‘Military Operation’
Dusinberre remarks, “Running a rice plantation sometimes did indeed resemble the conduct of a deathly military operation. At other moments- as when floodwaters poured down the Savannah River from Augusta, Georgia-the resemblance was nautical:…Perennially the resemblance was industrial, for a large workforce was driven or cajoled each day into labors that did not come spontaneously.”
The slaves endure 'a military operation' due to the oppressive and tiresome assignments they must complete before rice is harvested. They must deal with the unfavorable floodwaters and the ruthlessness of their masters. The pain and pressure they endure is deathly and oppressive.
Talisman
Sidney Fisher (‘a gentleman farmer’) contemplates, “Money-money-what a magic is in the word. It is the talisman…which more than all gives man to himself, gives him leisure & independence, the means of cultivating his mind, of improving his nature…I have just enough to make me fee; the advantages of wealth and the evils of poverty.”
Fisher employs the metaphorical talisman to underscore the mystic nature of money. The white capitalists confirm that money is magic based on their aggressive capitalism. Their key goal is to increase the amount of money they derive from capitalist ventures. The capitalists do not relent in the accumulation of more money.
Bedevil
Dusinberre expounds, “Here he (Nathaniel) profited from being the son of a wealthy man…Three problems had to be solved. The planters must learn how to build embankments strong enough to avoid the disastrous breaks which at first bedevilled their enterprise - and here the experience of the Dutch dike builders was of critical importance.” The metaphoric bedevilment suggests that the breaks perennially imperil rice farming. As a result of the breaks, rice production is hampered resulting in the diminishing of profits.
“Prime Hands”
Dusinberre writes, “he (Charles Manigault) supplemented Gowrie’s original set of slaves with others imported from silk hope or purchased at auctions - the newcomers were nearly all young “ prime hands” who would not have been much over fifty by 1855…Gowrie was inhospitable to the elderly as well as to the very young.” The metaphorical ‘prime hands’ indicates that the imported slaves are strong; hence, they would be handy in the provision of labor in the rice plantations. Young and elderly slaves are not favored because they would lack the energy that is required in the burdensome rice farming.
Property
Dusinberre “Then in 1860 a new killer struck, seven children died that year (all born since 1855); most of them died suddenly at the pineland…Louis Manigault at first confidently attributed these deaths to poisoning by the slave Old Betsey…In the unlikely event that Betsey ever thought of striking at Charles Manigault by killing some of his “property,” her main reason for anger had been removed before the children’s deaths.”
The death children are equated to Manigault’s property because they are born of slave parents. They are automatically deemed to work for him as his slaves. Being equated to property conveys the white slave owners’ perception of black slaves. The slaves are considered to be commodities whose value is lower than that of whites. Moreover, being ranked as property means that Manigault would sell children to other slave owners.
