A Mercy

by

Toni Morrison

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on A Mercy makes teaching easy.

Florens’s Mother Character Analysis

Florens’s mother, who is unnamed throughout the book, is a slave on D’Ortega’s Maryland plantation. She was born in Africa and then taken to Barbados as a slave to work on the sugar cane plantations. Florens’s mother was later bought by D’Ortega and shipped up to Maryland. D’Ortega ordered Florens’s mother to be gang raped when she arrived on the plantation, and he later sexually abused her himself. Florens’s mother has two children, Florens and her brother, as a result of these rapes. When Jacob comes to the farm, Florens’s mother, not wanting her daughter to suffer the same fate that she did, begs him to take her. Jacob does, and Florens’s mother hopes that her daughter understands her sacrifice.

Florens’s Mother Quotes in A Mercy

The A Mercy quotes below are all either spoken by Florens’s Mother or refer to Florens’s Mother. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Human Bondage, Wealth, and Humanity Theme Icon
).
Chapter 11 Quotes

I will keep one sadness. That all this time I cannot know what my mother is telling me. Nor can she know what I am wanting to tell her. Mãe, you can have pleasure now because the soles of my feet are hard as cypress.

Related Characters: Florens (speaker), Florens’s Mother
Related Symbols: Florens’s Shoes
Page Number: 189
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 12 Quotes

To be female in this place is to be an open wound that cannot heal. Even if scars form, the festering is ever below.

Related Characters: Florens’s Mother (speaker), Florens, D’Ortega
Page Number: 191
Explanation and Analysis:

It was not a miracle. Bestowed by God. It was a mercy. Offered by a human. I stayed on my knees. In the dust where my heart will remain each night and every day until you understand what I know and long to tell you: to be given dominion over another is a hard thing; to wrest dominion over another is a wrong thing; to give dominion of yourself to another is a wicked thing.

Related Characters: Florens’s Mother (speaker), Florens, Jacob Vaark
Page Number: 195-196
Explanation and Analysis:
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A Mercy PDF

Florens’s Mother Quotes in A Mercy

The A Mercy quotes below are all either spoken by Florens’s Mother or refer to Florens’s Mother. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Human Bondage, Wealth, and Humanity Theme Icon
).
Chapter 11 Quotes

I will keep one sadness. That all this time I cannot know what my mother is telling me. Nor can she know what I am wanting to tell her. Mãe, you can have pleasure now because the soles of my feet are hard as cypress.

Related Characters: Florens (speaker), Florens’s Mother
Related Symbols: Florens’s Shoes
Page Number: 189
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 12 Quotes

To be female in this place is to be an open wound that cannot heal. Even if scars form, the festering is ever below.

Related Characters: Florens’s Mother (speaker), Florens, D’Ortega
Page Number: 191
Explanation and Analysis:

It was not a miracle. Bestowed by God. It was a mercy. Offered by a human. I stayed on my knees. In the dust where my heart will remain each night and every day until you understand what I know and long to tell you: to be given dominion over another is a hard thing; to wrest dominion over another is a wrong thing; to give dominion of yourself to another is a wicked thing.

Related Characters: Florens’s Mother (speaker), Florens, Jacob Vaark
Page Number: 195-196
Explanation and Analysis: