The Bondwoman's Narrative

Hannah Crafts is both the protagonist and author of the text. The Bondwoman’s Narrative is her autobiography, lost for more than a century and then published after the turn of the millennium. Crafts is a formerly enslaved woman, who was born and raised in slavery, and she achieved self-liberation by fleeing from the South to the North.

Due to the complicated publication history of The Bondwoman’s Narrative, the lengthy introduction to the text adds further complexity to the character of Hannah Crafts. As Gates explains, she was likely a real person, and the elements of her autobiography which can be verified indicate that there is a great deal of truth to the book. This revelation makes Hannah’s story even more powerful: Not only did she undertake all the journeys described in the text, but she also overcame the huge barriers that would have prevented most other formerly enslaved African American women from writing a novel.

The search for the real Hannah Crafts as related by Gates demonstrates the danger she encountered. Trying to track down her name is a difficult task and a damning indictment of the institution of slavery. In the South, for example, trying to track down an enslaved person by name is complicated by poor record-keeping. Enslavers considered their enslaved people property rather than individuals, so trying to find records of a particular person is almost impossible. Once in the north, even after Hannah is free, the matter is still complicated. Due to the various laws which ruled over self-emancipated people, Hannah may have felt compelled to change her name or a census taker may have misheard her, meaning that her information was either purposefully or mistakenly falsified. The difficulty of finding the historical Hannah Crafts demonstrates the danger she faced before and after her self-liberation.

As a character and as a protagonist, Hannah is a sympathetic and purposeful character. Even as a young girl, she wants to better herself by learning to read. Even if she cannot escape the physical boundaries of the estate of her enslaver, reading allows her to escape intellectually and discover worlds beyond what she knows.

Hannah learns to read and studies her Bible thoroughly. This foundational education is evident throughout her life, from her opinions on marriage, to the way she consoles herself at difficult moments by reciting scripture, to the epigraphs which head up each chapter. Even her writing style suggests that she is well-versed in the tropes and stylings of contemporary literature, suggesting that Hannah is a well-read and educated person.

Throughout the novel, Hannah makes use of her intellectualism. She studies escape techniques, for instance, and learns from the successes and failures of others. When it comes her own time to liberate herself, she disguises herself as a man (because it will draw less attention) and wades through a stream (so dogs cannot track her). This process of learning and applying lessons from one’s life highlights The Power of Education and Literacy.

But as well as Hannah the character, there is also Hannah the narrator. Occasionally, Hannah will break from the prose to deliver her own thoughts and ideologies. In the last line of the novel, for instance, she appeals directly to the reader and tells them to picture the future she has in store in New Jersey. Hannah the wizened, thoughtful narrator speaks from a position of experience and knowledge, while Hannah the character occasionally makes mistakes. The gradual process by which the latter becomes the former is the narrative arc of the novel.