The autobiography, says Roy Pascal, author of the article "What Is an Autobiography?", evokes the "realisation that that the individual is 'ineffabile'... and yet may be grasped in his successive collisions with circumstance" (Pascal 2). It seems that the subject of the autobiography is like an difficult idea; one that can be just grasped, but not thoroughly understood. The writing of Harriet E. Wilson, "Our Nig" seems to fit this description. Wilson talks of her troubles and successes but the sum of chapters in no way sum Wilson. This is made doubly clear upon examination of the appendix in "Our Nig" which allows insight into the character and further history of Frado or, perhaps Wilson (Wilson 73-80).
As Pascal states, an autobiography "is a review of a life from a particular moment in time" (Pascal 3). However, Wilson's writing begins not within her own life, but in the young adulthood of her presumed mother's. Wilson becomes Mag Smith's biographer for those pages, introducing readers to the character pf Frado and that of the influential Bellmonts. What could be Wilson's autobiography seems to begin upon her entry into the Bellmont house which is also her introduction to true conflict. It continues until Wilson's career of selling hair tonic is under way (Wilson 14). However, Wilson includes dramatically less detail upon leaving the Bellmont house. It seems that her writing truly only examines this part of her life. For example, of her marriage and child, she says little, but on the subject of her beatings by Mrs. B, she recounts several tales. It seems impossible that Wilson wants to give a composite expression of her life story.
Debunking the idea of "Our Nig" as a true autobiography may be in order. I feel that Wilson's writing belongs in the category of memoir. The protagonist, Frado is very aware of her social class, and that of those around her. She therefore has her own "personal slant" (Pascal 7). Frado is no better off than a slave living in the South during her time with the Bellmonts. In Pascal's writing he quotes a reviewer of Yeats' "Autobiographies", saying they are "a record of the people and things he thought important". Surely in the life of Frado, what seems most important is the injustice done to her, early on in her life.
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I agree Cora's sentence that "Debunking the idea of 'our Nig' as a true autobiography may be in order. I feel that Wilson's writing belongs in the category of memoir". As Cora explains in her post, Wilson describes Mag Smith's biography while she also reflects her own experience into the figure of Frado. In the life of Mag, we can see the description of the situation and the circumstance of the Wilson's time. Furthermore, we can also consider that Wilson implies her own experience into Frado like as the introduction of "Our Nig" represents that "Moreover, girls who were "bound out" were seldom as young, and, though isolated, they were rarely cut off both solace and protection" (p. xxvii).
ReplyDeleteI believe that Wilson's own experience which is including her childhood and the circumstance at that time is studded throughout of the story, not only into the figure of Frado. Therefore, it can say that the way of Wilson's writing which is belongs to memoir is natural because she reflects her own experience with the entire story.