Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Never Caught, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Slavery and Paternalism
Narrative and Historical Erasure
The Creation of America
Freedom and Agency
Summary
Analysis
Historian Erica Armstrong Dunbar describes a remarkable event which took place in June of 1773 in Virginia: surprisingly, it snowed. Colonel George Washington recorded the odd weather event in his diary with a bemused tone—but Dunbar suggests that for the slaves who lived and worked on George and his wife Martha Washington’s Mount Vernon, Virginia estate, the snow must have appeared as a terrible omen.
Dunbar sets the scene for the beginning of the book by showing how her blend of fact and imagination will function as the narrative progresses. Dunbar describes a historical episode that occurred and then takes the facts a step further by imagining what it must have been like to truly live through that episode, including the perspectives of those who weren’t typically given a voice.
Themes
Eight days later, on June 19th, 1773, Martha Washington’s daughter from her first marriage, Martha “Patsy” Parke Custis, succumbs to what is most likely a seizure and dies. Martha has already lost two children years ago—now, Patsy’s death renders the already-fragile Martha even more emotionally frayed. The Mount Vernon house slaves, Dunbar writes, no doubt notice Martha’s deterioration and begin treading carefully around their mistress.
Dunbar paints a picture of an uncertain, painful moment in the Washingtons’ family history and shows how the Washingtons’ familial strife no doubt affected the enslaved Black men and women who toiled on their behalf. By reimagining the narratives and emotions of those who have been erased from history, Dunbar strives to create a fuller portrait about what life was like—not just for the social elite but for those who lived in their shadows.
Themes
Just days after Patsy’s death, one of Martha Washington’s “dower slaves,” owned by her first husband, delivers a baby girl. The mother of the child, an expert seamstress and spinner named Betty, is among Martha Washington’s “favorite” slaves (or bondwomen), having served Martha for over 20 years. Betty followed Martha to Mount Vernon after Martha’s marriage to George Washington—a mutually advantageous arrangement for both George and Martha—and joined the hundreds of other slaves who worked the huge Mount Vernon estate.
Throughout the book, Dunbar will continually point to these moments of coincidence, mirroring, or reversal between the parallel existences of the Washingtons and the people they enslaved. In a moment of great turmoil for the Washington family, Betty enjoys the bittersweet arrival of her daughter.
Themes
Given the fact that families were often split apart in such transitional times—and that for enslaved Black women in particular, a new master meant added threats of rape and assault—Betty was likely nervous to come to Mount Vernon. She was, however, allowed to bring her first child, Austin, with her. Within a few years of arriving at the plantation, Betty gave birth to two more children—their father was likely a white weaver named Thomas Davis. Betty, as a “valued” and “favored” slave, worked inside the main house as a seamstress.
By providing background about Betty’s life, Dunbar returns to her the agency and humanity she was denied in her lifetime. Dunbar is not only telling Ona’s story—she is telling the stories of the many women who toiled in obscurity under the cruel and inhumane institution of slavery.
Themes
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Now, in 1773, Betty gives birth to another child, Ona Maria Judge, whose father, Andrew Judge, is an English-born white man and indentured servant who works as a tailor at Mount Vernon. Dunbar suggests that while love and romance may have brought Betty and Judge together, it is just as likely that Ona was the product of either a single rape or extended, repeated nonconsensual sexual encounters. By 1780, Dunbar writes, Judge will leave Mount Vernon—and Betty and Ona—behind, seeking his fortune on a tract of land elsewhere in Virginia.
Because the narratives of Black women—especially enslaved Black women—have been frequently erased from the historical record (and because enslaved Black women were hardly ever taught to read or write), there are no definitive records of Betty’s experiences. Dunbar, then, is forced to blend cultural knowledge of relations between Black women and white men at the time with the few records that do exist. With this in mind, the hypothesis that Ona was likely conceived through rape implies that it was common at this time for white people to sexually abuse Black slaves.
Themes
During the early days of Ona’s childhood, she lives with her siblings and their mother in a structure known as the Quarters, or House for Families. Ona learns to fend for herself during the long days alone while Betty works in the main Mansion House as a seamstress and spinner. Though many slave families are split up, either when individuals are sold or moved to another property, Ona remains with her mother at Mount Vernon. From Betty, Dunbar writes, Ona will learn how to persevere; from her absent father, Ona will learn that “the decision to free oneself trump[s] everything.”
In this passage, Dunbar shows how Ona’s experiences and choices will be shaped by the behaviors she witnesses in her formative years. She learns from her mother that to fight for survival in the midst of unimaginable circumstances is a worthy pursuit—but she also learns from her absent father’s example that sometimes, one’s personal liberty must come before all else.
Themes
