The Known World explores the little-known world of black slaveowners and the effects of slavery on both them and their slaves. While Augustus believes that purchasing his freedom and that of his wife and child will free him from the pernicious effects of slavery, he cannot see the invisible chains that still bind his son. While Henry no longer works as a slave, he cannot resist the allure of becoming a slave master, and with the encouragement of the powerful William Robbins, who has served as a father figure for longer than his own father, he is able to carve out success for himself off the backs of slaves. 

After Henry’s death, Moses crafts heroic stories for Caldonia that portray Henry as a benevolent slave master, and telling these stories allows Moses to gain intimacy with Caldonia. But the tales are clearly fictional. Henry, though he did say he wanted to be a different kind of master, retained absolute power over his slaves. When Henry hires Oden Peoples to cut off a part of Elias’s ear as punishment for running away, Henry acts no differently from William Robbins. When Henry’s father beats him with a walking stick, telling him that is how a slave feels, Henry grabs the stick and breaks it over his knee, claiming that is how a master feels.