Harper's Ferry
Mary Ellen Pleasant
Clover Adams
John Brown
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Free Enterprise
Free Enterprise: A Novel of Mary Ellen Pleasant by Michelle Cliff was focused on the story, rather the history of Mary Ellen Pleasant. While reading this novel, I found myself focusing on other characters, rather than just Mary Ellen such as, Annie Christmas, Clover Adams, and other minor characters in the book. I have heard of Mary Ellen Pleasant before reading this novel but I did not know her exact roles and contributions with the abolishment of slavery. Michelle Cliff displays Mary Ellen as a strong woman fighting for the slaves to become free and to be treated humanely. As I was reading I focused my attention to the character Regina, who later abandons that name for the name of Annie Christmas which Mary Ellen gave her. Annie Christmas was supposed to be a fierce woman. She would get dressed up and go into fights , when she died her and her twelve sons floated on a barge down the river into Caribbean (pg 26-27). She lived with the lepers and shared her story with them and they shared theirs with her. In a way I believe Annie Christmas followed the footsteps of Mary Ellen. She was an abolitionist and was capture while she was in disguise and was chained with a bunch of men, until they realized she was a woman. From there she was chained separately from the neck and was passed around. Clover Adams was a photographer who did take the picture of Mary Ellen Pleasant. While I was reading I found that Clover was a pure innocent soul searching for answers. She unfortunately did not find those answers and committed suicide by drinking chemicals which caused her heart to paralyze. Mary Ellen Pleasant’s presence in this novel was not as much as I would assume it to be. For the novel to based upon her I would wish there was more information about her and her accomplishments throughout the stories. I personally would have thought the book was about Annie Christmas if it wasn’t for the subtitle.But to understand her you have to understand the time period with the background that is involved.
Harper's Ferry
Mary Ellen Pleasant
Clover Adams
John Brown
Harper's Ferry
Mary Ellen Pleasant
Clover Adams
John Brown
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1 comment:
I do agree with you that indeed the book did not focus as much on Mary Ellen pleasant as it should being that it was title a “novel about Mary Ellen Pleasant”. I find that Michelle’s choice of focusing more on the characters such as Annie Christmas and Clover Adams was important in addressing who Mary Ellen Pleasant was. Michelle creates this image that her influence in the fight to abolish slavery help create characters such as Annie Christmas as well as introducing us to Clover Adams. Indeed to understand her, an understanding of the time period is essential but also the knowledge about the individuals that she influence and aided her in her fight against slavery.
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