Thursday, October 16, 2008
innocent truth
Last class I forgot to bring up one of my favorite dialogues in the book. It is a discussion between James and Frado as he puts her to sleep. Frado asks James who made her, him, and the rest of the family. Her concluding questions include: "Did the same God that made her [Mrs. B] make me [Frado]?" and "Why didn't he make us both white?" (p.28-29). I like how Harriet E. Wilson brings up such deep (and at the time controversial) thoughts in such an innocent manner. Frado uses simple logic in recognizing the fact that both blacks and whites are equally human. In doing so, she cleverly relates herself and Mrs. B as creations of God, who is indisputable to the pious. This solidifies the justification of equality through both morality and religion. In asking why God did not make both Frado and Mrs. B white, Wilson surfaces the idea that a person cannot escape the life he or she is born into. While Mag made choices that shaped her lonely life, Frado's life was determined solely by the color of her skin.
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2 comments:
I also noted this conversation in the book as interesting, because of the way Frado phrases her question. Instead of saying Why am I not white and she black, she asks why aren't they both white. This, I feel, reveals her opinion that she wouldn't wish her existence on anyone, not even the person she hates the most in the world. Even after all she has been through she can't bring her self to think maliciously.
One thing that is particularly interesting about this passage takes place in Ch. 8. Mrs. Bellmont, who is white and seems to care nothing for the ideals of the Bible, passively lives life without thinking about anything more than the next chore that she will not have to do. Frado, on the other hand, is moved to tears through her desperate perusal of the Bible to discover whether or not she feels she can be with James in heaven. The clear antithesis relationship between Frado and Mrs. Bellmont is incredible, and it makes one wonder how so many conflicting views on the Bible (one minister welcomed Frado) could exist at one time.
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