Sasha: I was trying to find something and the only one I found was Savelyich in the Pushkin's "The Captain's Daughter". He was also a middle- aged serf who was commandeered by his master to accompany the young man, the son of the family to serve as an officer to the army. That serf in fact nursed the young man to adulthood as if he was his own. During the service an serf uprising took place, a ferocious, powerful revolt and that man, a slave, really could join the insurgents and be free. He instead not only stayed with his young master but offered his life for him.
Teacher: Yes, and you might have noticed that when we discussed that book we did not consider him as some kind of a retard or brainwashed person who did not want to be free. That was something else.
Nina. He loved his young man like a son. That made him equal to him, slave or not. Savelyich was already free from his point of view because the sole purpose of his life was to be with that young man. His duty was his honor. BTW, in the Pushkin's book that young man also put his life on the line for Savelyich; they became inseparable.
Teacher: Like Scipio and Augustine St. Clare, right?
Sasha. Yes, and Tom too. If Augustine had gone to war, Tom would be with him. I consider that even if there was a Negro uprising, Tom would have tried to save Augustine and his family.
Teacher: Ok how about Simon Legree? Would Tom try to save him if there was an uprising?
Natasha. Yes, I think he would. How many times he rejects violence, you cannot even count. We here know that non-violence does not mean weakness. Even if violence is necessary we here never considered it as something good.
Teacher: But our teachings, those red ties on you, they are associated with bloody struggle for equality, the overthrow of oppressors, the Civil War here which was very bloody and unjust, the sacrifice for people to be equal and not to be slaves.
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