Relationship of enslaved person to the master's family

On page 28, Margot muses that Fortuna would die before she abandoned her granddaughters. "Weren't she and her girls treated just like family?"
Do you think an enslaved person can really feel like part of the owner's family?
Does Margot really believe this? Or does she have to convince herself of this in order to survive?

I don't think slaves felt like part of the owner's family; they lived in separate dwellings, ate separately, and slaves didn't even have control over their own bodies. I think many owners probably told themselves that they treated their slaves like family as a means to convince themselves that slavery was acceptable.

No. Slaves were never family. Even slaves who were forced to bear the slaveowners children saw those children abused and sold or were themselves further abused and sold. That statement seems to be commonly used to ease a slave holders mind while justifying the holding of slaves. I believe it is said in an attempt to minimize the "sinful" nature of slavery and offer a clear conscience to the slave owner. No, I don't think Margot believes this either. I don't think she is convinced of it, however, I do think it is a means of providing some comfort from a constant state of worry in a situation she can do little to free herself from. I don't think she convinced herself of this because doing so would undermine her survival and leave her unprepared for any action she needed to take to protect her from further abuse or being sold into an unknown situation.

I think that some slaves were treated much better than others and realizing this they may have felt somewhat above the others. Did this make them part of the family? No, it did not but probably it offered them some comfort and security which are two things that a true family does offers.

Slaves were never part of the family. They were treated better than the field hands but the females still had to watch out for Master.

I believe some families treated their slaves well but not as members of the family.

i believe it depended on the Masters actions. Being a slave you knew that you were a social level removed from the Masters family, but with a good Master you would feel safety and inclusion. With a bad Master you would not feel safety and would forever worry about retribution. But with either the realization was there that you were not a part of the family and would never be.