# The Slave explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by Sarah Louisa Forten Purvis.

## What happens

A poem contrasting the American founders' fight for freedom with the ongoing oppression of enslaved people, questioning the nation's hypocrisy and calling for divine justice.

## Themes in this chapter

### Hypocrisy of Freedom

The poem contrasts the founders' fight for freedom with the continued oppression of enslaved people, accusing the nation of forgetting its own history of bondage.

### Injustice and Divine Justice

The speaker calls on justice to arise and plead for the oppressed, suggesting a divine reckoning for the nation's sins.

## Character check-ins

### Poor Afric

The enslaved person whose soul is darkened by oppression and who cannot share in the freedoms celebrated by white Americans.

### Sarah Louisa Forten Purvis

The poet who voices the critique of American hypocrisy and the plea for justice.

## Key lines

> Our sires who once in freedom’s cause, Their boasted freedom sought and won, For deeds of glory gained applause, When patriot feelings led them on. And can their sons now speak with pride, Of rights for which they bled and died— Or while the captive is oppressed, Think of the wrongs they once redress’d?

The ancestors fought for their own freedom and were praised for it, but their descendants now celebrate those same rights while ignoring that they are oppressing others.

_The poet highlights the hypocrisy of celebrating liberty while perpetuating slavery._

> But will not justice soon arise, And plead the cause of the despised? For oh! my country, must it be, That they still find a foe in thee?

Surely justice will come to defend the oppressed. Must my own country remain their enemy?

_The poem ends with a plea for divine or moral justice to intervene against the nation's complicity in slavery._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_20_se/chapters/the-slave
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_20_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_20_se/chapters