The Whipping Boy

One of the most important events in the history of the United States of America is the Civil War from 1861-65. The war started because of the issue of slavery. It was a war where only America participated; it was a war between the Northern states, called the Union, and the Southern slave states, the Confederate States of America. The Union wanted to get rid of slavery in the USA, but the Confederacy did not want this, mostly because a lot of them owned slaves and needed them in their production of cotton. The war ends with a massive surrender of the Confederacy, 620.000 soldiers were killed and the slaves are free men, or are they really? The short story "The Whipping Boy" written by Richard Gibney in 2011 is a story about three Southern State slaves, who gain independence towards the end of the war. Unfortunately they meet some Confederacy soldiers on their way up north and it ends up in a slaughter of the slaves.

There are several characters in the short story. The main characters are the three slaves Martha, Mikey and Tommy. Then there is the Gage Family with the mother, Mrs. Gage and the son, Sterling. All three slaves have only ever been slaves for the Gages. They grew up there and are used to doing the work around the house. Martha is a female slave, who does all the cooking for old Mrs. Gage. She takes care of her and makes sure that she stays alive, even though she is getting sicker every day. Mikey and Tommy are usually working in the fields, but they stop doing it after the boy from the Union tells them that they are free to do what they want. There is no direct description of the characters, only through their actions like this: "Mikey stole furtive sensual glances as they picked at the food. She would have feared his advances in the past, even more than Master Sterling's" (line 37-38). Mikey and Martha are in love, but they cannot show it, because of Sterling who wants to have Martha to himself and