The Problems of the Unconscious: Humanity in Algiers

In the opening to Humanity in Algiers, the narrator writes, “Unconscious of our own crimes, or unwilling the world should know them, we frequently condemn in others the very practices we applaud in ourselves” (3).  This seems to be the main theme throughout the text.  Sequida and Selictor struggle against freeing Azem since they desire to profit by selling him, yet they themselves when they were younger needed help from a friend to release Selictor from prison.  Selictor fails to recognize the similarity between him and Azem, refusing to free Azem by selling him to their neighbor Testador.  What I found interesting was how Selictor’s death is contrasted with Azem’s death.  Both attain the executors of their wills from Omri’s family: Selictor from Omri himself and Azem from Omri’s son Arramel.  However, Selictor insists on accumulating his wealth as much as possible before he dies to then give to his biological family even at the literal cost of another person’s freedom.  Azem, on the other hand, helps other slaves and even argues against turning enemies into slaves.  Although Azem’s family dies so he could not leave an inheritance to them, his immediate thought is to help others who had been in his position.  The author seems to be suggesting that Azem demonstrates true humanity.  He is conscious of the immorality of enslaving people no matter their race or gender.  The problem with many of the characters in the novel—Selictor, Sequida, Selin (Sequida’s brother), and Valachus to name a few—is that they are those who are “unconscious” of their own crimes and faults.  The author seems to also suggest that true humanity lies in not only being conscious but also realizing those tendencies and to take action to stop hypocrisy and to help others. 

I felt as though a lot of the novel was predictable (Alzina revealed as Azem’s sister, the old slave as his mother, etc), but I appreciated the theme of “humanity” and “unconsciousness.”  I also liked the American narrator who is revealing this story as way of paying homage to Azem for restoring his freedom.  I realize that most of the secondary readings we had were more concerned with capitalism and cosmopolitism, and I think I can see a correlation between them and Humanity in Algiers, especially if you look at the slaves as commodities and how there is a continual circle of the victors of combat enslaving the losers and then the losers overcoming the victors and so on and so forth.  However, I felt like focusing more on a closer reading of Humanity in Algiers, especially since it is part of the “Just Teach One” project (which I find particularly interesting by the way).