Previous
Chapter 5: Lost, Lost, Lost
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Bondwoman’s Narrative, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Cruelties of Slavery
The Virtuous Woman’s Life
Religion and Hypocrisy
Race as a Social Construct
Enslavement as Gothic Horror
Summary
Analysis
Horace and his friends convey Hannah and the mistress to the jail in their town, where they turn the women over to the ruddy-complexioned jailer. Although both Horace and Hannah remind the jailer that the women are only there for safekeeping until the hunters can notify their owners, the jailer treats them like common criminals. He places them in a dark, dirty, and rat-infested cell and brings them barely edible food. Hannah eventually falls into a fitful sleep, from which she awakes in horror when a rat starts biting her face. Just as she feels she can’t take it any longer, however, she remembers God and the promises the scripture makes to the faithful. Comforted by her faith and ashamed to have forgotten God’s grace, she weeps, then falls into a deep and restful sleep.
Hannah and her captors try to make a distinction between the women being held against their will as enslaved persons and being incarcerated as punishment for a crime. But while there may be a difference in guilt and blame, the end result is the same—the bars on the windows and locks on the doors visibly and pointedly remind Hannah and the mistress that they are not in control of their own lives. The terrible conditions underline the violence and horror of the fundamental atrocity of enslaving human beings and exploiting them for profit. Still, in the depths of her distress, Hannah remembers to turn herself toward God for help.
Active
Themes
In the morning, Hannah and the mistress successfully petition the jailer for a little more freedom, and he places them in a larger space with another woman, Mrs. Wright. Mrs. Wright talks as if she is a queen and the jail is her palace. Eventually, Hannah learns her sad history and realizes that injustice and cruelty have cost Mrs. Wright her sanity.
The fact that the jailer eventually relents suggests that he sees (to some limited extent) the humanity of Hannah and the mistress—their virtue shines in the darkest circumstances. And lest the reader think that the abuses of a society that upholds slavery apply only to Black people, Hannah offers the story of Mrs. Wright.
Active
Themes
Mrs. Wright explains that that she was once a wealthy and respected woman who loved all humanity, especially children and the downtrodden. She developed an especially close relationship with an enslaved girl named Ellen. When Ellen was 15, her enslaver decided to sell her to a trader who was collecting women for sex work in New Orleans. Ellen fled to Mrs. Wright for help. Mrs. Wright disguised Ellen as a boy and tried to help her escape, but Ellen’s enslaver discovered her missing. The authorities quickly apprehended her and Mrs. Wright. They returned Ellen to her enslaver, then tried and convicted Mrs. Wright of kidnapping an enslaved person. While she was in jail, her husband and children died in an outbreak of illness, and her property passed into other people’s hands. She has nothing and no one left.
Active
Themes
Mrs. Wright tells Hannah that she used to hate slavery on principle, but that experience has taught her it’s safer to keep her opinions to herself. In a country that loves slavery, she says, a person must learn to endorse what they hate, harden their compassionate heart, and to call evil good.
Get the entire The Bondwoman’s Narrative LitChart as a printable PDF.
"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
