Evan Singleton
English 234
February 25, 2014
The Life of a Young Indentured Servant
In the novel Our Nig, Harriet Wilson reverses conventional gender roles by depicting women as disciplinarians and men as passive. The reader is introduced to Mrs. Bellmont as a cruel and nasty parent who constantly abuses Frado. Her uncontrollable rage compares to the depictions of the cruel southern mistress who beats the master’s illegitimate child. While Frado is not the child of the Bellmonts, the wife seems comparable to these slave mistresses as she exerts extreme cruelty for no specific reason. Mr. Bellmont is seen as very passive, but his refusal to stand up to his wife points to his symbolic position as a neglectfully benevolent slave father. However, this association of women with abusive authority and men with passivity does not apply to everyone. Wilson only keys in on the Belmont family to exemplify this gender role reversal. Throughout the story we ascertain that the male children of the Bellmont family are very sympathetic of Frado and want her to be able to enjoy herself in their household. In traditional reading, especially in the 19th century, men are assumed the power role of the household and usually fail to show emotion. This role reversal is important because it shows the power that woman are able to posses in the household. Wilson helps the reader understand how women do act when they are in power and she gives an in depth perception of this her. Wilson explains a story about an indentured servant but the details are not conventional as there is no slave master, but instead the mother of the house takes on this role.
The protagonist of the story is Frado. She is a black indentured servant to a family in the Northern United States who is emotionally and violently physically abused, especially by the women of the house. Frado is a victim of racism and gender specific violence. Frado’s daily reality becomes one of harsh physical labor, endless menial tasks, and violent exchanges between herself and the malicious Mrs. Bellmont. Wilson believes that role reversal of women being the head of the house is significant as it appears as though the women in the household assume the power, and plays a huge role in the story. This leads to a bigger picture, which leads to Frado’s demise and eventual separation from the family as she becomes an adult.
From the beginning of the story, Mrs. Bellmont and Mary are very mean and nasty to Frado and appear to show no compassion for the young girl. The two show no signs of compassion as Mary says, “I don’t want a nigger round me, do you, mother” (Wilson 26). The early use of the word nigger relates back to the title of the book and shows the reader the feelings the women in the household have for Frado as well as the blatant disrespect. For a white woman to call a young black girl a nigger is one of the most disrespectful things a person can do. Mrs. Bellmont often acted without remorse or sympathy for the young girl. The young mulatto girl is very respectful to the entire family and receives cruel and unusual punishment simply because of the color of her skin. This role reversal is very significant because it shows that in the North, some of the households were run differently as the women were in charge of different situations happening in the residence. Mrs. Bellmont is also very ignorant with the different remarks she makes to Frado as she says, “Religion was not meant for niggers.” This quote is significant because it shows that she believes blacks do not have the same rights as whites and they are prevented from learning about religion. She wants the child to continue to be ignorant instead of educating her. This is also another example of gender role reversal as women usually treat indentured servants with respect while the men are very nasty.
While it is very evident that the female characters of the Bellmont household do not have any sympathy for Frado, there are other female characters throughout the book that exemplify women in the 19th century. Wilson portrays Aunt Abby and Jane as very classy women who care about the well-being of Frado. Wilsons describes the relationship between Abby and Frado as very positive as she says, “But Aunt Abby looked within. She saw a soul to save, an immortality of happiness to secure. These evenings were eagerly anticipated by Nig. It was such a pleasant release from labor” (Wilson 69). Wilson uses Aunt Abby as an example that all of the women in the novel are cruel to Frado. In fact, she is making the point that while there is an indentured servant in the house, the mother’s duty is to be cruel. These women are exclusions to the reversal of gender roles in the novel.
The reader ascertains different type of emotions for Frado as the male characters are sympathetic and respectful to the young girl. Talking to her son Jack, Mrs. Bellmont says, “You seem most pleased with the little nigger, so you may introduce her to her room” (Wilson 27). This quote is significant because it shows that Wilson portrays Mrs. Bellmont as a character who is disresctful to the entire family. Throughout the novel the various male members of the Bellmont family often disagree with the way Mrs. Bellmont and Mary treat Frado; however they do not intervene with the various beatings. On page 34, Mrs. Bellmont says, “Will you sit still, there, and hear that black nigger call Mary a liar?” Mr. Bellmont responded by saying, “How do we know but she has told the truth? I shall not punish her” (Wilson 34). Throughout the novel, Mr. Bellmont shows that he does not agree with beating and punishing Frado, but he fails to tell Mrs. Bellmont to cease with the beatings. This constant behavior shows that while Mr. Bellmont feels bad for Frado, he appears to be afraid of his wife and lets her make the rules for the house hold. int of gender role reversal. It becomes obvious that Mr. Bellmont is starting to have a problem with the consistent beatings of Frado from his wife along with his daughter. Since he has been married to Mrs. Bellmont for some years, he knows what it takes for her to stop doing a particular thing. He suggest to Frado that she should try and stand up for herself so that Mrs. Bellmont will begin to actually think about what she is doing. Instead of going straight to the source of telling Mrs. Bellmont, he shows his passive side as a father. This is a blatant example of gender role reversal because as a reader, the woman usually is the one who is scared to stand up to her own husband. Jack befriends Frado from the beginning of her stay and argues with his disrespectful sister Mary and mother about the mistreatment of Frado. The males of the household hate the way Frado is treated but refuse to do anything about it because they appear as fearful of Mrs. Bellmont. This is a reoccurring theme throughout the play as Mrs. Bellmont shows her dominance as a mother, which refers back to the point of gender role reversal.