The Bondwoman’s Narrative

By: Karin Strom, Samantha Duenich, Byron Haworth

Krystal Heatherly, Jaymes Jesseph EDITED ENTIRELY BY KATELYN EYFORD

 

THE GENERAL SYNOPSIS ON THE STORY

 ~by Katelyn Eyford

The Bondwoman’s Narrative is the journal of Hannah Crafts, a woman born into slavery. It was retrieved and edited by Henry Louis Gates JR after finding it at a sale. The effort put forth in trying to find out whether or not this is the real narrative of a slave woman in the 1800's or if it was really someone else posing as such, proved to be a long difficult journey. Many things were taken into consideration and soon, proof starting emerging showing that this is, in fact, the true slave narrative [written after the occurances stated] of a black woman, named Hannah Crafts. She lives with her Master, who is never named in the book, who is a bachelor marrying a woman early in the book. Hannah's new mistress has a secret which is found out by a lawyer named Mr. Trappe, who becomes the antagonist character early on in the narrative. Fleeing the estate with her mistress, Hannah finds herself confiding in her, supporting her, taking care of her, and conversing with her like a sister. They get lost in the woods, only to be found by hunters who make the journey to imprisonment loads easier for the two women. Struggling with her mental health, Hannah's mistress later dies, leaving Hannah to suffer alone. Hannah is sold to a man who deals with the trade of slaves, and another escape becomes the main focus for a portion of the book, once again.Mrs. Henry finds Hannah and becomes her confidant, but later betrays her and gives her up to her neighbor, Mrs. Wheeler. This woman is a vain and narcissistic woman who gets a dose of her own medicine with the beauty of karma after a facial powder incident. Disguise, lying, and running become the central ideas when incidents occur which force Hannah to escape for her life once again, resulting in her eventual new life in the arms of the one person she could trust from the bery beginning of it all.

 

CHARACTERS

BY KATELYN EYFORD

. Essential/Central Characters:

• Hannah Crafts: main character and narrator. Born into slavery, with the fortunate luck of escaping, provig her literacy, and finding friends, faith, and stability with a few other characters along the way.

• The Mistress: SWife of the Master. Has a huge secret which is later discovered and forces her escape with Hannah. Becomes a confidant and a character one easily sympathizes with. True character growth is shown through her. o:p>

• Mr. Trappe: The antagonist, villain of this arrative. He finds out the big secret the mistress has been keeping and follws Hannah and the mistress on their journey. He becomes an influetial person, always inhibiting Hannah's ability to succeed, move onward, and grow.

·        Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler: Mrs. Wheeler is the wife of the office-seeker Mr. Wheeler. She purchases Hannah to be her Lady’s maid. She is a self-centered, unkind woman who easily masked her angered feelings. She blames Hannah for a distaster with her face powder, resulting in Hannah's working in the fields and later escape to freedom North.

Uncle Siah and Aunt Hetty: The couple who taught Hannah how to read when she was a child. They were a white couple who live near Hannah’s master’s mansion, and let Hannah come over to visit them whenever she could. They are religious people, who are only brought forth in the beginning and ending of the narrative, but are major characters, influential in Hannah's growth, character, perceptions and freedom.

Secondary Characters:

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• Mrs. Bry: She is the housekeeper of Hannah’s master’s mansion. She is a minor character, and is very intolerant of people being lazy around the house.

• Lizzy: She is the Mistress’s personal slave that she brought with her to her husband’s household. Lizzy is good at remembering names and dates. She and Hannah become friends while working at the mansion, however when Hannah and her mistress run away and they don’t bring Lizzy.

• Horace: He is the leader of the group of hunters that found Hannah and her mistress in the cabin in the woods. He is a somewhat tolerable man who we like and dislike at the same time.

• Mr. Saddler: He is the slave trader who buys Hannah from Mr. Trappe. He is kind to Hannah while driving her to get traded, which makes his death difficult.

• Mr. and Mrs. Henry: Mrs. Henry cares for Hannah after she finds her unconscious under the carriage that she and Mr. Saddler were riding in. Both she and her husband show great tenderness and kindness to Hannah as she is healing.

• The Master: The mistresses husband and Hannah’s master is only slightly portrayed in the story. He is fair and just slave owner, but he lacks true compassion. After hearing that Hannah and the mistress have run away, he kills himself in the drawing room.

·        Jacob and his sister: They are two fugitives escaping slavery and heading North. Hannah finds them in the woods on her own journey to freedom. When she finds them, Jacobs’s sister is in extremely poor health and soon dies.

·        Charlotte and William: They are a newlywed couple who escape north in order to live together in freedom. Hannah meets Charlotte while living with Mrs. Henry. Charlotte asks Hannah to run away with them, but Hannah declines in order to be loyal to Mrs. Henry.

 

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CONFLICTS

BY KATELYN EYFORD

1st Half

Conflicts:

• Race, equality, and self identity are the conflicts addressed in the first half of the book. These centralized ideas really set the tone and basis for the remainder of Hannah's story. Examples include the mistress' identity being discovered and leading to her death, Hannah's literacy and the efforts put forth to attain it, slavery in general and degration of those who are born into it, as well as degration of women and no appreciation for any.
• MAN VS NATURE is another conflict in the first half of the book. Nature hinders Hannah's and her mistress' ability to fee successfuly, leading to the mistress' death and ccapture of both as well as imprisonment and more death

Themes:

• How captivity, self discovery, and self-image affect one's successes, failures, and future is the main theme I found present in the first half. Being held captive from herself, her potential, equality, and freedom is Hannah who struggles to attain these things, eventually leading to her own self discovery, better literacy, and freedom.
• Stability and faith in a person can drive one to push forth through the worst situations to attain hope and the chance at a quality life is the other theme apparent in the first half. Hannah trusts the Mistress and the Mistress trusts her to take care of her; they are self-reliant, but depend on one another very much. The trust between Hannah and Aunt Hetty as well proves that faith in someone can prove to be a wise decision:p>

2nd Half

Conflicts:

• The first conflict that takes place in the second half of the novel is between Hannah and Mrs. Wheeler. When Hannah puts the powder on Mrs. Wheeler’s face and it turns black, Mrs. Wheeler dislikes Hannah from then on. Hannah tries to move on from it, but in the back of their minds, they always remember what happened.
• The second prominent conflict that takes place in the novel is the inner conflict with Hannah when she is deciding to run away. Struggling logically with the situation, balancing the pros and cons and eventually she makde the decision which saved her life about the millionth time in the novel.

Themes:

• The theme of faith and relationships stays constant throughout the second half of the novel; Hannah has to rely on herself, her surroundings, and those taking care of her and in charge of her to be able to make it through every day.
• Captivity is no longer present. Hannah seems to have lliberated herself of her inner struggles and conflicts, she sheds her inhibitions and makes the choice to run. br> • MAN VS NATURE maintains a constant place in the foundation of this novel. Hannah relies on her surroundings during her escapes and finds peace with it all.

WRITER’S STYLE

BY KATELYN EYFORD

The writing is quite modern and pretty easiy to read. The readability is on a level meant for someone studying literature. Grammer, tone, and word choice is all very apparently strong and advanced, proving Hannah had time to work on it. The fact that this was written after the fact of each moment's happenings, makes the probability of emission of details and exaggeration of other portions very high, making these words somewhat unreliable.

There are spelling errors that do occur, some minor and some major, but never distract from the narrative and the ocurraces. She makes reference to some other works, according to the research in the back of the book, making her ideas somewhat unoriginal, but nontheless, unique and revolutionary for her time.

  The Bondwoman’s Narrative is a blending of many of the following genres/styles:

-         Sentimentalism

-         Gothic

-         Slave Narrative

-         Captivity Narrative

WHY YOU NEED TO READ THISo:p>

~Jaymes Jesseph

This is the true tale of a slave woman in the 1800's, escaping to freedom and struggling with death around every corner. The curret issues we face today such as equality, race, perserveirance, and hope are relatable for readers. The details are suprisingly remakrable and eye opening making the book a gentle and easy read while being completely flaberghasted by some of the goings-on.

 

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