Simon Says Slavery Is Okay

Adventures of Captain Simon Suggs reveals the serious, sad state of the nation at the time, showing the division between the races, and the division between Southerners and their Northern counterparts. While Simon may seem to be a simple con man, he represents much more than that. When one looks beyond the humor, it becomes sadly apparent that Simon’s success always comes at the high price of others. Within his character there exist deeper truths about the attitudes towards slavery, freedom, racial divisions, and progress in his time. Johanna Nicol Shields explores the darker side of Simon Suggs in the article, “A Sadder Simon Suggs: Freedom and Slavery in the Humor of Johnson Hooper.” While Adventures of Captain Simon Suggs may be a satire of a campaign biography, it reveals more about the intricate workings of a society, including the political and social issues of the time, than it does about any one man. In the end, Simon Suggs is saying slavery is an inevitable result of circumstances.