Quotation Analysis
The employers of the indentured servants in South Africa had complete control over their "servants" after the contract was signed. If the servants were to over step any boundaries, they would be punished with, "Imprisonment, with or without hard labor, in default of the payment of a fine, 'for negligence, insolence, drunkenness, desertion, insubordination, or other misconduct, on complaint of the master'" (Bourne 45) Bourne saying "on complaint of the master" has implications that the masters could simply say that their servants had done something they perceived as insubordination or misconduct and make them do hard labor. The natives in South Africa had very little platforms to fight back against wrongdoings done toward their people, so fighting against false accusations was near impossible at the time.