"Halle and me want to be married, Mrs. Garner."
-write about how marriages were handled for slaves at the time.
-how was the slave marriage in the book handled.
-whether or not it was historically common
"Halle and me want to be married, Mrs. Garner." In this quote, Sethe asks Mrs. Garner if she and Halle can get married. In this time in history, it was somewhat common for slave owners to let two of there slaves get married, and for a number of reasons. A series of lists made by George Washington in the summer before his death, indicates that roughly two thirds of the mount Vernon slaves were married. Since marriages between slaves was not officially legal, how the marriage between two slaves was handled entirely by the owner. Some slave owners believed that if a slave was married, he would be less likely to escape and leave his wife behind. even if two slaves were married, there owner could still sell them or their children separately. most slave males wanted to be married to a slave from another plantation, so they would not see their wife suffer on a daily basis. Since marriages between slaves were not protected by the legal system, slave owners were able to sell slaves regardless if they were married. This gives the idea that allowing slaves to be married was a way to have more control over them. Slave owners also wanted there slaves to bear children, often times promised freedom in exchange. Slave marriages were more about practical uses for the slave owner than the love between two slaves. Slave marriages also benefited the slave owners with newborn children. This meant that the children would grow up and slave owners would had more slaves to work on the fields. Slaves were able to teach there children there own values which were different from the slave owners personal beliefs that were forced on the slaves. The slave parents helped teach there children how to survive life as a slave.
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