The Bondwoman’s Narrative Themes

One of the stated goals of The Bondwoman’s Narrative is to reveal to its readers the physical, emotional, and spiritual cruelties of slavery. Its evidence includes the corrupt acts of men like Mr. Cropp and Mr. Trappe, who take delight in breaking up families; the cruel and gruesome punishments imposed by Sir Clifford; the squalid and spiritual unenlightened state in which enslavers like Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler permit their field hands to live…

As Hannah describes her journey to freedom, she emphasizes the ways in which she lives up to her own ideal of female virtue. Hannah’s strong opinions about virtue are rooted in her Christian faith and her American values. As she describes it, female virtue carries overtones of religiosity, obedience, domesticity and order, autonomy, and sexual purity. Aunt Hetty’s faith comforts her during periods of impoverishment and imprisonment. Good women, like Mrs. Henry and the…

Although she is born into enslavement and is considered Black by the standards of her day, the protagonist of The Bondwoman’s Narrative, Hannah, is so light-skinned that she can—and occasional does—pass as White. The novel depicts an array of Black and mixed-race characters who range from fair-skinned house servants like Hannah, Charlotte, and Jane to uneducated and unrefined Black field laborers like Bill to White-passing mistresses, wives, and daughters who are nevertheless…

Despite likely being based on the real-life experiences of its author, and despite its generally realistic tone, The Bondwoman’s Narrative employs the generic conventions of gothic horror to great effect. The dark history of Lindenhurst’s creaking linden tree; the curse laid on the house and the family by a wrongfully killed enslaved woman named Rose; the general sense of vulnerability and pursuit the mistress and Hannah suffer because of Mr. Trappe’s investigations; the…