“Poor” in conjunction with “black”
As previously discussed in this project, the repeated use of “black” as a negative and oppressive descriptor throughout the novel conveys the chronic othering of black individuals during the Romantic period. Similarly, Olivia and Dido, her faithful black servant, often use the words “poor” and “black” simultaneously when referring to each other, further conveying the hegemonic perception of black socioeconomic inferiority and how black individuals internalize white society’s negative connotation of their skin color. However, the word “poor” can also be interpreted as Olivia and Dido claiming their relational ties to the “poor blacks” (TWOC 142) constantly referenced, as well as a means of resistance against white characters’ belittlement of their black “brethren” (77).
By having the novel’s black characters use “black” with words like “poor” to describe moments of deceit, guilt, and revenge, the anonymous author conveys a sense of internalized racism and racial inferiority black individuals often learn to identify with. Dido and Olivia also often use the word “black” with “poor” when referring to one another. For example, Olivia refers to Dido as her “faithful black, [her] poor Dido” (137) during the Augustus and Angelina crisis, and Dido uses the term “poor blacks” (142) when explaining that Olivia has a “harder heart” (142) for being black. While “poor” is often associated with pity, Olivia and Dido using it with “black” can refer to their self-perceptions of feeling marginalized and being taught that their skin color makes them inherently inferior to white people. Olivia also frequently calls herself Mrs. Milbanke’s “poor girl” (53) or her “poor Olivia” (55), furthering the association of black individuals with disadvantaged social and existential circumstances as those who fall under the marginalized subset of humanity often live lives that systematically serve white bodies.
Moreover, the association between “black” and “poor” can be interpreted as a reference to the socioeconomic differences between many white and black individuals during the long 18th century, as well as emphasizing Olivia’s lack of agency and control over her family’s money. For example, Mrs. Merton frequently references Dido and black individuals, in general, “as a poor n****” (87) in an often “sneering and contemptuous tone” (87). Coming from an affluent white woman, the description of black people as “poor” (87) has an extra layer of history in socioeconomic marginalization, along with the cynical lengths Mrs. Merton will go to in order to acquire Olivia’s fortune. In her article “Interracial Sex and Narrative Crisis in The Woman of Colour,” Joyce Green MacDonald highlights how the money fought over throughout the novel must be acknowledged as wealth “generated by white Britons’ exploitation of their African-descended slaves” (MacDonald 72), further conveying Olivia’s black female body as part of a silenced history of colonial sex and race. Whether intended as a marker of social, economic, or individual othering, the repeated use of the word “poor” in conjunction with “black” as a negative and oppressive descriptor throughout the novel conveys the chronic socioeconomic othering of black individuals during the Romantic period.
In her article “The Woman of Colour and Black Atlantic Movement,” Brigitte Fielder argues how Olivia also uses her “blackness as a tool of resistance by which she also makes the most clearly antislavery statements of the novel” (Fielder 181). For example, after the rice incident, Olivia writes, “Mrs. Milbanke, this was evidently meant to mortify your Olivia; it was blending her with the poor negro slaves of the West Indies! It was meant to show her, that, in Mrs. Merton’s idea, there was no distinction between us—you will believe that I could not be wounded at being classed with my brethren!” (TWOC 77). Olivia also claims relations and kinship with “our poor slaves (my brothers and sisters, smiling)” (77) in both letters and against her white family members. From Fielder’s perspective, Olivia calling her enslaved people “poor” can be interpreted as a statement of resistance and awareness for white individuals that it is not an insult to compare black individuals of higher socioeconomic status to enslaved people as they are all “brothers and sisters” (77) and equal human beings deserving of the same respect. In this case, Olivia is not self-deprecating or projecting internalized racism but rather reclaiming the word “poor” when used as an oppressive insult by white characters.
The critical conversation surrounding the word “poor” in conjunction with “black” throughout The Woman of Colour being, yet, another cruel factor of the marginalized experience reminds me of another primary text we read during Dr. Leuner’s ENGL 147 course, The History of Mary Prince. Prince’s novel begins with an introduction including vivid imagery of enslaved people’s grim realities: “The subject was certainly blood-curdling enough, and Mary Prince does not flinch from detailing what she calls ‘the horrors of slavery’––the pain she suffered on being separated from her family in Bermuda, the punishments to which she was subjected by a succession of owners, the physical hardships she was forced to endure […] Prince’s narrative is a testament to the sufferings of both herself and other slaves whose misery she witnessed” (Prince xii). History textbooks, growing up, diluted the realities of slavery and the horrors of this period of American history, often leading to harmful ignorance of younger generations like George in The Woman of Colour. While much of the diluting might have to do with being mindful of student age groups, I believe the first-hand experiences of enslaved people should be the most amplified so uneducated individuals––like Mrs. Merton––can understand that the marginalized did not choose to be the “poor” and oppressed subset of humanity. In essence, modern researchers today must do the work to draw together inclusive and intersectional theories of Black and postcolonial feminism, which avoids viewing Black people, specifically Black women, as silent ghosts in the social reality and even the imagination of the long 18th century.
Related Page Numbers in The Woman of Colour: 53, 55, 56, 60, 76, 77, 79, 80, 92, 96, 99, 116, 127, 137, 141, 142, 157, 160, 162, 168, 170, 188
Works Cited
Anonymous. The Woman of Colour, A Tale. [1808]. Ed. Lyndon J. Dominique. Broadview, 2008. Print.
Fielder, Brigitte. “Chapter 11: The Woman of Colour and Black Atlantic Movement.” Women’s Narratives of the Early Americas and the Formation of Empire, Palgrave Macmillan US, 2016, pp. 171-185.
MacDonald, Joyce Green. “Interracial Sex and Narrative Crisis in The Woman of Colour.” Eighteenth-Century Fiction, vol. 35 no. 1, 2023, p. 65-80. Project MUSE.
Prince, Mary. The History of Mary Prince, A West Indian Slave. [1831]. Ed. Sara Salih. London: Penguin, 2004. Print.