| Episodes |
The "Nullifier" of Life: The Role of Nat Turner
Brian Levy
[1] In Barbara Chase-Riboud's 1979 historical novel, Sally Hemings states that Nat Turner is "the nullifier of her life" (55). What does she mean by this? Clearly she feels as though his life contradicts her own. The reason is that Nat Turner realizes that he wants freedom and does everything that he can to make that dream a reality. Sally is the complete opposite. She does not even know what she wants until her life is completely out of her control. She has several opportunities to change the direction of her life in a way that would not "haunt" her for her entire life (179), but she never takes action. In fact, for a good deal of her life, she does not seem to desire anything at all, or perhaps she does not know what she wants. Sally is passive and lets her entire life go by her without taking action. Turner is the nullifier to her life because he is completely active and takes charge of his life.
[2] The first time that it even occurs to Sally that she could be free is when James tells her that in France she is considered free. She responds with a question: "What do ‘free' people do?" (90) Freedom is a foreign concept to her. James is ready to escape to freedom, and she does not even understand what that means. She has the opportunity of a lifetime to escape both slavery and the discrimination within American society, but she does not yet realize that she would want to escape. Her brother does manage to convince her to stay in France and that she does not "want to be loved . . . [She wants] to be free" (141). The only problem is that when she goes to Jefferson to ask for her freedom, he convinces her to stay (143). If she had truly committed herself to staying in France, she would have simply run away. She chose not to, showing her lack of action for the first time. Years later, when James returns to Monticello, she has another chance to escape her life, and again she passes it up (229).
[3] Even much later in her life Sally never seems to value freedom. Shortly after the Prosser Rebellion, Sally and Elizabeth are discussing freedom and its worth, and Sally says: "Being free isn't so important I'd die for it" (207). Elizabeth responds callously: "Don't give me any of your lip about ‘not worth dying for'! . . . And you, you with your pride! Thinkin' that slavehood would not hurt you and damage you and change you. . . ." (207-8). Nat Turner believes that freedom and equality are the most important things and has shown that he is willing to take a life or give his own life to further the cause. Sally does not even consider the possibility of risking her life for the sake of freedom. Her mother is at least willing be a follower, although she does point out that after the Prosser Rebellion the Blacks "ain't got . . . a leader" (228). Nat Turner eventually becomes that leader. Sally is on the opposite end of the spectrum. Sally was not even willing to be a follower in a rebellion.
[4] For most of her life Sally simply does not see the problem with a society that allows slavery to continue. She leads an extremely sheltered life. Her mother spoils her and does everything she can to ensure that she will never live the life of a slave. Jefferson spoils her and promises her anything that she might want until the point that Martha returns. Sally is very naïve through a good portion of her life. Late in her life, she finally loses her naivety and begins to feel, as many other slaves did, that "White America meant to destroy [her]" (270). She begins to feel as though "she had loved the enemy" (55). She thought that she could go through life without taking part in the debate over race, but she is wrong. In the end she has to face her life decisions and realize that she has missed out on opportunities that could have changed her entire life.
[5] Sally Hemings never took action in her entire life until she sends Nathan Langdon away. She allows the people around her to control her life instead of taking the initiative to change her life. It would have been easy for her to simply run away while she was in France. Her mother, in fact, ensured that she would have an opportunity to escape by sending her to France. Nobody ever did anything for Nat Turner to make it easier for him to reach his goals. He had to do everything for himself. He decides to take control of his life no matter what it takes. Sally finally does so herself with Langdon, but she realizes that she has wasted her entire life. Turner's life represents everything that she wishes her life could have been, and so Turner is "the nullifier of her life" (55).
