As well as free labor, the slave owners have full control of a slave’s daily life. Written in the West’s Encyclopedia of American Law, slavery is “a civil relationship in which one person has absolute power over the life, fortune, and liberty of another (West 1).” this definition reveals that slaves are in command of a slave owner, in all possible circumstances. All commands given to a slave by his or her owner must be obeyed, whether it is a simple task, routine, or a full-time job. Florens shares, “I spend my days picking okra and sweeping tobacco sheds, my nights on the floor of the cookhouse with a minha mãe (Morrison 6).” Florens daily routine is determined by her slave owner, as it is a slave owner’s right to decide a slave’s livelihood
