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William Wells Brown - Clotel; or, The President’s Daughter, The strategy…
William Wells Brown - Clotel; or, The President’s Daughter
Biography
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He was the son of a slave woman and a white man, probably a relative of his owner
Brown had several masters in the years, which, according to him, gave him "opportunities far greater than most slaves, of acquiring different phases of the 'peculiar institution'"
He managed to escape slavery in 1834 with the aid of a Quaker couple, Family Brown, whose name he adopted
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Brown published an autobiographical slave narrative in 1847, entitled Narrative of William W. Brown, a Fugitive Slave
General facts
Clotel was first published in London in 1853, where Brown was living at the time because the passage of The Fugitive Slave Bill of 1850 made it dangerous for him to be in the United States. In 1854, he returned to the U.S. after friends had purchased his freedom from his last owner
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He includes material from his previous writings as well as historical references but constructed his story
Rumors that the author of the Declaration of Independence and third president of the U.S., Thomas Jefferson, had fathered children with his slave Sally Hemings were already circulating in the early 1800s. In the 1990s, DNA research provided scientific evidence for the claim.
The novel exposes the evils and inhumanity of slaver in order to raise support for the anti-slavery cause
Brown relies on a reading audience that shares their values and will therefore be moved to object to the practices described —> the narrative voice reminds the readers of the value of marriage and family
Plot
In chapter one, Brown primarily targets:
- the ways in which slavery promotes vices
- the treatment of human beings as "goods" or "merchandise"
- the ways that families are torn apart
He raises awareness to the widespread abuse of black women by their white masters and
that the slave children follow the condition of the mother
He points out the system of chattel slavery - slaves as “moveable property” and the
connected lack of moral values —> inhumane social conditions, racial hierarchies
- Chattel slavery as a system which breaks families apart and thereby perverts religious as well as social values
Slavery not only corrupts southern society, but also has a corrupting influence on the North. As long as slavery exists, the moral values of the U.S. will be undermined and at risk.
The chapter’s emotional core is the rendering of a slave auction where Currer and her two
daughters are sold to the highest bidder and separated
In addition to pointing to the corruption that goes to the very core of U.S. society, the fact
that the fictional characters Clotel and her sister Althesa are presented as the daughters of the historical figure, Thomas Jefferson, one of the founding fathers, can be seen as an attempt to dissolve the perceived boundaries between a predominantly white Northern readership and these female slaves.
--> It is a risky strategy, since the most virtuous and beautiful slaves in this novel closely resemble Anglo American women of the time. In doing so, the novel also runs the risk of confirming "white" beauty standards and racial hierarchies.
Style
the narrative voice is instructive: It informs about what is going on in the South, provides evaluations of the situation, and raises rhetorical questions. All of these are strategies of persuasion
The novel appeals to the readers’ feeling by emphasizing the corruption of virtue, by addressing the emotional value of the family and by creating sympathy for the characters suffering under slavery
--> These are strategies that are typical of 18th- and 19th-century sentimental literature
By giving personal face to slavery with the example of Currer and her two daughters, the plot renders the fate if slaves more relatable —> serves as another important means to
appeal to the readers’ feelings
The strategy to do so:
pointing out the contradictions between the slaveholding system and American social norms and ideals --> he does so in 2 major ways:
- the descriptions and statements of a narrative voice that tells readers about the "state of affairs" in the South
- the occurrences related on the level of plot, which serve as illustrations and make the general objections relatable through the fate of the protagonists and minor characters