Sarah Brown: Thief/Pickpocket
I was born to the most Unfortunate life. My
parents I knew not for they died when I was an infant. The good gentlewoman
took me in and taught me to read, write, and sew. When I was but 14 years Old,
she designed to marry me off to an older gentleman. I refused to obey her
wishes and found myself in the streets. It was then that I found that my nimble
fingers afforded me a way of getting money for myself. Thus began my life as a
pickpocket.
The crime that finds me Here in this place was
that of stealing a gentleman's watch right from his pocket. I procured this
Article with great skill but when I designed to steal away, his mistress saw
me. They convicted me of the crime and sentenced me to transportation in
America.
Here in America, I'm to serve the rest of my
sentence as a servant. I receive little food But I am Thankful that I so avoided death.
*Early life very loosely based on the 18th century pickpocket Mary Young alias "Jenny Diver"
Michel Foucault
This young woman is very fortunate to have escaped death. Her story, though it appeals for sympathy, does not excuse her crimes. Thievery is unacceptable. That being said, transportation limits the power England has over its criminals. Transportation does so by completely eliminating surveillance of criminals. Surveillance is centered around the idea that it "induces in the inmate a state of conscious and permanent visibility that assures the automatic functioning of power" (Foucault 201). If thieves are not being watched in the jails, who knows what they might do. Perhaps they will break free of their masters, who cannot keep constant surveillance. We all know that convicts would run to escape cruelty or regain their freedom (Vaver 195). Then these criminals might be led to steal again because they are not under the power of surveillance.
No comments:
Post a Comment