The History of Mary Prince: A West Indian Slave

“These three individuals are now gone to answer at a far more awful tribunal than that of public opinion, for the deeds of which their former bondwoman accuses them; and to hold them up more openly to human reprobation could no longer affect themselves, while it might deeply lacerate the feelings of their surviving and perhaps innocent relatives, without any commensurate public advantage.”

Here, Pringle refers to the choice to omit the full names of enslavers discussed in the book who died prior to publication. This choice reflects a sense of honor and respectability that Pringle must maintain to preserve his credibility in British society. Indeed, the political success of Prince’s narrative relies heavily on Pringle’s credibility as her advocate.

“They were not all bad, I dare say, but slavery hardens white people’s hearts towards the blacks; and many of them were not slow to make their remarks upon us aloud, without regard to our grief—though their light words fell like cayenne on the fresh wounds of our hearts. Oh those white people have small hearts who can only feel for themselves.”

Prince’s narrative often demonstrates poetic devices. For example, she employs a simile, comparing the pain of hearing harsh words from white enslavers to the sting of cayenne pepper on a wounded heart. For her, the heart is an important symbol in this passage, conveying both the physical pain of abused flesh (the anatomical heart) and the emotional pain of an abused person (the metaphorical heart).

“It was then, however, my heavy lot to weep, weep, weep, and that for years; to pass from one misery to another, and from one cruel master to a worse.”

Similar to the quote above, Prince uses repetition as a literary device throughout the text. This reflects a Caribbean way of speaking that uses repetition to provide emphasis and is a common feature in the oral tradition. Thus, “weep weep weep” emphasizes the pain and sorrow she felt and the perceived endlessness of her tears.

“It is not possible to tell all her ill language.”

In this quote, Prince refers to her enslaver’s wife, Mrs. Wood, and the obscenities she frequently used in speaking to Prince. Her suggestion that it is “not possible” to say all that Mrs. Wood did implies both the quantity and the indecency of her speech.

“He flew into a passion: but did not beat me then; he only abused and swore at me; and then gave me a note and bade me go and look for an owner. Not that he meant to sell me; but he did this to please his wife and to frighten me.”

As with the previous quote, these lines convey that the abuse from the Woods was not only physical but also verbal. Further, Prince demonstrates the psychological component of that abuse: Mr. Wood repeatedly told her to find a new “owner” while refusing to sell her or allow her to buy her freedom.

“While I was in the country, I saw how the field negroes are worked in Antigua. They are worked very hard and fed but scantily.”

Prince’s narrative is not only an autobiography but also a composite of the experiences of other enslaved people. As a narrator, she speaks on behalf of those who could not speak for themselves. Therefore, her testimony becomes a shared text that accounts for a multiplicity of life stories.

“It is very wrong, I know, to work on Sunday or go to market; but will not God call the Buckra men to answer for this on the great day of judgment—since they will give the slaves no other day?”

This quote reflects Pringle’s statement in the Preface that the deceased holders will have to “answer at a far more awful tribunal than that of public opinion” (iii). Prince and Pringle both share a belief in God and a sense that slavery is not only unjust but also sinful. Prince’s religious convictions and her respect for the Judeo-Christian concept of the sabbath, a God-ordained weekly day of rest that is typically honored on Sunday in Western Christian practice, are evident here.

“When he asked me to marry him, I took time to consider the matter over with myself, and would not say yes till he went to church with me and joined the Moravians.”

As an enslaved woman, Prince lacks control over many of the choices made about her life. However, she notes that she takes her time in deciding whether she will marry James. This is one of the few instances in her life to this point in which she has freedom of choice and the power to impose conditions regarding her decisions.

“She did not lick me herself, but she got her husband to do it for her, whilst she fretted the flesh off my bones.”

As with Prince’s use of the word “heart,” she again draws a connection between an emotional/mental experience and a physical one in describing Mrs. Wood’s constant nagging. Though it is not physically abusive, she perceives its effect as similar—“frett[ing] the flesh off [her] bones.” This is further emphasized by Prince’s use of alliteration, repeating the sound of the letter “f” in those words to poetically underscore her exasperation.

“They opened the door and bade me get out. But I was a stranger, and did not know one door in the street from another, and was unwilling to go away.”

Freedom is available to Prince in England, as the law dictates that enslaved people are emancipated on British soil. However, without any support, freedom would also be a death sentence for her. She would be unhoused, jobless, and penniless. This allows Mr. Wood to use the possibility of her supposed freedom in England as—he thinks—a threat rather than a gift.

“But Mr. Wood said he would send for a constable to thrust me out; and at last I took courage and resolved that I would not be longer thus treated, but would go and trust Providence.”

While previously the prospect of leaving the Woods seemed to lead to certain destitution, Prince is now empowered to leave, having the help of the Moravian church and the Anti-Slavery Society. This is a turning point in the narrative in which Prince makes her second independent choice. (The first was in choosing her husband). Rather than the escape presented in most narratives of enslavement, Prince can simply pack her bags and walk out the front door.

“However, Providence was very good to me, and I got many friends—especially some Quaker ladies, who hearing of my case, came and sought me out, and gave me good warm clothing and money.”

Prince is fortunate to find help from Quaker women in England when she leaves the Woods. This mention of the Quakers evokes the long history of Quaker anti-slavery action, which dates to the 17th century. As with the Quakers, much of the abolitionist movement was motivated by religious—particularly Christian—concerns.

“I did not like to go back—I did not like to be idle. I would rather work for my living than get it for nothing.”

Prince must establish in her narrative that she is hardworking and seeks to be self-supporting. It is important for her to contradict the era’s stereotype of Black people as lazy. The stakes are high for Prince as she attempts to demonstrate good character and resilience because she is positioned in the narrative to speak on behalf of not only herself but also of all enslaved Black people.

“I am often much vexed, and I feel great sorrow when I hear some people in this country say, that the slaves do not need better usage, and do not want to be free. They believe the foreign people, who deceive them, and say slaves are happy. I say, Not so. How can slaves be happy when they have the halter round their neck and the whip upon their back?”

Prince poses a rhetorical question to the reader, asking them to interrogate the logic of the belief that enslaved people are happy. To maintain the audience’s trust, she cannot outright accuse her reader of holding that belief. However, she can generally criticize “some people in this country” as naive and gullible, indirectly challenging the reader to examine their own opinions.

“All slaves want to be free—to be free is very sweet.”

Prince positions herself as a voice for enslaved people. By describing freedom as “sweet,” she offers a metaphorical opposite to her experience of slavery as “salty,” conveyed through her grueling labor in the salt ponds of Turk’s Island, her salty tears over the years, and the many saltwater seas that carried her in ships and boats from one experience of enslavement to the next. Likewise, the sweetness of freedom contrasts with the emotional bitterness of familial separation that she has to endure.

“Here perhaps we might safely leave the case to the judgment of the public; but as this negro woman’s character, not the less valuable to her because her condition is so humble, has been unscrupulously blackened by her late master, a party so much interested and inclined to place her in the worst point of view,—it is incumbent on me, as her advocate with the public, to state such additional testimony in her behalf as I can fairly and conscientiously adduce.”

Having greater social and political standing, Pringle takes on the role as Prince’s advocate. He presents his “Supplement” in the style of a court case, taking care to provide details, evidence, and testimonies from other supportive white individuals. Pringle also draws the reader into the case, giving the public the responsibility of judging the verdict.

“Of their slave Molly (or Mary) I know less than of Mr. and Mrs. Wood.”

This quote comes from the excerpted letter written to Pringle by Joseph Philips, a white man who had lived in Antigua while Prince lived there with the Woods and could attest to what he had seen. Here, Wood mentions that Prince went by two names, Mary and Molly, the second of which appears several times in the narrative. While the text never explains why she has two names, this second name is reflective of the fact that enslaved people typically ended up with multiple names throughout their lifetimes. This was a result, for instance, of being bought by various enslavers who chose to rename them. This is also especially the case for captives brought from Africa whose birth names proved difficult to pronounce for white enslavers.

“To my judgment, the internal evidence of the truth of her narrative appears remarkably strong. The circumstances are related in a tone of natural sincerity and are accompanied in almost every case with characteristic and minute details, which must, I conceive, carry with them full conviction to every candid mind that this negro woman has actually seen, felt, and suffered all that she so impressively describes; and that the picture she has given of West Indian slavery is not less true than it is revolting.”

Here, Pringle vouches for the veracity of Prince’s account. Veracity—or truth/accuracy—was an essential element of the narrative of enslaved people. These narratives had political objectives as anti-slavery propaganda. Collectively, they served as essential testimony in global trials against the institution of slavery.

“Slavery is a curse to the oppressor scarcely less than to the oppressed: its natural tendency is to brutalize both.”

Arguments made against slavery commonly pointed to the physical abuse, familial separation, and overall charge of sinfulness inherent in this system. These arguments also often included an examination of the negative effects of slavery on white people who participated in the practice. As empathy for Black people may fail as a convincing argument for some, this argument fills that gap by appealing to white people’s self-interest.

“He is remarkably intelligent, understands our language perfectly, and can read and write well. The last sentences of the following narrative will seem almost too peculiar to be his own.”

The narrator is impressed by Asa-Asa’s intelligence and high level of English literacy, to the point of finding them peculiar. The subjects of narratives of enslavement tended to be exceptional, not only in their capabilities but also in the fact of their rare escape or departure from slavery. This exceptionalism was important politically, as the Black people who most measured up to the standards of white high society, such as literacy and decorum, could be effective lecturers on the abolitionist circuit—such as Frederick Douglass—and reflect positively on Black people in the eyes of white observers.

“My father’s name was Clashoquin; mine is Asa-Asa. He lived in a country called Bycla, near Egie, a large town. Egie is as large as Brighton; it was some way from the sea. I had five brothers and sisters.”

Asa-Asa begins his narrative by describing his family and his hometown. In mentioning that Egie was “some way from the sea,” Asa-Asa foreshadows his eventual capture, after which he is taken forcibly to the African coast. It also demonstrates that the walk that he and his fellow captives were forced to make was long and difficult.

“In about six months we got to a ship, in which we first saw white people: they were French. They bought us.”

Prince’s and Asa-Asa’s narratives complement each other in many ways. For example, she offers an experience of someone who was born enslaved, while Asa-Asa offers an experience of someone captured from Africa and taken captive in the slave trade. Likewise, while Prince describes her suffering at the hands of people in Britain and British colonists, Asa-Asa describes his suffering at the hands of the French.

“The Frenchmen sent away all but five of us into another very large ship. We five staid on board till we got to England, which was about five or six months. The slaves we saw on board the ship were chained together by the legs below deck, so close they could not move.”

Here, Asa-Asa describes the experience of being held as an enslaved person in the hold of a ship for the journey from the African West Coast to the Americas. What Asa-Asa describes is called the Middle Passage, the voyage of ships carrying enslaved people across the Atlantic Ocean as part of the Atlantic trade. That voyage is notorious for having been difficult, long, unsanitary, and abusive.