54 pages • 1 hour read
Hannah Crafts, Henry Louis Gates Jr., ed.The Bondwoman's Narrative
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2002A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 11-15Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 11 Summary: “An Elopement”
Hannah thinks marriage between enslaved people isn’t an option, considering that it is “at best of doubtful advantage” (166). Celibacy is the sensible option, she believes.
Hannah recalls seeing strange movements and lights near Lotty’s cabin, which gave rise to superstitious rumors among the enslaved people. Soon, the enslaved people will not leave the house after dark, though Hannah is dismissive of the problem. One night, Hannah is sitting up late when she hears a slight cough. Before she can investigate, Jo, “a negro, who loved above all things to indulge in strong potations of brandy” (168), bursts into the room with fear in his eyes, begging to be saved from “de ghost.” Hannah listens to Jo’s story of an encounter outside Lotty’s room. When Jo has calmed down, he goes back to bed.
Later, Hannah remembers that Lotty’s new husband has liberated himself from his enslaver. Hannah believes Lotty’s husband may have something to do with the ghost and is determined to find out the truth. Hannah sees two figures in a corridor. The man and woman walk down a graveled path and then through a gate. Hannah loses sight of the pair and returns to her room.
The next morning, the housekeeper complains that a rat has eaten her food; Lotty blushes. Later, Lotty hands Hannah a note, asking to talk privately at midnight. Hannah agrees and, after her Sunday prayers, spends the evening walking with Mrs. Henry, who is concerned by her enslaved people’s sudden predilection for superstition. Hannah reveals her theories about Lotty’s husband. Mrs. Henry is understanding, believing that “it is only natural that [Lotty] should wish to protect and assist her husband” (173), but she worries about the illegality of harboring the self-emancipated person.
That night, Hannah goes to the meeting with Lotty. Lotty is waiting with her husband, William. They offer Hannah the chance to liberate herself with them, but Hannah is wary. William says that they’ll be safe with some friends of his a few miles away. William notices Hannah’s reticence, and he explains that he and Lotty have no other choice. Hannah refuses, but she agrees to keep the couple’s secret. She asks that they tell her no more about their self-emancipation so that she will not reveal anything.
The next day, Lotty is missing. Mr. Henry quickly determines what has happened, and Mrs. Henry weeps, not only for her loss but also for Lotty’s perilous situation. William’s enslaver, Mr. Cropp, appears with a search party, some bloodhounds, and a trader of enslaved people. He has figured out what happened and asks to see Lotty. Mr. Henry admits that she has gone. To Cropp, retrieving William is worth his time financially and in terms of the example it sets for other enslaved people. Mrs. Henry implores Cropp to allow Lotty and William to liberate themselves; he refuses. The dogs pick up the scent in Lotty’s room. Later, Hannah hears them barking in the distant woods.
Chapter 12 Summary: “A New Mistress”
For two days, Mrs. Henry worries over the thought of Lotty being hunted or torn apart by dogs. On the third day, Mr. Henry returns from Cropp’s farm with news that the hunt was unsuccessful; Lotty and William achieved liberation. Hannah’s potential new enslaver, Mrs. Wheeler, comes to visit the Henry home. She is sick, and Hannah takes the role of her main servant.
One morning, Mrs. Wheeler summons Hannah to her room and asks her to put her hair in “the most graceful style of morning costume” (180). Despite her lack of experience, Hannah is keen to impress. As Hannah combs Mrs. Wheeler’s hair, Mrs. Wheeler talks about Jane, a formerly enslaved woman who liberated herself and went north. Mr. Wheeler occupies an important role in Washington DC, and while Mrs. Wheeler visited her husband, Jane and another enslaved person liberated themselves from slavery. Mrs. Wheeler is pleased with her hair and says that she must purchase Hannah. There is something about Mrs. Wheeler that Hannah does not like, and her “heart did not yearn toward [Mrs. Wheeler] as it did to Mrs. Henry” (183).
After Mrs. Wheeler confirms her intention to buy Hannah, she has Hannah read to her and then naps. That afternoon, Hannah writes to her prospective enslaver while Mrs. Wheeler dictates. The letter goes out and days pass. Attending to Mrs. Wheeler becomes increasingly “irksome” for Hannah, who is reminded of a spoiled child who always wants something new. Mrs. Wheeler reserves these petulant displays for when Mrs. Henry is not present, however.
Hannah’s prospective enslaver agrees to the sale, and Hannah is displeased but can do nothing. She accepts, hoping at least to show gratitude to Mrs. Henry.
Chapter 13 Summary: “A Turn of the Wheel”
In Washington DC, gloom is everywhere. Hannah has collected a small box of beauty products from a specialist shop. An Italian chemist has concocted a new face powder with incredible anti-aging effects and Mrs. Wheeler has sent Hannah to collect a sample despite the inclement weather. She slips in the street, and a man helps her up: Mr. Trappe. Hannah is not sure whether he recognizes her but considers the meeting ominous and hurries home.
Mr. Wheeler, who has “the exact air and manner of a Frenchman” (189), is in the apartment. He has recently been left his position in office and now seeks another. Mrs. Wheeler has a bell to ring when she needs assistance. When Hannah arrives at the bell, she hears Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler discussing Mr. Wheeler’s search for a new position. He appeals to his wife to help him ask for positions, using flattery to convince her. Eventually, Mrs. Wheeler agrees to go out in the bad weather and petition someone for a job for her husband.
Before the meeting, Hannah applies the new Italian powder. At first, Hannah sees a great improvement in her appearance. Mrs. Wheeler enters the carriage and leaves, returning two hours later. When she returns, her face is entirely black. Hannah and Mr. Wheeler stare; Hannah fetches the mirror, and Mrs. Wheeler’s “mingled emotions of grief, rage, and shame were truly awful” (195). Hannah and Mr. Wheeler both try to attend to Mrs. Wheeler, and Hannah recalls reading a newspaper story about certain cosmetic products that, when mixed, turned white makeup black. Mrs. Wheeler blames Hannah for the debacle.
Mrs. Wheeler petitioning for a job while wearing black makeup spreads around the city. The Wheelers decide to leave the city. On the day before they leave, Hannah meets Lizzy on the street. She learns about the changes at the old estate, and Lizzy pulls Hannah into a quiet corner so that they can discuss Mr. Cosgrove, the new enslaver.
Chapter 14 Summary: “Lizzy’s Story”
Lizzy recounts events at the old estate. The new enslaver, Mr. Cosgrove, fraternizes with the women he enslaved while his wife was in Europe. Several of these women later give birth to his children. When Mrs. Cosgrove returns home, the servants are not permitted to mention the children; one day, however, she notices three well-dressed enslaved people with pretty children and demands to speak to them. The women refuse, on their enslaver’s orders, so Mrs. Cosgrove demands to speak to her husband.
Mr. Cosgrove enters the room, smiling. At first, he refuses to answer her demands as to the identity of the three enslaved people, but Mrs. Cosgrove guesses the truth and claims to have been a fool. Calling her husband a “brute,” she bursts into tears and demands that he dismiss the enslaved women, but he refuses. She threatens to kill them, and Mr. Cosgrove rebuts that she’ll wind up in prison. Finally, he agrees to send them away.
A trader of enslaved people arrives. The enslaved women cry, begging Mr. Cosgrove not to sell them. One of the children calls Mr. Cosgrove “pa,” and one of the youngest women, who is still nursing an infant, becomes enraged and grabs a knife. She stabs the baby and throws it to Mr. Cosgrove, then stabs herself. As she dies, Mr. Cosgrove asks them for forgiveness.
Chapter 15 Summary: “Lizzy’s Story Continued”
The sale happens, nonetheless. Mrs. Cosgrove watches the women and children depart but is not satisfied. Every time her husband is the least bit kind, she’s furious. She searches the house and eventually finds a locked room, resolving to enter through the window. Inside is a well-appointed room with a cradle at the center. The cradle seems to have recently held two babies.
Mrs. Cosgrove enters further and finds a beautiful enslaved young mother and her twin babies. Enraged, she drags the mother to the floor by her hair and demands answers as the babies kick and scream on the floor. Mrs. Cosgrove sits and reflects on her fury; eventually, she tells the enslaved mother to take her babies and leave, offering them their freedom. The woman leaves, and Mrs. Cosgrove congratulates herself on her pity, not considering that the young mother has nowhere to go.
Mr. Cosgrove returns from a trip away and is shocked to discover that an enslaved woman, Evelyn, has departed. He goes to his wife and demands answers. She tells him to sit and admits to everything. They argue a while and then Mr. Cosgrove mounts a horse and goes to search for Evelyn. He returns two days later, looking “gratified.”
From then on, Mr. Cosgrove frequently leaves the house for prolonged periods. At home, his wife grows suspicious. Her investigations finally bear fruit when she hears the overseer say the words ‘Rock Glen’ and tells her maid to find out more. The maid eventually learns from a beggar woman who provides directions to Rock Glen. Mrs. Cosgrove has the beggar dragged before her and grilled for information. She suspects that her husband’s favorite enslaved people live in the small house in Rock Glen.
Mrs. Cosgrove and her maid ride to Rock Glen. They arrive back a few hours later; Mrs. Cosgrove is “insensible” and the maid is weeping. Mrs. Cosgrove goes to her room, “which she never left again” (215). Later, the maid reveals how they had encountered Mr. Cosgrove on his way to Rock Glen. The husband and wife had fought, spooking Mrs. Cosgrove’s horse. She fell from the horse, paralyzing her.
Mrs. Cosgrove lays in bed for years, asking after her husband, who rarely visits. She finds religion, becoming “a gentle, humble lamb-like follower of Christ” (216), and she asks her husband for forgiveness. Mr. Cosgrove spends more and more of his time with Mrs. Cosgrove until her death. Mr. Cosgrove is wracked with remorse. During renovations, Mr. Cosgrove has the Linden tree cut down and sells the portraits of Sir Clifford and his family.
Chapters 11-15 Analysis
Though Hannah enjoys life in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Henry, it is not somewhere she can stay forever, a point that reinforces The Need for a Safe Home. Though she begs Mrs. Henry to reconsider, the best Mrs. Henry can do is to ask a friend of hers to purchase Hannah from Saddler’s next of kin. While this seems like a fitting compromise at the time, as Mrs. Wheeler comes with the approval of the kindly Mrs. Henry, it is not Hannah’s ideal situation. The slow introduction of Mrs. Wheeler begins to position her as the natural heir to Trappe’s recently vacated position as the antagonist of the novel. At first, Mrs. Wheeler seems like a typical, demanding woman of the time. She asks that Hannah brush her hair and read to her, and she seems happy to confide her secrets in Hannah when no one else is around.
Soon, Hannah detects a sinister undercurrent to Mrs. Wheeler’s personality. She is spiteful and vindictive, which Hannah likens to the behavior of a spoiled child. Mrs. Wheeler is careful to keep this behavior from Mrs. Henry. For Hannah, this is an impossible situation. Mrs. Henry is her savior, and the woman has personally vouched for the goodness of Mrs. Wheeler. To question this, Hannah would need to call Mrs. Henry a liar or insult one of her friends. There is nothing she can do and, soon enough, she is off to Washington. There, the treatment worsens. From the relative delights of life with Mrs. Henry, Hannah is again in a nasty situation. The brief glimpse of Trappe in Washington confirms it: His evil malaise has carried over into Mrs. Wheeler, who will offer the same horrible treatment for her enslaved people.
The makeup incident is the final straw for Mrs. Wheeler. The situation is impossibly unfair to Hannah, who knew nothing of the makeup’s potential for humiliation. Nevertheless, Mrs. Wheeler blames Hannah for everything. They depart for South Carolina under a dark cloud: Hannah seems tied to a woman who increasingly hates her. Hannah is trapped as the plaything of a spiteful, spoiled child.
This sensation of being stuck in a doomed situation is not limited to Hannah’s life. Lizzy’s story about the Cosgroves is in a similar vein and begins to cross the genre border into the realm of Gothic horror. The estate where Hannah grew up now belongs to Mr. Cosgrove. Though he is married to an Englishwoman (from a country that has abolished slavery or is close to doing so at the time), he fathers a series of illegitimate children with his enslaved people. This functions on several levels. First, it binds together the idea of institutional slavery and rape in a way which will come to affect Hannah in the future. Second, it demonstrates the sheer power the enslavers had over the enslaved people. Third, it sets the stage for a series of climactic showdowns.
The first altercation involves the brutal deaths of a baby and its mother, the second involves a tragic accident in which the Englishwoman falls from her horse, causing paralysis. Both incidents shine a brutal light on The Effects of Slavery. Furthermore, both take place against the backdrop of a cursed estate. The linden tree and the portrait of Sir Clifford represent the horrors of slavery avenged. These tragedies manifest in a few different ways but the core message is clear: Just as the linden tree is cursed, the institution of slavery is cursed, and those who perpetuate the institution will continue to suffer in many different ways. At the end of Lizzy’s story, the Cosgroves cut down the tree and sell the portrait, but it is too late for the enslaved woman, her baby, and the Englishwoman, as well as the enslaver and his wife from Hannah’s time on the estate. This tinge of Gothic horror appears in the text to remind the reader of the true terrors of slavery.
