When talking about a slavery, what does a bent neck mean?

Question

I recently came upon an ancient quote that says :"The worst evil that can befall a people, and after which no good can come, is that their necks are bent"

Anyone have any ideas? 10 points to the best answer and/or who provides sources.

Answer 1

When you are subservient you do not look at your master, you look at the ground with a bent neck.

Answer 2

Here you are: citations and examples.

"bent neck under the yoke, (of slavery)

The Anti-slavery Reporter and Aborigines' Friend -
by British and Foreign Anti-slavery Society @1856
Standing on the bent neck of an enslaved race

A Political History of Slavery: Being an Account of the Slavery Controversy from the Earliest... -by William Henry Smith, Whitelaw Reid - 1903
She has bent the tyrant's rod, she has broken the yoke of slavery, she stands to-day redeemed.

A Southside View of Slavery: Or, Three Months at the South, in 1854 by Nehemiah Adams - 1855 - 222 pages
I could not have dreamed that these people had been "down trodden," " their very manhood crushed out of them," " the galling yoke of slavery breaking every human feeling"

**

The Writings of George Washington: Being His Correspondence, Addresses, Messages, and Other...
by George Washington - 1847
Besides, should Britain, from her love of tyranny and lawless domination, attempt again to bend our necks to the yoke of slavery,
**

The Journal of Southern History -
by Wendell Holmes Stephenson - 1935
The political enfranchisement of four million Negroes, from whose necks the yoke of slavery had just been lifted,

Arabia and the Arabs: from the Bronze Age to the coming of Islam - by Robert G. Hoyland - 2001 -
As they put it themselves: ‘The worst evil that can befall a people, and after which no good can come, is that their necks are bent. ...

Answer 3

Bent Neck is a Submissive Posture

In the context of the quote your read,,
it implies submission of a lower social class/caste to the will of an Upper Social Class.

No Progress in one's own aspirations can be made when submissive to the dominant will of others

Head Down/Praying is an example of Reverent Submission

To say such as "Bent Neck under the yoke of Bondage",,for example , is a refference to submission under slavery

Refferences to Shame,,are submission to guilt & conscience

Neck Bent Warriors,,have submitted to Defeat

Usually,it is used in some refference to Slavery.

But realize that Some Slaves were quite Defiant,,,Others were Submissive.

So while it's generally understood as a euphamism of Slavery,,
It is more correctly understood as SUBMISSION to the condition of slavery

Even in animals,,"Bent Neck",,,head -down is a submissive gesture (Usually)

Neck Bent/bent neck however it's phrased,,,and in whatever matter it's in reffernce to,,,most closely implies Submission.

And usually to some extreme degree,,such as Submission out of Hopelessness,,Futility,,Defeat,Despair

Common OPPOSITE would be,,"Hold your Head High",,Pride,Perserverance,,etc,etc.

Answer 4

A bent neck is a characteristic of those who are unteachable. They refuse to look in the direction of what is right, they look away as with bent necks.

The worst thing that can happen to a group, society, or individual is that they become unteachable. It leads to their destruction.

Answer 5

when you bend your neck you stop looking up. you see only what lies below you. you stop learning, questioning and finally thinking. when that happens you have accepted servility and loose self respect and give yourself in the service of your master. such a person will never think about selfdevelopment. such people are beyond help because they do not seek help.