Preview of Ben Summary:

"Ben" is one of Lester's most complicated and challenging stories. It is narrated in the first person by a white Chicago lawyer who, through his father's legal practice, has dealings with Southern slave owners. The narrator, as a young man, abhors slavery and envisions himself doing gallant deeds to free slaves, but he soon discovers his hypocrisy and weakness; he does nothing to help slaves during his travels through slave states. The story...