Class Post -- Including Questions 1 & 2, as well as Discussion Question

Archival Methodologies:

1. Abandonment features several times in Harriet ‘Hattie’ Wilson’s life. She is abandoned by her mother and apparently by at least one of two husbands. She is left in a different sense by those in her life who die; her father and a child. Hattie’s life is quite tumultuous, as she boards with various people in various cities, even in various states. The radius of her movement however decreases, as she gets older. It seems she settles in the city of Boston, but moves from residency to residency inside it. It seems that around every two years or so after 1847, at least one major thing in Hattie’s living arrangement changes. This paints a picture of quite an unstable life. However it is also possible that documentation is not accurate on the amount of moving she did. It is possible that her life was more or perhaps less chaotic, if documentation was not thorough or correct.
Death and abandonment seem to happen in a somewhat close proximity to one another in Hattie’s life. She is abandoned by her mother two years after the death of her father in 1829. After her husband leaves her, her child dies (as does the removed husband). Even after an apparent split from her second husband (he is not mentioned and her name returns to being recognized as “Wilson”), she eventually dies as well.


2.
A.) Calumny: Purposeful degradation through untruths designed to put down

“How many pure, innocent children not only inherit a wicked heart of their own, claiming life-long scrutiny and restraint, but are heirs also of parental disgrace and calumny, from which only long years of patient endurance in paths of rectitude can disencumber them. “
-- Page 6, paragraph 1

In this instance calumny is used to describe how Mag feels her deceased child would have been looked upon and treated as. She is happy that the child has escaped this fate. She also feels that this would have been its fate based on her own folly. The writer tells us that the child would have been polluted by its mere beginnings.

B.) Spare: an adjective, referring to the state of a person’s body, lean or thin, taught flesh

“Two young men seemed desirous of possessing her. One was a neighbor, Henry Reed, a tall, spare young man, with sandy hair, and blue, sinister eyes. He seemed to appreciate her wants, and watch with interest her improvement or decay. His kindness she received, and by it almost won.”
-- Page 32, first full paragraph

This description of Jane’s first betrothed adds a bit to our perception of him. Henry Reed is not introduced to the writer’s audience in a positive light, however neither is his presentation wholly negative. The definition of spare that I feel applies to this usage of the word may not be the author’s intended. However I feel the application of it fits the somewhat mysterious persona we are introduced to. The almost stingy and somewhat dry description molds our viewpoint of Reed and his pursuit of Jane, giving the reader predisposition to favor her next suitor.




Discussion Question:

The importance of class and race are immediately apparent in "Our Nig" by Harriet E. Wilson. The writing gives its audience a variety of ethnically different people in different societal positions. It is evident that the class and race of the characters influence their views on what happens around them, to them, and to their fellows, especially among those playing the role of 'mother'.

We see two instances of mothers in the first 34 pages of “Our Nig”. We are introduced to Mag Smith first. As a mother she seems to care for her child’s wellbeing. She feels it is better for her first child to die than to bear the scorn she has placed upon it. She shows a similar attitude towards her children with Jim. She wants her children to be cared for but does not approve at first of letting one of them live with the Bellmonts because of Mrs. Bellmont, who she angrily calls a “she-devil” (Wilson, 12). Perhaps maternal instinct is there, although buried beneath a hardened shell made by others. At least, Mag feels relief at knowing that she has not driven her child to run away after the child is lost on a walk with a friend (Wilson 13). It seems that Mag seemingly disregards her children because of the disregard she herself has been given, by her guardians and almost constantly those around her (Wilson 5).

Mrs. Bellmont, the second mother to grace the pages of Wilson’s text is no more of a perfect mother. Although she is in a better situation than Mag, she seems to also have a learned distaste for those she deems below her, namely the mulatto child, of Mag, Frado. Mrs. Bellmont’s relationships with her children differ. She seems to be closest to her daughter Mary, who parrots her beliefs and shares her dislike for Frado. Her other daughter, Jane, an invalid depends upon her but longs to be out from under her sway. Although Jane is soft-spoken and un-willful, she makes her unhappiness with her mother’s decision making known to her father. Despite this, her mother looks upon Jane’s marriage and that of her son, James’ as not a chance for marital bliss, but for material gain. She decides that Jane should marry for the land that a suitor has and is said to have taught her son to require “wealthy parentage” of a wife (Wilson 31).

Both white women, the two contrast in class but come together in affect on progeny. As mothers, both seem inept at caring for their children. Although Mrs. Bellmont’s children are decidedly better off than Mag’s, they seem no more connected to their mother, save Mary. Interestingly, most of the children of both come to dislike their mother’s ways and tend towards different ideas on the classes they are brought up to live in. We can see that the time this book was written in reeked of the clash between old and new thinking, the acceptance of Blacks and their continued dismissal.