Question 1: Amanuensis
An amanuensis is an individual that gets employed for the purpose of typing or writing what gets dictated by another person or to copy the content that has been written by another person. It can also get used to define an individual that signs a document on behalf of another person under the authority of the latter. Many narratives about slaves got written using an amanuensis which means that while someone else dictated the content to be written, another person did the actual writing(Brown, 2016). The origin of the word amanuensis is from ancient Rome where it got used to describe an individual that provided personal service to his master and performed any command from his master. Later on, the people began using the word to refer to a person trusted by their master or a personal secretary.
The consequences for the structure of the slave narratives were as follows. Using an amanuensis made it possible for a person who did not know how to write to be able to deliver their message by using someone else to write as they narrated. This had major consequences on the structure of the slave narratives because, in some instances, the amanuensis would not write the words exactly as dictated by the narrator. Some of them would take advantage of the fact that the narrator cannot read and write and manipulate the story to be in the manner in which they want it to be. The authenticity of the stories as told by the narrators would sometimes be compromised because most of the amanuensis’ were white while the narrators were black.
Reference
Brown, C. M. (2016). Slavery and Slave Narratives. The Encyclopedia of Postcolonial Studies, 1-6.