Panopticism and the Lives of

Frederick Douglass and Leonard Peltier

 

ERH 230, Section 1

Date Due: 10 November 2016

Date Submitted: 10 November 2016

Help Received: Comments from Maj. Iddings

Signed: Evan McCuaig

 

 

Prisons function because of the relationship of power between the inmates and the guards. Jeremy Bentham came up with a prison called the Panopticon. The prison was designed so that the inmates would not know if they were being watched. “The Gaze”, as described by Michael Foucault, is the effect of constantly being watched and under scrutiny (Foucault 195-196). Two people spent their entire life in a Panopticistic world like this. Firstly, Frederick Douglass, was born sometime around 1835 in Maryland, and grew up as a slave subject to the brutality of the traditions of that time. He was separated from his parents, beaten violently and punished for no reason as he tried to survive living in the South (Douglass). Secondly, Leonard Peltier, a Native American currently serving time in jail for allegedly taking part in the shooting of two FBI agents (Peltier). Both Frederick Douglass and Leonard Peltier were always under someone’s attention and subject to “The Gaze”, forcing them to be extra cautious about how they lived their life.

Frederick Douglass grew up under the scrutiny of his owner and the owners staff. In his narrative, “The Life of Frederick Douglass”, he shares about a specific overseer that would brutally punish slaves. He says the overseer would, “…cut and slash the women’s heads so horribly, that even the master would be enraged at his cruelty…” (Douglass 342). Overseers had the responsibility of keeping track of the slaves as they work and would punish them, much like prison guards. And like prison guards, they were always watching. As a kid, the overseer would be a very daunting and intimidating man. As a kid, you want to play and have friends and be with your family, but Douglass was never able to live with that luxury as a child. Instead, he had to be worried about whether or not he was working hard enough. This is no way for a child to grow up.

Later in life, Douglass lived in a home that had a mistress who was very nice, kind and caring. She would help Douglass learn to read and write, allowing him to explore literary freedom. However, her husband didn’t like this and encouraged her to punish their slaves. Douglass noted about her change, “She finally became even more violent in her opposition than her husband himself. She was not satisfied with simply doing as well as he had commanded; she seemed more anxious to do better” (Douglass 367). The mistress changed and became more punishing than even her husband. She was once a person who Douglass could relax around and forget he was a slave. When he was with her, he could escape “The Gaze” and be a normal human being living a normal life. When she changed, he lost the ability to be normal. He could no longer be who he was. He had to change to avoid her wraith. He couldn’t be himself

Leonard Peltier is a Native American who was born in North Dakota in 1944. As a child, Peltier would find himself getting a lot of attention for being a Native American. He got into fights with other kids and caught the attention of the police. He always felt that he was being watched and being targeted for being Native American.  There was a constant pressure on him to be on his best behavior and that if he slipped up in the slightest, there would be someone waiting for it and ready to punish him. In his memoir, he talks about an incident where he got in a fight with another kid. When he got home, his grandpa told him, “You’re not s’posed to rile these white folks boy, they’ll come back and get you every time” (Peltier 76). As Native Americans, they had a social pressure to stay out of the way or face the wrath of white people. Peltier grew up learned the hard way that he had to be different than himself to live peacefully in America.

When Peltier was older, he joined a civil right group. Unfortunately, this group got tangled with another Native American group that was much more violent. This resulted in a raid where two FBI agents were killed. Peltier was the alleged killer and was arrested for their deaths. Prison has not treated Peltier very kindly. He describes prison life in one way, “As a supposed “cop killer,” I got special attention from the start. In my first jail in Canada, a special guard was stationed outside my cell throughout the night…” (Peltier 143). Peltier was a different kind of prisoner. He was different because of his heritage and for being labeled a cop killer. Consequently, he got more attention and therefore couldn’t even be a normal prisoner. Being a prisoner under these conditions took a lot out of Peltier. He had to watch out for himself and protect himself more so than anyone else in the prison had to. He said, “You quickly learn within the walls that you’re at the mercy of anyone with a sadistic streak; and there’s seldom any shortage of those” (Peltier 144). In this environment, “The Gaze” comes in many forms. It’s there as the prison, it’s there as his cell, it’s there as his personal guard and it’s there as a sadistic cop, and all of the forms forces Peltier to change how he survives each day. The moment Peltier went into prison, “The Gaze” got stronger, and Peltier had to change more.

Frederick Douglas and Leonard Peltier have spent much of their lives worrying about their actions. Frederick Douglass was a slave in Maryland who was constantly under the threat of being punished. Leonard Peltier grew up as a minority who was always on the receiving end of unfair treatment from other citizens and the police and eventually would spend the next 35 years and counting in prison. In both cases, these men were subject to “The Gaze” in a panopticistic world that forced them to change who they were so they could survive.

 

Works Cited:

 

Douglass, Frederick. “Chapter 1,7.” Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass an American Slave. U.S.A.: Anti Slavery Office, 1845. 340,340,367.

 

Peltier, Leonard, and Harvey Arden. Prison Writings: My Life Is My Sun Dance. New York: St. Martin’s, 1999. 76, 143. Print.