is a soap opera style entanglement of miscegenation. It picks up where
left off and continues four steps beyond. The book tells the story of two mulatto (Quadroon) women of African descent who are reared as white women in a luxurious environment, with slaves of their own. These women become scheduled for the auction block. Later in the story a mulatto baby is switched with a white baby, who was mistakenly cast into slavery. Three interracial marriages take place in the middle of the 1800’s story. A slave master defends and participates in a system that unknowing to him, enslaved his own heir.
"You probably have forgotten that last winter two slaves escaped to Boston in your ship 'The King Cotton’?
The old merchant started as if he had been shot.
" . . . the captain of 'The King Cotton’ told Gerald that the eldest of those slaves resembled him so much that he should not know them apart." (p. 392)
Mr. Bell covered his face and uttered a deep groan. Such distress in an old man powerfully excited Mr. King’s sympathy . . . The drawn expression of the old merchant’s mouth was something painful to witness. It seemed as if every nerve was pulled to its utmost tension by the excitement in his soul. (p. 393)
"My property, it seems must either go to Gerald, who you say has Negro blood in his veins, or to this other fellow, who is a slave with a Negro wife."
"Go to the devil with your arrangements!" interrupted the merchant, losing all command of himself. "If you expect to arrange a pack of mulatto heirs for me, you are mistaken Sir."
"I’ll have a legal redress for this, Sir. I’ll expose your wife, Sir. I’ll lay my damages at a million, Sir." (p. 394)
Mr. Bell never got his opportunity to sue. He died suddenly, "of a fit produced by violent excitement." (p. 394) Once again, The Nation, a popular newspaper in the 1800s reports the following information about Lydia Maria Child:
She had, namely, a lively book to make out of a dead subject. For slavery, as slavery, is dead in our republic . . . Nor are accomplished and beautiful Misses Flora and Rosa in danger at present of finding themselves unexpectedly set down in the inventory of bankrupt fathers’ household goods. (The Nation p. 127)
In comparison to other abolitionist writers, Mrs. Child’s work has been called the first widespread, really important anti-slavery writing in America. Abolition gained adherents by the thousands through Mrs. Child’s efforts, probably because of her calm, dignified approach that tried to respond to the reader’s sensibilities. In contrast, Harriet Beecher Stowe is accused of having too much narration and being to "preachy" in her dialogue. The following is a passage from Uncle Tom’s Cabin:
Scenes of blood and cruelty are shocking to our ear and heart. What man has nerve to do, man has not nerve to hear. What brother-man and brother-Christian must suffer, cannot be told us, even in our secret chamber, it so harrows the soul! And yet, oh my country! These things are done under the shadow of thy laws! O, Christ! Thy church sees them, almost in silence! (p.583)
Child puts her message in the mouths of her characters, not narration. Compare the above with the following similar sentiments spoken by a Mr. Green, who learns Flora is a mulatto:
"I have long been aware that the most romantic stories in the country have grown out of the institution of slavery; but this seems stranger than fiction. With all my knowledge of the subject, I find it hard to realize that such a young lady as that has been in danger of being sold on the auction block in this republic. It makes one desirous to conceal that he is an American." (A Romance p. 157)
Lydia Maria Child’s work was banned during her lifetime because of her abolitionist activities. It is relevant to study this book alongside Uncle Tom’s Cabin because of the advancement of subject matter, improved narration and tone, and because the time has come to uncover the fascinating work of this remarkable woman.
