A story that must be told in a way that isn’t actually telling at all; that is the Zong massacre. September 6th of 1781 Captain Luke Collingwood set sail from the coast of Africa in his ship, The Zong, with 470 slaves as cargo. In four months time, Captain Luke Collingwood arrived at destination with only 320 slaves aboard. So what happen to the 150 souls that were unfortunate enough to vanish over the course of the voyage? That is a tale M. NourbeSe Philip tells without telling.
When a six to nine month voyage turns into a four month disaster, Zong’s cargo started to wilt and die. With the understanding–or rather lack of understanding–of his insurance policy, Collingwood set out to terminate his cargo rather than let them die a natural death. One hundred and fifty slaves were thrown overboard to fall victim of the weights of the sea,
the some of negroes
over
board
the rest in lives
drowned (6)
Zong! #3 alludes to the throwing of slaves overboard. Slaves were referred to as “negroes” back in the era of slavery. They were thrown overboard The Zong and left to drown. In Zong! #5 readers discover a contributing factor as to why slaves were discarded,
did not exist
sustenance
water &
want
dead
the more of
of negroes (14-12)
With a lack of resources that allow for the survival of Collingwood’s cargo, many were thrown overboard. “Sustenance”–defined as the nourishment a body needs to hold the strength to live–“did not exist.” With the dwindling recourses, more and more slaves were disposed of.
With just the first eleven Zong!, and a bit of background context found in the back of the book, readers begin to develop an understanding as to what happened during the Zong massacre. With just to poems readers are allotted the knowledge of one contributing factor to the wasting of the 150 slaves: lack of supplies. however, upon reading page 189 readers find out that the lack of food and water wasn’t the sole reason for the murders, “Captain Luke Collingwood is of the belief that if the African Slaves on board die a natural death, the owner of the ship will have to bear the cost, but if they were ‘thrown alive into the sea, it would be the loss of the underwriters.’ In other words, the massacre of the African slaves would prove to be more financially advantageous to the owner of the ship and its cargo…” (189). Collingwood believed that if he allowed the slaves to die of natural causes such as thirst and starvation, he wouldn’t get compensated by his insurance company. Collingwood believed that if the slaves died purposely–if he threw them overboard to drown–the insurance company would then see fit to reimburse him.
As previously stated, Zong! is a telling of the Zong massacre without actually telling. M. NourbeSe Philip writes,”‘A novel requires too much telling,’ I write, ‘and this story must be told by not telling–there is a mystery here–the mystery of evil'” (190). With no first hand account of any slave who witnessed the Zong Massacre, there is an unknowing that revolves around it. The only account of what happened is the Gregson v. Gilbert case, also known as the Zong case. With only the legal actions to obtain the insurance monies as proof of the massacre, the true horrors in which were Zong may never truly be uncovered. M. NourbeSe Philip tells the massacre without actually telling as it isn’t her story to tell. Justice for those 150 souls that were lost in 1781 needs to be demanded. But how can justice be demanded when the only viable proof is a legal case that dehumanizes the slaves in order to collect insurance money?
Questions to think about:
If your opinion differs from my post, why do you think M. NourbeSe Philip wants to tell the story of the Zong Massacre without actually telling it?
Do you agree with M. NourbeSe Philip when she says “‘A novel requires too much telling,’ I write, ‘and this story must be told by not telling” (190)? Explain your answer.
Delaney,
I think M.NourbeSe Philip may have wanted to tell this story by not telling it, because the slaves on board were not told why they were being thrown overboard. It’s possible that the author wanted us the have a similar feeling of confusion while still capturing the horrors of the events. It’s true that “the massacre of the African slaves would prove to be more financially advantageous to the owner of the ship and its cargo…” (189), but would it be more humane to let them all die of starvation and dehydration? Overall, I think the main point that Philip was trying to exemplify was their lack of understanding with their murders and how calculated and profitable their untimely deaths would be.
Delaney,
I agree with your analysis of Phillip’s purpose of writing Zong! I also think when the author explains, “‘A novel requires too much telling,’ I write, ‘and this story must be told by not telling” (190) They are explaining to the reader that we did not experience this ourselves. There is no way to understand the feeling those people who were treated poorly or killed felt in that moment. A novel has the ability to display the feelings, thoughts, and deeper details of the characters involved. The author wants the reader to realize the horrors of the Zong massacre, and that the story is impossible to narrate/retell.
Delaney,
I believe that M.NourbeSe Philip wanted to tell his story by not telling it because of the severity of the situation. It was so severe that the story could not just be simply told. The people involved were so selfish, greedy, and cold-hearted that the story could not be told directly or bluntly. Philip states, “Captain Luke Collingwood is of the belief that if the African slaves on board die a natural death, the owners of the ship will have to bear the cost, but if they were thrown into the sea, it would be the loss of the underwriters. In other words, the massacre of the African slaves would prove to be more financially advantageous to the owners of the ship and its cargo than if the slaves were allowed to die of natural causes” (189). This just goes to show the type of evil mindset the ship owners had. They were seeking money so bad that they were willing to brutally murder human beings, who they believed didn’t matter, to get it. A story like this is extremely hurtful to African Americans today. It cannot simply be told without careful word placement. I also believe the author chose the type of word placement she did to make readers analyze what was said, as opposed to just reading straight facts.
Do you agree with M. NourbeSe Philip when she says “‘A novel requires too much telling,’ I write, ‘and this story must be told by not telling” (190)? Explain your answer.
A story being told could perhaps be felt by an audience as unreal, or an audience cannot connect fully, or emotionally. When the author says “…this story must be told by not telling”(190), they mean the story must be felt in some way, otherwise, the story is felt like just a story. Humans act best when they feel a problem or connect emotionally to the problem. Therefore, a story needs to put the reader into the story, and feel as if they are in the mix of the text. At the least, the story must use itself as a way to force a reader to understand the issue and how it feels to be the characters within a story. A story that is told does not allow for the power of human connection through words.
Delaney,
I really enjoyed reading your post!
Do you agree with M. NourbeSe Philip when she says “‘A novel requires too much telling,’ I write, ‘and this story must be told by not telling” (190)? Explain your answer.
To answer your question, I looked up the definition of a novel to base my response off of. A novel is: “a fictitious prose narrative of book length, typically representing character and action with some degree of realism.” (Merriam-Webster)
I agree with M. NourbeSe Philip. I believe she says ‘A novel requires too much telling,’ I write, ‘and this story must be told by not telling” (190) because a novel has some degree of realism, according to its definition. Because she was not there herself, she seemed to have tried her best to find evidence and right with her emotions about what she knows.
Delaney,
Nice job on the blog post!
I personally believe that Phillip can be either right or wrong about novels being too long to capture meaning; I think it really depends on the subject matter at hand. For example, if the author was trying to appeal to a readers Pathos, a novel might prove too confining and wordy to make true emotional impact. This proves to be true throughout the many different poems in Zong!; the minimalism of each poem forcing the reader to read between the lines, and add subtext. A good example of this is found when Phillip writes, “discarded,
did not exist…” (12-14).
Although this statement seems simple at first, the reader understands that this is really in the context of human-beings being massacred for money. Their added context gives emotional brevity to the concept of being “discarded,” the simple word getting layers and layers of meaning due to the historical background.
Reading the beginning of this book I think an important think to think about is the importance of storytelling. The author says; “A novel requires too much telling,’ I write, ‘and this story must be told by not telling” (190) This means that the details should be known without too much drama or flair of storytelling. People should know the real story of this real evil that happened. People died, and they should not be forgotten or have their memory lost for the sake of the art of storytelling and sellng novels.
I do agree with M. NourbeSe Philip because a novel is “a fictitious prose narrative of book length, typically representing character and action with some degree of realism.” If this story was told through a novel would be too fictional and I believe it would take away the impact it would have on readers. These were real people and actual lives were taken away. The stories of the lives lost that day should be told truthfully from start to finish.
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