The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim's Point

Analysis

* Published in The Liberty Bell, an abolitionist gift book

* A voice for the poor and oppressed

* Parallel between black slaves and Victorian women

* Racial and gender discrimination; Darwinian 'biological racism'

* Critique on violation of women's rights and Britain's Colonialization


~ Anonymous persona who happens to be a black slave
"I am black, I am black!"

~ No name = no power = no identity = strong emphasis on the absence of status of the blacks

~ Her love affair with a black man
"We were two to love, and two to pray"

~ Emphasis on faith in God
"Yes, two, O God, who cried to Thee"

~ Are not denied the natural course of falling in love
"Could a slave look so at another slave?"

~ Raped by her white master
"a child and mother Do wrong to look at one another, When one is black and one is fair"

~ Lack of power, shame, pain, loss, degradation
"I wore a child upon my breast, An amulet that hung too slack" (dead weight)

~ Murdering her baby = act of liberation
"A dark child in the dark, ensued Some comfort, and my heart grew young"

~ In spite of the physical and emotional abuse, she forgives them of their sins
"White men, I leave you all curse-free, In my broken heart's disdain!"

~ Irony: black persona is more powerful than white men as she forgives them.