Final answer:
The central idea is that slaves were purposefully manipulated by slaveholders to keep them under control, with paternalism used to justify slavery.
Step-by-step explanation:
The central idea within the excerpt from 'Incidents of a Slave Girl' is that slaves were purposefully manipulated by slaveholders to keep them enslaved.
This manipulation took many forms, including the use of paternalism to justify the institution of slavery and the portrayal of slaves as childlike and in need of guidance.
Southern slaveholders attempted to suppress abolitionist efforts and preserve their way of life, while slaves found ways to resist and subvert the system.