Class Exercise (#2, #3 & Discussion Question)

2. Succor “assistance and support in times of hardship and distress” Oxford English Dictionary
“The child’s desertion by her mother appealed to his sympathy, and he felt inclined to succor her. To do this in opposition to Mrs. Bellmont’s wishes, would be like encountering a whirlwind charged with fire, daggers’ and spikes.”
Page 15, paragraph 1

Succor is being used to explain how Mr. Bellmont will treat or react to Frado. This is important to note because Frado is not well liked and hated by many, including his wife. By knowing how Mr. Bellmont feels towards Frado, the audience is able to understand his connection with her. I included the second sentence because it is important to note that the word, succor, is going against how Mrs. Bellmont feels towards Frado, but until we understand the definition we do not know how Mr. and Mrs. Bellmont feel towards Frado.

Merriment “gaiety (the state or quality of being light-hearted and cheerful) and fun” Oxford English Dictionary

“Day by day there was a manifest change of deportment towards “Nig.” Her speeches often drew merriment from the children; no one could do more to enliven their favorite pastimes than Frado.”
Page 19, paragraph 2

Merriment describes what feeling or emotion she is causing the other classmate to have. The classmates started to love Frado during their school day. By knowing how the classmates felt towards Frado is important because, like I stated before, most people hated Frado. It is important to know what the term “merriment” means, so that we understand how the classmates feel towards and we, as the audience, connect with Frado and her experience at school.

3. By studying the title page I noticed that there are texts that are bigger than others, bolder than others and different types of fonts. If a reader would skim over this page, “OUR NIG” would be the first and maybe the only gathered information from this page. By only noticing the phrase “Our Nig” the reader may assume the book was about a black slave, by the context, but also disguising whether the character is a male or female. The subtitle is written in a bold but elegant font, “Sketches from the Life of a free Black.” The reader would get another opinion of the book because the first assumed meaning of the subtitle is that the character is not a slave but a free black that contradicts the first initial meaning of the first title. Thus far in analyzing the title page, we have two different assumptions of what this book may be about, a black slave or a free black and not knowing the gender of the character, which it is often assumed that slaves are male. By analyzing the titles alone the audience is already drawn into the book because there are contradicting titles that state two different stories. By assuming two different stories the next line below the subtitle, in even smaller font, it states, “in a two-story white house, north,” which could prove that there are two parts or two perspectives to this story.
These observations are significant to the reader because it allows our mindset to be set back and have our knowledge of slavery be the lens while reading this book. To have our mindset in this position allows us to understand and identify with the characters because, rather than having a mindset of the 21st century, without slavery as a normal behavior, we can understand and relate to the characters better.

Discussion Question:

The evidence of race is a major subject throughout the first thirty-four pages of “Our Nig.” African-American differences are magnified within these pages and we are able to have a perspective of a young girl experiencing these accounts first hand. Frado, a young girl born of a white woman and a black man is abandoned by her mother to be a slave for the Bellmont family. The mother of Frado, Mag, was unable to care for her daughter due to the hardships of a black woman.

The first occurrence witnessed by the audience of the difference between races is shared by Mag. “Folks seem as afraid to come here as if they expected to get some awful disease,” the black race was often perceived as dirty (Wilson 7). The context allows the audience to witness how the blacks viewed themselves and how hard it was to be African-American during these times of segregated feelings towards each other. This passage sets the tone for the audience that blacks were not equal to whites, which may already be assumed by the audience, but this text proves this notion through the explanation of a black woman.

When Frado was abandoned by her mother, Frado was still very young and she was very stubborn. At first Frado did not understand what was happening to her. She did not make the connection that her mother was never coming back. Within moments of Frado’s arrival to the Bellmont residence, Mary, a daughter in the Bellmont family questioned her mother, “I don’t want a nigger ‘round me , do you, mother?” (Wilson 16). The audience, at this point, can be connection with Frado because within moments of being abandoned by her own mother, she realizes that she is hated by “her new family”. Frado is now all alone and has no one because she is black in a racist community. Race is profoundly illustrated because we. The audience, now get a feel from what it is like to be African-American in this time of segregation.

The audience’s critical assumptions of race are going to be expressed through emotion. The audience may be angry or sad for Frado, or depending on the audience, they may agree with the treatment of African-Americans. Regardless the audience, through Frado, we are able to see first-hand how it was like and how the minority race felt about their treatment. The treatment of blacks verses whites are heavily witnessed while reading the text, this is important for the audience so they have the understanding of what it was like, regardless the audience’s background or knowledge of blacks in this time. Using the lens of consideration for this time, is crucial because if we do not allow ourselves at the audience to understand Frado, we may not be able to connect with the main character, which in result would cause misunderstanding and purpose of the text.