story
The Slave Dancer, a Newbery Medal winner (1974), is the tale of The Moonlight, a slave ship that took part in a triangular pre-Civil War trade route. Ships on this route changed cargo three times: from rum and tobacco to slaves, from slaves to molasses, and from molasses to rum.
The human toll of the illegal slave trade is evident early in the story: Jessie Bollier, a thirteen-year-old fife player from New Orleans, is the victim of a “gangpressing.” Returning from a late-night errand for his mother, Jessie is trapped and bound in a canvas tarp by sailors who, earlier that day, offered him pennies for a few notes from his fife. Captain Cawthorne’s cruelty is apparent when he intimidates Jessie the first time they meet: He bites Jessie’s ear so hard it bleeds. There are no slaves in the hold on the way to Africa, and it takes Jessie some time to realize what type of ship he is on. When he does, the reason for his own kidnapping becomes clear: His job is to play music, not to give the slaves pleasure, but to give them the exercise they will need to remain healthy and bring good prices when Captain Cawthorne sells them during the second cargo exchange.
Jessie’s mother has taught him to feel more than average compassion for slaves, and he recoils more and more as he learns how they will be treated. Nothing—not even the cruelty of his shipmates to one another—prepares Jessie for what will occur when The Moonlight makes its first trade. In spaces too small to hold two dozen people, ninety-eight slaves are shackled below the deck. Thirty or more will die or be killed before they reach Cuba, where the second cargo exchange is scheduled to occur.
Not only will slaves die from sickness and mistreatment, but several of The Moonlight’s crew will also die of these causes. When Nicholas Spark, the Mate, shoots a slave who becomes angry after a beating, the captain throws Spark overboard as an example to the other crew members. Because of the prices they bring, Captain Cawthorne values the lives of slaves more highly than he does the lives of his crew.
The slaves, however, become disposable when the stakes are the captain’s freedom. During the second cargo trade, the captain and the Spaniard, a Cuban merchant who buys the ship’s illegally captured slaves, are apprehended by an American Coast Guard ship on patrol. Healthy slaves by the dozen are quickly tossed into shark-filled waters so that the Captain and his business partner will not be caught.
Context
Paula Fox writes of the passage from innocence to moral knowledge, an initiation that results from suffering. The Slave Dancer reflects this preoccupation and offers readers an opportunity to develop a more refined understanding of right and wrong. Not only have Ras and the other slaves been torn from their families and tribes to make the cruel voyage that initiaties them into submission, but young Jessie also suffers a similar fate when stolen from his mother and “gangpressed” by the crew.
The story does not unfold along clear-cut lines of good and evil even though right and wrong are drawn with special clarity. Young people struggling to define themselves and their values should identify with Jessie and Ras as they are drawn, each into partial awareness and from complementary perspectives, of how power and greed breed inhumanity.
Knowledge of good and evil sets humans apart from the beasts, however; and coming to terms with truth is the basis of moral development. In a world where racial, sexual, and ethnic abuses tend to be sealed from historical view rather than acknowledged head on, books like The Slave Dancer expand awareness of a shared history of humiliation and shame, offer a point of departure for coming to terms with a painful past, and lead to the gradual disassembling of the walled-off parts of their mutual heritage that for many years have kept people apart.