“Slave and Enslaved”, Meaning and Worldview in Green Grass Running Water.

In Green Grass Running Water King uses satire to critique the commodifcation of people, and the materialism of late capitalism. Through “Babo”, a character that is an allusion to Herman Melville’s Benito Cereno, King illustrates the difference between being a “slave” or being “enslaved” (King 313). When Dr. Hovaugh assumes Babo’s “ancestors were slaves”, she quickly corrects him, “some of my folks were enslaved” (King 313). Dr. Hovaugh’s assumption that Babo’s ancestors were slaves relegates her as the “other”; her history is presumed for her. It also provides the assumption that slavery is in the past, to which she corrects by stating that there are “All sorts of slaves in the world” (King 314). The Chattel slavery of the 18^th and 19^th century to which Dr. Hovaugh refers has been abolished and “slavery is illegal in virtually every country”, but globally slavery by a more contemporary definition still exists (Bales 179). In the Introduction to New Slavery: A Reference Book, Kevin Bales defines slavery as follows; “slavery is a social and economic relationship in which a person is controlled through violence or threat, paid nothing, and economically exploited” (Bales 179). Using this definition there are currently roughly “27 million” slaves in use globally today (Bales 179). Although King is not specifically addressing this modern form of slavery, his definition comes as a direct result of capitalism. Babo’s laundry list of items that people are slaves to include “drugs, television, junk food, religion, cars, sex, power, cigarettes, money…fashion, jobs, designer kitchens, politics” (King 314). Through Babo, King critiques a modern society that is controlled by a material and capitalist culture.  It becomes an example of “supply and demand”, the material needs (such as those listed by Babo) of western capitalism exploits the poverty of the developing world. The western world is dependent upon the free-market economic system to obtain these material goods; the developing world is literally enslaved in order to produce these goods to keep up with the rate of consumption.[1] Through the humorous conversation between Babo and Dr.Hovaugh King demonstrates the power of assumptions in shaping our worldview.

 

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[1]  Jeffrey D. Sachs acknowledges this link in book The End of Poverty, but also states that it could be seen as the developing world’s “first stages of industrialization” p.12.

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