Pure Confidence
Susan Nevin
Last night I attended the play, “Pure Confidence.” This play was about a black jockey who raced right before and during the start of the Civil War. This man, Simon Cato, and his owner’s horse, “Pure Confidence,” were known as some of the best racers in all of America. Simon Cato asked to be free, and his owner agreed if he made enough he could buy his freedom, along with his wife Caroline. Tragically, Cato got in a riding accident with two white jockeys, and his legs were badly broken. He could never ride the same again. However, once the war hit, Cato went to go fight for the union, and ended up working as a bellhop in the Saratoga hotel. Even though he was a free man, he was treated like trash at his job. But, his former owner found him, and begged him to come “home” and be his horse trainer. Simon said he would consider, and claimed that freedom isn’t really about being free, but it is about having the power to choose which path you want to take.
This play was quite sad, as it showed that Simon Cato’s owners’ truly loved him, but didn’t have the confidence to stand up for what they believed in, as they did see Caroline and Simon as people. Additionally, this production showed that while Simon escaped during war and was eventually free, he was never treated as an equal. This part was heartbreaking, because all he wanted was to be seen as a man, but no one gave him the decency of that but his former owner, who didn’t have the balls to stand up to slavery and treat him as a friend.
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