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Mrs. Cosgrove
Mrs. Wright is a White woman whom Hannah and the mistress meet in jail. Once a wealthy woman, Mrs. Wright was nevertheless a kindhearted and generous woman who treated everyone with kindness. She grew particularly attached to a girl named Ellen, who was enslaved by another person. When Ellen’s enslaver decided to sell her into sexual slavery in New Orleans, Mrs. Wright tried to help Ellen escape. When they were caught, Mrs. Wright was jailed indefinitely. During her incarceration, her family died of an infectious disease outbreak and her friends abandoned her. Her story, like that of Aunt Hetty, offers a cautionary tale to kindhearted and abolitionist White people about the dangers of defying slavery in the American south, underlining the way that enslavement deprives not just Black but also White people of their freedoms and dignity.
Mrs. Wright Quotes in The Bondwoman’s Narrative
The The Bondwoman’s Narrative quotes below are all either spoken by Mrs. Wright or refer to Mrs. Wright. 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:
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Chapter 6: New Places Quotes
“I used to hate slavery” she continued “born in a slave state, educated in a slave state, with slavery all the time before my eyes I could see no beauties in the system. Yet they said I was beautiful, and many thought me a fool for not seeing it so […”]
"Have you ever seen it so?” I inquired.
[…]
[“]Oh you must not ask me such questions, indeed you must not. It might involve us in a great deal of trouble. I have learned what all who live in a land of slaver[y] must learn sooner or later; that is to profess approbation where you cannot feel it; to be hard when most inclined to melt; and to say that all is right, and good; and true when you know that nothing could be more wrong and unjust.[”]
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Chapter 13: A Turn of the Wheel Quotes
Mrs Wheeler’s notoriety extended to her husband, and even me. His affairs were sagely discussed in financial circles. Spectators talked of stocks, and bonds and martgages Even the price of his last year’s cotton crop, the value of this estate in North Carolina, and the number of his slaves was retailed by bar-tenders and post-boys with great satisfaction. Some went so far as to think that political capital might be made of it, and even the nomination of the next President influenced thereby.
Finding themselves the subjects of such unwelcome notoriety they concluded to forsake the capital and remove to their estate. The splendid mansion they occupied having been taken only temporarily could be abandoned at any time. Suddenly and without any previous intimation a certain circle was astounded with the intelligence that the Wheeler’s had gone.
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Mrs. Wright Character Timeline in The Bondwoman’s Narrative
The timeline below shows where the character Mrs. Wright appears in The Bondwoman’s Narrative. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 6: New Places
...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...
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Mrs. Wright explains that that she was once a wealthy and respected woman who loved all humanity,...
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Mrs. Wright tells Hannah that she used to hate slavery on principle, but that experience has taught...
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Chapter 7: Mr. Trappe
...good food to eat—although they are not, under any circumstances, allowed to share anything with Mrs. Wright . Finally, one day, the jailer releases the pair from their cell and takes them...
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