Question

Contemporary authors possess a measure of creative and rhetorical freedom unavailable to the freed and fugitive slaves who wrote from a perspective informed and enriched by the study of slave. They are therefore free to use their imagination to explore the unacknowledged and elusive effects of the insertion of slavery upon slaves, slaveholders, and their descendants. What is the main advantage that contemporary authors have in writing about slavery?

1) They have access to more historical information about slavery
2) They have personal experience of being enslaved
3) They have the ability to use their imagination
4) They have a greater understanding of the effects of slavery

Answer 1

Contemporary authors have the creative advantage of using imagination to explore slavery's complex impact, which freed and fugitive slaves could not do due to societal constraints.

Step-by-step explanation:

The main advantage that contemporary authors have in writing about slavery is the ability to use their imagination to explore and express the complexities and nuances of slavery's impact on society.

While historical accounts provide essential information about the lived experiences of enslaved individuals, contemporary authors are not limited by the factual constraints of these narratives. Instead, they can create fictional worlds that delve into the psychological and social ramifications of slavery, revealing insights that might not be captured in traditional historical documents.

Unlike the freed and fugitive slaves who penned their memoirs under the oppression of racial prejudice and societal constraints, such as Phillis Wheatley and Frederick Douglass, modern writers have creative freedom to intertwine factual settings with fictional characters and elements, thus enriching the literary discourse on identity, culture, and oppression.