Theme Of Freedom In Charles Johnson's Oxherding Tale

When both ideals and mindsets reflect a disagreement between conservative and progressive principles, one will find it impossible to satisfy both demands. In his novel, Oxherding Tale, Charles Johnson exemplifies his unique perspective on the ambiguity of freedom through the main character, Andrew Hawkins. For the duration of his journey, Hawkins gains a sense of freedom, but not in the way he imagines it to be. Aida Ahmed Hussen’s article, “‘Manumission and Marriage?’: Freedom, Family, and Identity in Charles Johnson’s Oxherding Tale,” expresses Hawkins’ clash between his conservative mindset and progressive ideals. Indeed, Andrew abandons both his progressive and conservative views and creates a new identity, which, on a larger scale, suggests that Andrew must go against his values and ideals in order to obtain a taste of freedom.
Hawkins’ main goal throughout the slave narrative is to achieve, in a broad sense, freedom. The ambiguity of freedom shapes Hawkin’s way about achieving his goal, causing his progressive ideals to clash with his conservative mindset. It is also important to note that “While Andrew repeatedly insists upon producing a politics and personality that break free from the strictures of prescriptive, his journey is also one that ultimately surrenders to and upholds several central structures of social

However in the end, he still achieves freedom, simply by confronting and abandoning both his past conservative and progressive values. His once conservative incentive of liberating his family from slavery is now only a distant memory; his once progressive incentives of constructing an original and autonomous identity, and seeking changes from the status quo, are now trivial. Hawkins acquires liberation in the context of a peaceful life - living a cliche “happily ever after” as a white male with a prescribed