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The Passage for Spiritual Renewal The Middle Passage by Charles Johnson, which received the National Book Award in 1990, is one of the greatest works of the contemporary African-American literature. The story is set in 1830 and it tells about the freed slave Rutherford Calhoun. Calhoun was a very educated person who used to be a thief. In search of escape from his creditors and undesirable marriage he boarded a ship which he believed to be a New Orleans river board.
But the ship tuned out to be a slave ship Republic which was going to Africa to pick up new slaves. As the story unfolds the reader can see how many hardships Rutherford Calhoun had to endure. At the end of the book Middle Passage Rutherford Calhoun is not the same criminal, lier and womanizer who first boarded the ship. The task of this work is to see how Rutherford Calhoun's journey takes him from self-interest through a journey of spiritual renewal. The title of the book Middle Passage is very symbolic. In its direct meaning Middle Passage in 17 th and 18 th century was a term used to describe the triangular route of trade that brought rum and sugar cane to Europe and Africans to the America, from their familiar and free life in Africa and their new slave life in the unfamiliar world.
The term Middle Passage also symbolizes the transformation of the free person into the slave. The sea voyages back in the nineteenth century used to take several months in very poor conditions and during that time, the human conscience of people could gradually get used to the idea of slavery and reconcile with their destiny. In broader Middle Passage is also the place in the middle between two final points, and while still in the passage people have the chance to change the place of their destination. The future slaves can take hold of the ship and their destiny, or they might perish in the storm and never know slavery. The idea of the Middle Passage permeates the whole book.
For Rutherford Calhoun the Middle Passage symbolizes his journey through inner transformation. The only reason why Rutherford Calhoun boarded the slave ship was his egoistic desire to escape from troubles in his life, which he brought upon himself. When Calhoun realized his mistake, he was not horrified with the idea of illegally bringing free people from Africa and enslaving them. Quite the opposite, he accented his difference from Allmuseri, the captive people of a tribe of magicians.
He pointed out that his brother could be one of the Allmuseri, so much he resembled them. But when he was told that it made him one of Allmuseri too, Calhoun's reaction was: "This I doubted" (Johnson, p. 109). "Truth to tell, they were not even 'Negroes. ' They were Allmuseri" (Johnson, p. 76). He did not want to have a common bond to Allmuseri only based on the same skin color and on the outside Calhoun denies racial segregation. This example shows how deeply the ideas of segregation existed in conscience of the society. The indifference existed not only between white owners and black slaves, but also between African black people and American black people.
Black people whos ancestors were brought from Africa, but who had experience of western civilization and education felt superior. The same was with Calhoun. His former owner the Reverend Peter Chandler wanted him to be a preacher and gave him classical education, which furthered Calhoun's difference from his kin. This example shows the readers that Calhoun's journey to spiritual renewal started from the complete denial of his own background. Calhoun's main concern was not to get into the hands of slave dealers because they would not care if he was a sailor or not. This is the vivid example of human egoism, when the person is concerned only with his personal interests.
It turns out that Calhoun despite of his education and views had a conscience of a slave while Allmuseri preserved their aspiration for freedom. On board of the ship Captain Falcon wanted to make Calhoun his spy among the crew members. By making me hear of each man's faults (I had no choice) he subtly compromised me, made me something of a betrayer too. (Johnson, p 58) Calhoun wants to blend with the white people, but it results only in becoming a moral slave to captain Falcon. The first sigh of Calhoun's acceptance of his own background was his behaviour when Allmuseri got hold of the ship Republic. "Yes, I was black, as they were, but they had a common bond I could but marvel at" (Johnson, p. 132) Calhoun has always tried to find the same bound with white people. When Calhoun wanted to save the live of captain Falcon, he offered to the Allmuseri to make captain Falcon their slave. This is the moment when Calhoun acknowledged his relation to Allmuseri who accepted him as equal.
At this moment Calhoun freed of his slave conscience and experienced the role of the slave trade, which played considerable role in his final transformation. The moment that decided the final outcome of Calhoun's Middle Passage was the moment when Calhoun discovered that his creditor Papa Zeringue, the black gangster of New Orleans was the slave trader: Suddenly the ship felt insubstantial: a pawn in a larger game of property so vast it trivialized our struggles on board. (Johnson, p. 150) This is the crucial moment which completely destroyed Calhoun's views, that had already been shaken by his previous experience, when he offered captain Falcon as a slave for Allmuseri. The real state of events opened and he realized that all people of the western society were slaves disregarding the color of their skin. Their real slavery was not physical, but spiritual which consisted in declining all human moral principles for the sake of financial profit.
Rutherford Calhoun on his Middle Passage found new life experience, which he could not find in books. The personal experience helped Calhoun to see the real extend of segregation and corruption in the society where everything was ruled by money. The education helped Calhoun to analyze his experience and understand his position in this world, accept his brotherhood with all enslaved people. Bibliography Johnson, Charles. Middle Passage. New York: Atheneum, 1990.
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Research essay sample on The Passage For Spiritual Renewal
