Resistance

By ElZahraa ElSabagh

General Context

Resistance refers to the collective and individual efforts to oppose oppression, racism, discrimination, regime, and any form of unfair treatment. It encompasses non-violent protest, verbal expression, rebellion, or any act of defiance to achieve justice, equality, and dignity. Resistance is not only confined to individuals and nations, but it can also include specific social groups. For instance, resistance to capitalism by the industrial working class, women’s resistance to male supremacy, and African Americans’ resistance to white dominance.

Resistance to slavery refers to the different actions enslaved people took to oppose bondage. Some enslaved people escaped, rebelled, sabotaged work tools, pretended illness or intentionally worked at a slower pace. Resistance was also expressed through their collective unity as they used to secretly gather at night to pray, socialize, and practice the African cultural traditions that violated the slaveholders’ demands about work and spatial freedom.

Connection to Novel

In Ernest Gaines’s Of Love and Dust, resistance is explored through Marcus’ defiance against oppression and racial injustice. Marcus rejects the plantation life and refuses to conform to the rules placed on him. For example, he refuses to take off his city clothes and dress like the other workers.

Bonbon tries to break Marcus’ rebellious spirit by humiliating and burdening him with excessive work. In retaliation, Marcus attempts to seduce Bonbon’s black mistress, Pauline, but fails. Therefore, he turns to Bonbon’s neglected white wife, Louise, to prove that he can defeat Bonbon by taking his wife. Despite his defiance, Marcus constantly feels enslaved, “I’m a slave here now. And things can’t get harder than slavery” (205). Consequently, his form of resistance to his feeling of enslavement is to escape the plantation. That is why he decides to accept Hebert’s proposition to kill Bonbon and flee with Louise.