How Are Black Women Portrayed in the Novel? (0)

How Are Black Women Portrayed in the Novel ?
The story begins in the early nineteenth century when the main protagonist Antoinette is a young girl. A white girl Antoinette is the daughter of the ex- slave owners, but it is the time when the passage of the Emancipation Act takes places . This means that black slaves are freed and led to the demise of many white slave owners. Because of this act, black men and women start to feel more powerful and superior towards the ex-slave owners. Throughtout Antoinette´s childhood, hostility is present between the weakened white aristocracy and the black servants they employ. On account of this situation, black women feel themselves more independent and strong .
First of all, when the slaves are free and there is no need to work for others anymore, many servants leave their employers and turn their back on them . For example, there is a young black girl named Tia who is the daughter of an attendant and she is Antoinette´s only companion. One day Tia unexpectedly turns against Antoinette. Tia sees the pennies that Christophine has given Antoinette and she bets three pennies that Antoinette cannot turn a somersault under water. Antoinette manages to do the somersault, but comes up choking so Tia takes the pennies anyway. Antoinette calls Tia a cheat and Tia calls Antoinette´s family poor and trashy. When Antoinette turns her back, Tia takes her clothes and disappers, leaving her own dirty dress for Antoinette. Tia´s disloyalty manifests the allure and corrupting power of money . She desires money more than a lovely childhood friendship .
Secondly, the black women feel more comfortable in their own skin and they are not afraid to express their thoughts and insults. Persecution by a black female is most notably seen when Antoinette describes being followed by a young black girl who sings “go away white cockroach, go away“.
Thirdly, the black women are portrayed as self-sufficient and able to do decisions without men, especially Christophine. She is a wise and loyal figure . Christophine introduces Antoinette to the black culture of the Caribbean and instills in her a sensitivity to nature and belief in the practices of obeah. She is an outsider because she dresses and speaks differently from the Jamaican blacks. She is a servant, but, unlike the other black servants who live at Coulibri, she remains loyal to the Cosway women. She provides a contrast to Annette because she exercises complete independence from men and distrusts their motives. Although she has three children by three different fathers , Christophine remains unmarried, saying “I thank my God. I keep my money. I don´t give it to no worthless man“.
Times and rules change and in consequence, women change too. This novel is the evidence that after the Emancipation Act, black women and ex-slaves started to find and explore themselves and became confident and independent, althought some of them were rude and unrealible.