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95 reviews for:
Our Nig; Or, Sketches from the Life of a Free Black
Richard J. Ellis, Harriet E. Wilson
3.56 AVERAGE
95 reviews for:
Our Nig; Or, Sketches from the Life of a Free Black
Richard J. Ellis, Harriet E. Wilson
3.56 AVERAGE
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
challenging
dark
informative
slow-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
this book was heart-wrenching and eye-opening. i think people would do well to remember that internalized racism was very much a thing during this period, in ways more obvious and pervasive than now.
This hurt my bones. Especially because as a black woman, I've been at the receiving end of white people thinking I don't feel pain. I've also questioned Christianity, and though in the end, I came to a different conclusion than Frado, I understand those feelings as well.
This piece also tackles the issue of white people who claim to stand up for POC, but do the bare minimum to help. Notice how the people Frado has feelings for never demand that she not be hurt again. They cower from decisions they feel are tough despite the power they really have. Her suffering is only ever temporarily relieved.
This piece also tackles the issue of white people who claim to stand up for POC, but do the bare minimum to help. Notice how the people Frado has feelings for never demand that she not be hurt again. They cower from decisions they feel are tough despite the power they really have. Her suffering is only ever temporarily relieved.
I don't know that I would have gotten around to reading this had I not seen it included on the Zora Canon, but I am glad that I did. I especially appreciate this edition with its lengthy introduction by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and all it does to contextualize this work within both the history of race in America and also literary conventions.
Unsurprisingly (I would hope), this book is not a fun hang. Frado, the main character, may be a free Black person, in that she is not a slave, but she is still trapped by her poverty, lack of family, and the prevailing racism of the time. (Yes, even in the North.) Yet the very existence of the book -- quite possibly the first work of fiction published by a Black woman -- almost certainly autobiographical, but reshaped in the form of the sentimental fiction of the period (yet deviating from that form in significant ways) is remarkable. Give Wilson's stated intent in publishing -- to raise money to support herself and her child -- this book could have thrown fewer punches at her most monied possible audience -- white abolitionists, but she does not hesitate to hold up a mirror to the racism, hypocrisy, and ignorance of many (most?) white abolitionists in pre-Civil War America.
A marvel of its time, and still depressingly relevant today.
Unsurprisingly (I would hope), this book is not a fun hang. Frado, the main character, may be a free Black person, in that she is not a slave, but she is still trapped by her poverty, lack of family, and the prevailing racism of the time. (Yes, even in the North.) Yet the very existence of the book -- quite possibly the first work of fiction published by a Black woman -- almost certainly autobiographical, but reshaped in the form of the sentimental fiction of the period (yet deviating from that form in significant ways) is remarkable. Give Wilson's stated intent in publishing -- to raise money to support herself and her child -- this book could have thrown fewer punches at her most monied possible audience -- white abolitionists, but she does not hesitate to hold up a mirror to the racism, hypocrisy, and ignorance of many (most?) white abolitionists in pre-Civil War America.
A marvel of its time, and still depressingly relevant today.
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I wavered between a three and a four star rating. The book is impressive in that it is so very well-written by one who had minimal education and an extremely difficult life. It was written to procure support for the author, financially. Her life was one of misery and poverty and it is one of those painful reads when such atrocities are described. The abuse is not necessarily detailed but the pictures a reader can form in her mind are startling from the knowledge of: a small child cleaning all day long, forced to stand and eat quickly, beaten when the mistress of the house was in a bad mood, sleeping in a dark room away from everyone, enduring profound loneliness and no loving gestures, malnourishment, and so many more atrocities from early childhood.
I would have liked a bit more closure with the story but the story was not over when the autobiography was written.
It is heart wrenching and eye opening to realize the depraved state that human nature can reduce itself to, as depicted by inhumane treatment of other humans.
I would have liked a bit more closure with the story but the story was not over when the autobiography was written.
It is heart wrenching and eye opening to realize the depraved state that human nature can reduce itself to, as depicted by inhumane treatment of other humans.