The Bondwoman's Narrative

Mrs. Wheeler, still angry about the makeup incident, criticizes Hannah for taking too long with Lizzy. The Wheelers and Hannah travel to North Carolina on a ship. Mrs. Wheeler complains of desperate men seeking office, and Hannah notes the irony, given Mr. Wheeler’s failures. They arrive at Mr. Wheeler’s plantation in Wilmington, which harvests cotton and rice, amongst other things.

Many enslaved laborers service the fields. They live in huts on the rear of the property in crowded, fetid slums. Hannah marvels that they haven’t died there. Many of these huts are “older than the nation, and had been occupied by successive generations of slaves” (222). The inhabitants of the huts seem nihilistic: “[T]hey know nothing, care for nothing, and hope for nothing” (222). They eat little, wear rags, and toil all day in the fields.

Mr. Wheeler treats his enslaved people poorly because he does not consider it worthwhile to worry too much over their condition and demands only that the enslaved people are kept alive enough to work. He prefers to focus his attention on holding public offices. The enslaved people in the house are in better condition for the sake of appearances.