RE: A Slave's Freedom - From 2020 to 2022 - Answering the Tough Questions · 12:40am Mar 31st, 2022
Response to "A Slave's Freedom", a blog from 2020
Hello everyone. I have to respond to myself now after two years of staring at a wall and writing other things, only to come back and write an update to a story that was deemed dead to some.
Came back to writing this story for a couple more reasons that I did not explore when writing this blog in 2020. This came to a head when Russia declare for war/'a special military operation' on Ukraine, only for their army to run directly into a brick wall. I realized that I might have missed this an opportunity to explore some additional avenues that I missed upon the drafts that I have posted. So, why not explore these now?
Here are the avenues that I am going to lay out in front of you:
1) What is true freedom?
2) How can I, as a writer, depict freedom through a character who has never experienced it?
What is true freedom?
Freedom is defined differently across the globe. The freedom to pursue an intellectual path versus the freedom to say the words in your head are two different freedoms, and how they are limited means that the pressure on freedom is higher than ever before. There are several academics out there that would talk your jaws off about the subject (philosophers and historians alike), but I'd rather make this succinct and to the point.
True freedom is to be free from other biases. Free to make your own thoughts, words, actions, expressions, etc. without a single hindrance defined by another. That is true freedom in my opinion, as there is no filter to pass through defined by either a governing body, or by someone who is in your life. There's no double checking this either, well, except you who are reading this, as you are free to do so, but I digress, because that's besides the point. That is true freedom, something that is unachievable in this day and age as true freedom is impossible due to tyranny, anger, rage; the human experience. So how we define this is mostly a cathartic retrospective nosedive into a cliff, a dream that you can only keep behind a few safeguards otherwise Freddy Krueger is going to come out and slice it to bits.
So, if we cannot achieve this dream, why define it? Well, simple, you have to define a baseline. Freedoms have limitations, just like if-then statements. If you want to achieve freedom, you must do the following. Cause and effect. It's common even in storytelling, which is why the writer in me feels apt to explain this without going on a tangent on why teachers who taught this should just have a kiddo write a story about why they hate school or something--
Anyway, to conclude this section, true freedom is freedom without any constraints, which is unachievable without removing humanity as a whole from the equation... as apocolyptically pessimistic as that sounds. So, for the purpose of this blog, I will instead, consider freedom as a privilege disguised as a right that carries several requirements before you can truly be free.
How can I, as a writer, depict freedom through a character who has never experienced it?
This question is hard to answer, and if you put a bunch of writers into a circle to talk about this, it would drive them to drink if they had to take it seriously. And if they didn't have to take it seriously, there would still be drinks regardless. Why is that the case?
Well...
The conversation would devolve into examples. Reference history. Slavery brings up several subjects: the American Civil War, Egypt, The Romans, Spainish Explorers, and even the Cherokee Nation who had sided with the Confederacy during the American Civil War fuck me, I forgot this last one. Look, slavery isn't a new concept. If you want to learn more, read some articles. That's not going to be the point of this section... partially. The history isn't the only point anyway.
Some would say the best way to divulge into this would be to plunder some archive where you can read real accounts regarding this topic. And while I wouldn't be against reading another American Civil War slave biography or even one outside of that time period, if I did that, this story would never be out because I would be too depressed to want to write this, and even more so depressed because I would feel ten times more against my own writing of the subject matter.
To be honest, I am approaching this answer as a mixed bag. I have referenced history. I have had read accounts of slavery from an actual slave, and I have even watched material involving what we could consider the modern day slave. However, there's one final section that I have to pull inspiration from, because let's face it, basing it off media doesn't bring the author closer to the project. I'd argue it makes the author more distant from the project, since it's not giving the character a true grounding that they created, only a mashup of different accounts from different people that are not the character the author is creating. Instead, we need to focus on the final section of inspiration, a building block in every single story that writers innately use but for some reason never give credence to. What is it, you may ask?
The art of conflicting characters. I provide you with a character who lives in freedom, and one that does not. I have the references for the 'not free' character, so why not have a character who didn't have to think about it twenty-four hours a day? And what's funny is, I did not think of Rainbow Dash as the prime candidate for this fic, but she kind of works the best for this premise too. Let me explain.
Twilight would be attempting to write the longest dissertation on the subject of freedom instead of focusing on navigating through a Gorge, and honestly, she doesn't fit in that situation by herself. And I tend to write her frequently into fics so I will have her sit this one out.
Rarity... is Rarity. That's it. Restricted by her own career lmao.
Applejack is too busy being restricted by her own stubbornness to be free.
Pinkie is actually way too free in my opinion for Dyson to handle, and not to mention her character is way too wacky for a subject matter like this.
Fluttershy, although with the gift of speaking to animals, wouldn't have the strength to get through what Rainbow could get through in this fic.
You: "But what about Rainbow Dash? Doesn't she have a career with the Wonderbolts?"
Well I don't want her homeless, so that's a valid point, but at the same time, I cannot think of another character who has the grit and mobility to just do whatever they want. This is the antithesis of Dyson, as he is only free to do certain things within a certain means, and then barred out completely from others. If I want to tackle this logically, there's no other character that was meant for this fic. She's athletic (freedom of expression), she's smart (freedom of knowledge), and she's... without restriction (freedom of thought, freedom to believe in what you want, freedom to just be without much, if not any, restrictions). Are there any other characters that you would've picked for this type of story, readers?
So, to conclude, while referencing material from actual slaves is great, building a character requires other characters with opposite interests or circumstances to give a more well-rounded approach, while having them live in a setting that allows both to thrive. It's not new, so to speak, but within this frame of reference, Rainbow Dash complements Dyson completely since she is free enough to realize what freedom is, yet restricted enough to know that there are limits... in some things. So, my approach to this is all three of the options presented: reference material of someone who isn't free, a setting that can help let the character grow, and a supporting cast that can ensure that growth is in the front of the audience.
Final Thoughts
For those who read this entire thing and learned something new, thank you for reading and you're welcome for giving you some insight. Hopefully this didn't read like a garbled mess of words. Trust me, it felt like it when I typed it all. Now that I have this thrust out into the public eye, I can finally get back to writing... and gaming... and not staring at a computer screen. Probably will go stare at a different wall or something. Ciao.
- Soaring
tl;dr: Congratulations or I hope things get better for you.
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You would think I would grammar check this, but I did not. Fixed a bunch of errors. :)
Great to see you return to this