By engaging with the text as a paratextual character, I was able to think about the novel through different perspectives. Not only was creating a fictional character interesting and rewarding after my research, but it allowed me to create a persona that could engage with the texts in a way I couldn’t. I was able to think more about Chesnutt’s identity as a white passing African American man and his relation to the text in a more direct and responsive way because of my character. The fact that I could make my character sound and think anything meant that I could explore and highlight aspects of the text and author that I wouldn’t normally be able to do as a student. By being able to interact with a fictional Chesnutt and John as well as W.E.B Du Bois, I was able to imagine the potential discourse surrounding Chesnutt’s work and how black scholars would have perceived the text.

One of the most enjoyable things involving “playing” a novel instead of just reading it was responding to other people’s moves, and seeing my team’s moves in general. By responding to moves, I was able to see my teammate’s different characters and the personas they created, which helped me view the text in different ways. For example, by creating a discourse between my character, Du Bois, and John, I was able to express one interpretation of John and engage with my teammate’s as well. One of the obstacles was creating a voice for my character, and trying to keep his opinions consistent and believable. I wanted to make someone who was an intellectual, so there was difficulty in choosing what phrases and words to use that would also match the time period. I dealt with the difficulty by choosing a simple and direct voice so that my character could easily articulate the opinions I wanted him to have. Another difficulty was beginning my opening move, but seeing my teammate’s moves always helped me think of an idea for a move.

If I were to play again, I’d choose a character directly in the story like Julius. I would want to tackle the challenge of creating a version of Julius’ dialect that would sound close to his but also original. Playing Julius would give me a chance to examine his character more, and it’d be interesting to try to create a tale that Julius could tell John and Annie. I would want to respond to other people’s moves more, especially John and Annie, and potentially characters not in the story. The fact that Julius only interacts with John and Annie in the story would make me want to have him engage in conversation with other figures, like Du Bois or Howells.

One change I would make to the interface would be to allow different ways of viewing the moves altogether. For example, It would be interesting to view the threads of all moves and their responses, as it would make it easier to see the entire conversation and the direction of the narrative. I would also make it possible to view a move and its rationale on the same page. Another interesting change would be the ability to comment on moves, which would allow someone to respond to a move even if they don’t want to make an entire move. Having multiple different people making small comments on moves would allow everyone to share their ideas, no matter how small or quickly conceived.

One of the most significant ideas I drew from Word by Word, was the neglect and dismissal almost all of the pieces of text received, in comparison to the writings of prominent black intellectuals like Frederick Douglass and Phyllis Wheatley. The power of the relationship between freedom and literacy, and the fact that most people have never read or even known about the large amount of writing produced by current and former slaves shows how the history of black people has been controlled and policed. The assumption that only a very select group of slaves were able to use their literacy and knowledge to actually produce pieces of writing, rather than a large number, shows that the history of slaves and black people in this country has been erased and manipulated. The decision of historians to only study people like Frederick Douglass means that an entire group of other slaves are ignored, either by choice or by lack of ample material to study. Which brings up another point related to the erasure of slave expression and history.

In chapter 1, Hager writes, “Some of the sources included in this study were held privately, passed down through generations of black families, but most were preserved by white people or institutions run by them— which is to say, most of them exist today because they were addressed to white audiences or otherwise fell into their hands” (Hager 6). This fact, which seems simple at first, only further proves how the narratives and expressions of slaves were only maintained if they pertained to white people or authority figures. The fact that there are very few preserved letters between slaves demonstrates that the literacy and writings of slaves were ignored and cast aside. Not only did slaves have to risk their lives to learn to read and write, but their writing, no matter how ordinary or prolific, would almost never be remembered or read by anyone else in the future. Despite the ability for some slaves to express the struggles, pain, and hardships they experienced, their writing was left in the shadows of easily accessible, easily taught writing of more intellectual slave writers. If these letters and journal entries were preserved until today, people’s education on slavery would be a much more engaging and diverse learning experience. Rather than hearing about the conditions from historians, we could, no matter how poorly spelled or written a letter, learn about the lives and struggles of slaves and former slaves from their own words.

Something that truly stood out to me when reading the first few chapters was the treatment of women slaves, and how they were subjected to much more horrible things than the male slaves. When remembering his mother, Douglass explains how mothers and their children are separated before they are even one year of age, something that is mimicked in the cattle industry. This separation must not only have adverse affects on the children who grow up never knowing the comfort their mothers could provide, but on the women who’s children are stolen from them. I feel that there is no familiar bond stronger than a mother and their child, and the fact that they are separated so soon further demonstrates the dehumanization of women slaves in particular.

Douglass also discusses whether or not his father was also his master, something that highlighted the way slave masters utilized rape as a means of power. Not only would raping a slave result in offspring that were slaves from birth, but would instill an even greater fear in the female slaves. The prevalence of sexual violence on plantations is often overlooked when people discuss the atrocities of slavery, and women slaves had to endure the normal violence of whippings and torture as well as rape.

In the first two chapters, most of the violent interactions Douglass recalls are to his aunt. The fact that these are the first acts of violence Douglass recalls demonstrates the impact it may have had on him. When telling the events, Douglass never fails to mention the horrible screams, as well as the large amounts of blood that resulted from the whippings. He writes, “It was the first of a long series of such outrages, of which I was doomed to be a witness and a participant. It struck me with awful force. It was the blood-stained gate, the entrance to the hell of slavery, through which I was about to pass. It was a most terrible spectacle. I wish I could commit to paper the feelings with which I beheld it.” Although Douglass proclaims these events to have struck him with an awful force, he goes on to insinuate the interest his master had in his aunt and the sexual violence she endured. Douglass chooses not to explicitly state what his master did to his aunt, and i can’t help but feel that even back then, the prevalence of rape as a way of controlling and deeply wounding the souls of women was not mentioned. He speaks with great pain regarding the whippings his aunt and other slaves received, yet is never direct when discussing the pain of the sexual violence.