DependenceThese are quotes from the Books I have found to be of interest on the topic of Dependence. Perhaps you will find them of interest too. I make no pronouncements on these matters, but report them as I find them. Arrive at your own conclusions. I wish you well, Fogaban One does not inform slaves of the plans of masters. Slaves are deliberately kept uninformed, and ignorant. It increases their dependence, their helplessness. They do not know what is to be done with them. They do not know whence they may be herded, or what they may be forced to do. Leave them alone, it is said, with their ignorance and their fears. It is enough for the master to know what is to be done with them. Crusts of bread did I throw to the boards before her. It was slave bread, rough and coarse-grained. The beauty ate it eagerly. She had not known if she was to be fed that day. Sometimes the slave is not fed. This might occur for aesthetic reasons, as, for example, if her measurements, which are generally carefully kept, should minutely depart from her master's conception of her ideal curvatures; sometimes merely to remind her of on whom she depends, totally, for her very life; sometimes as a training or disciplinary measure; sometimes merely to startle or puzzle her; what has she done; she is not told; has she not been sufficiently pleasing; she is not told; the girl, frightened, anxious, redoubles her efforts to please in all the thousand spheres of her slavery, intellectual, physical and imaginative; no master, it is said, who has not denied his girl food knows her; pleasant indeed are the surprises which such a fellow, who thought thitherto he knew his girl, upon the completion of the simple experiment, receives; the girl's wits are sharpened; she becomes resourceful, helpless, desperate, attentive, inventive; "Feed me, Master," she begs, "Feed me!"; at the conclusion of such an experiment, when she is fed, it is always, kneeling naked, from his hand. The lesson is not soon forgotten. Few things so impress the dominance of a male on a woman, and her dependence on him, as his control of her food. This dominance, provided it is absolute, thrills a woman to the core. Food control, for the man, also has unexpected rewards. Few things so impress a man's dominance on her, or her dependence upon him, than the control of her food. So simple a thing thrills her to the core. It makes her eager to please him as a slave girl. "And so," I said, "it is not uncommon that after such a touch, the caress of the master's steel, that the slave, cognizant then of her utter helplessness and the master's power, and her complete dependence upon his mercies, that she is totally and absolutely under his domination, yields to him quickly and lusciously." "And the cloth you wear, aside from questions of its quality, is suitable," she said. "It is such that it may be easily pulled aside." Tears streamed down the face of the yoked slave. I had had Ephialtes deliver her stripped, of course. And, customarily, when a girl is delivered, the cartier usually retains the delivery garments, if any. After all, he is delivering the slave, not a wardrobe. In this fashion, too, the slave's complete dependence on her new master, even for such things as clothing, is made clear from the very beginning. "Free women," she laughed, "are not likely to whimper and lick ankles." "They do so quickly enough after they have become slaves," I said, "and have experienced slave arousal, and realize their need and helplessness, and their dependence on the master." "It can be taken from you," said Portus. "Yes, Master," said Ellen. "I understand, Master." This was a reference to the discipline of clothing, a reminder of her dependence in all things. Female slaves may or may not be clothed, of course, as the master pleases. This increases their sense of vulnerability, and dependence. It interested me that the former Miss Wentworth, in this milieu, if in no other, suddenly understood the dependence of women upon men. Men might, if they wished, do with women as they wished. "Masters often feed slaves," I said. "It is one of the pleasures of the mastery, and helps the slaves, as other animals, to be clearly aware of their dependence on the master, even for their food." "It seems inappropriate to blindfold free women," I said. Slaves, on the other hand, were often blindfolded, hooded, gagged, bound, chained, and such, for they are slaves. Such things make clear to the slave her helplessness, her vulnerability, her unimportance and meaninglessness, her utter dependence on the free. Let her know she is nothing, let her know she is owned. In its way the pole is a rather severe reminder of one aspect of a pervasive understanding in Gorean culture - slave dependence. For example, consider merely three aspects of slave dependence. One, the slave may not speak without the permission of the master, and though many slaves have a standing permission to speak, that permission may be revoked at any time. Two, the slave has no control over her own clothing. If she is clothed, at all, it will be when the master permits, and as the master directs. Three, the slave has no control over her own food. Although she commonly prepares and serves the food, she must wait until the master permits her to eat. The first bite, of course, the first sip, and such, will be taken by the master. Needless to say, it behooves the slave to prepare ample, nourishing, and tasty meals. Commonly the slave participates in, and enjoys, the same meal as the master, he sitting and she kneeling. Occasionally she must be content with porridge or slave gruel, and water, these taken from bowls placed on the floor, to which she must address herself on all fours without the use of her hands. |
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