Out of Options...That Were Never There...

"Slavery allows its victims no decision-making power over any aspect of their lives, including the decision to live. The lone exception, the only power they have, is that they may choose to die...That Eunice's suicide takes place in a novel that draws its title from a spiritual, in which Moses is asked to "go down" into Egypt to "set my people free," is no accident. If Moses should fail to appear, it may fall to the captive race to take what actions they can to liberate themselves."

...More Than It's Gonna Hurt you: Concerning Violence, Foster, pgs, 94-95

I chose to take a closer look at this quote because the reference reminded me so much of the young woman in "Machinal". In this example, Foster is referencing a character, a slave, who was impregnated by her slaveowner; not only that, but the slaveowner then impregnated the daughter. Feeling helpless, the slave decides to exhaust her only option: death. This slave reminded me of the young woman in "Machinal", because she, too, did not seem to have any choice as to the direction her life took. The young woman was as a slave in that she, like Eunice, had no say in how her body had been used. She flinched when her husband touched her, and nearly suffocated at the thought of an unwanted child suckling at her breast. Like the slave, the young woman's only escape was death, although that of her husband. Finally, at the end of the play, leading up to her execution, the young woman questions the priest. She wants to know why? Why was it that the only time she felt free was when she sinned? The only liberation the young woman felt was when she committed adultery and later murder. In accordance with Foster's example, Moses did not show up, and the captive took what actions she deemed necessary to free herself of the mechanical life she unwillingly lead.

http://jerz.setonhill.edu/EL267/2009/02/foster_how_to_read_literature_2/