Thomas' Response # 3: A letter from Abby to John Jay

To Mr. John Jay:

The freedom I attained in Paris was such a grave threat to your poorly contrived identity that you essentially had me murdered to retain a grasp on your fragile manhood. 

Your indignation at my brief escape at once had me baffled. It is only now, postmortem, that I understand. The relationship between master and slave is not unlike the relationship between a rapist and his rape victim. Sexual gratification is not the rapist's real desire. If that were so, the rapist would instead find a common hooker or retreat to his wife or mistress to fulfill his needs. Instead, the rapist is motivated by power and control--the ability to overtake someone and compel her against their will into submission. In the same way, the economic fulfillment is not the chief goal of the slave master. Rather, just like the rapist, the primary objective is mastery and power. You use power to define yourself. Who are you without your slaves? No one, absolutely no one. Without me, you are fragile, weak, and without identity.

You agreed to release me upon our return to America. Thus, I initially did not see my escape in Paris as much of a threat to you. What I now understand, though, is that you had to release me on your own terms in order to feel like a master, to keep your identity. When I escaped on my own terms, without your consent, I emasculated you and stripped you of your power as a master to choose whether I would be free or not.

To "teach me a lesson"--or I think to repair your fragile ego--you had me sent to prison, essentially sentencing me to death. My death, I suppose, was on your terms. Do you feel better now? Like a proper man? Like a high class gentleman in control?

I hope not. I hope you realize that you are a nobody--that without your slaves, you are a blank slate, undefined, without meaning.

All the best,

Abby

1. How did Paris politics and life complicate the identity of both slaves and slave masters? How did this further alter how identity is shaped and maintained in America?
2. How were masters forced to re-examine their own identities and the identities of their slaves based on life in Paris?