Mary Prince

    This first hand narrative account gave us a better idea of what life as a slave was like according to an actual slave who was going through it. It was not a retelling by someone who watched it or a story of voyagers who were enslaving people, but actually a journal of sorts from someone who was enslaved. With this, more so than other literature, documentaries, or podcasts we have looked at, those who were slaves got some representation and a chance to tell their story. This account allows us to see the harshness of what was going on and exposed the way slave owners were treating their people. In one of the first line, she mentions, "My master, however, was a very harsh, selfish man; and we always dreaded his return from sea." Before she says anything else about him, what he had her doing, or anything else, she mentions the harshness and awfulness of this man. This, of course, was her first master, as she bounced around from place to place being sold, and each time being treated harshly in a different type of way. She goes on to tell more about her experiences, saying, "Mr. D—— has often stripped me naked, hung me up by the wrists, and beat me with the cow-skin, with his own hand, till my body was raw with gashes. Yet there was nothing very remarkable in this; for it might serve as a sample of the common usage of the slaves on that horrible island." While she had to be courageous to tell this, it is also worth noting that she included that this was not only happening to her. She wanted the people reading her accounts to understand that other slaves were being treated in the same, harsh manner. This furthers the idea of slaves finally getting representation and their side of the story told.

    Another issue Mary Prince has to deal with is the concept of double consciousness and a sense of homelessness as she is bounced around between families. She is split up from her family and at one point tries to escape and goes to see her mother. This shows she has a lost a sense of home as she is forced and sold between people. Her mother has to watch as her and her sisters are sold to separate families, further tearing the idea of family and 'home' apart. We see this come full circle when we hear that she wants to return to Antigua, despite what she has been through on that land. It seems because this is where she met her husband, spent so much time and had connections, it is her only sense of 'home' and the place she feels comfortable, even though the life she lived there was physically uncomfortable.

-cs

Comments

  1. Lauren RobinsonSeptember 2, 2020 at 2:21 PM

    Smart to include the issue of double consciousness, your concepts are well thought out. Do you agree with how this was told with the idea of representation.

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  2. Collin LebzelterOctober 3, 2020 at 11:00 AM

    What stands out to me is how slave representation ties into the effects of post-colonialism. It's much easier to deny the effects of the slave trade and imperialism on the Caribbean than to reconcile them and see that the current poverty in the region is not by chance but by design. If people like Mary Prince didn't speak out and tell their story then their would be no awareness of the struggles ensued, which is much more preferable for the current first world nations that caused these problems in the Caribbean. Individuals like Mary Prince stood for much more than slavery, she stood as a chance for some accountability to be taken on the part of former imperialist regimes.

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  3. Stephen GrayOctober 3, 2020 at 1:04 PM

    I believe it is very important that the story was told from the perspective of Mary Prince. Like you said there was no retelling of the story, or a story about how someone watched what happened. It is a firsthand account of what it was really like. The first-person account gave the readers a new perspective of the cruelty that took place. I agree that it exposed the slave owner and the slave traders by her first-hand accounts.

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