“They almost seem to believe that their status has not changed if they do not have one more day per week” (Plantation Rule of Etienne Ploverel, page 140)
This sentence in the article was interesting to me because it is Ploverel’s interpretation of the former slaves’ thoughts on their freedom. He is implying that the former slaves are unappreciative of this freedom they have finally received and that they are asking for too much at this point. According to Ploverel, they do not consider themselves free if they do not get Saturday’s off from work. He criticizes them of being lazy and he starts talking about how they do not realize that if they take this extra day off, they are cutting back on one-sixth of the year’s work, which ultimately doesn’t benefit them or the landowners. He gives them exact calculations of how much money they’d be losing out on if they took an extra day off. He continues by letting them know that taking a day off is their choice; they are now completely free, but he does bring up the fact that they have to eat, sleep, and provide for their family, which requires working and earning money.
This sentence in the article relates to the text as a whole because Ploverel is arguing his plantation policies directly to the field workers in a way where the former slaves cannot take advantage of their citizenship and new freedom.
I agree with your statement that Ploverel feels that the former slaves are asking for too much. As a plantation owner, freed slaves means that they wouldn’t get the labor they had before. As a result, these plantation owners would do anything in their power to keep these people working. He tells them that they can take Saturday off if they want but they’re not going to get paid for that day. Now that they’re free, they’ll have to earn a living and support their families so they’d want to work as much as possible. Ultimately this will harm the former slaves more than it would the plantation owners because the freed slaves are the ones who depend on that income. This is the plantation owners’ way to keep oppressing the Africans and keep them working on the plantations.