Mr. Garner's Weird Attitude

On page 172, there is a strange conversation (if it can even be called that) between Baby Suggs and Mr. Garner. The Bodwin sister has just told Baby Suggs that she and her brother don't agree with any kind of slavery, Mr. Garner's kind included. What exactly is Mr. Garner's kind of slavery? I suppose it's that he didn't beat Baby Suggs, fed her, kept her warm, and he allowed Halle to buy her freedom. Essentially, his kind of slavery is allowing his slaves a few basic human rights (food, not being beaten, etc), but still owning them and forcing them to work for no pay (Halle was allowed to buy his mother's freedom, but he paid for it by being rented out to other plantations and doing more forced labor). When the Bodwin sister says she doesn't stand for Mr. Garner's kind of slavery, he immediately tries to defend himself by interrogating Baby Suggs. He asks her questions in a way that will only frame him as a "good guy," a slave owner who doesn't mistreat his slaves. Yet, as a slave owner, he is in essence still a bad person doing the wrong things, no matter how high he thinks of himself for feeding and giving shelter (basic human rights!) to Baby Suggs. Mr. Garner seems to take a great amount of pride in being a "good" slave owner. He seems to get some kind of creepy power trip from telling his slaves how well he treats them. And while there is something to be said about how he does treat them better than most other slave owners, it doesn't change the fact that he still believes that owning other people is morally acceptable. Also, his use of emotionally manipulative tactics, like framing himself as better than Baby Suggs' previous owners, is unsettling and, if his being a slave owner didn't already tip you off, marks him as a very untrustworthy character.

In short, Mr. Garner would like us to think of him as a good person, when in reality he's creepy and should not be trusted.