{"id":93,"date":"2023-06-06T18:10:54","date_gmt":"2023-06-06T18:10:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/womanofcolourkeywords\/?p=93"},"modified":"2023-06-13T02:55:39","modified_gmt":"2023-06-13T02:55:39","slug":"poor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/womanofcolourkeywords\/2023\/06\/06\/poor\/","title":{"rendered":"Poor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cPoor\u201d in conjunction with \u201cblack\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As previously discussed in this project, the repeated use of \u201cblack\u201d 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 \u201cpoor\u201d and \u201cblack\u201d simultaneously when referring to each other, further conveying the hegemonic perception of black socioeconomic inferiority and how black individuals internalize white society\u2019s negative connotation of their skin color. However, the word \u201cpoor\u201d can also be interpreted as Olivia and Dido claiming their relational ties to the \u201cpoor blacks\u201d (TWOC<\/em> 142) constantly referenced, as well as a means of resistance against white characters\u2019 belittlement of their black \u201cbrethren\u201d (77).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By having the novel\u2019s black characters use \u201cblack\u201d with words like \u201cpoor\u201d 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 \u201cblack\u201d with \u201cpoor\u201d when referring to one another. For example, Olivia refers to Dido as her \u201cfaithful black, [her] poor Dido\u201d (137) during the Augustus and Angelina crisis, and Dido uses the term \u201cpoor blacks\u201d (142) when explaining that Olivia has a \u201charder heart\u201d (142) for being black. While \u201cpoor\u201d is often associated with pity, Olivia and Dido using it with \u201cblack\u201d 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\u2019s \u201cpoor girl\u201d (53) or her \u201cpoor Olivia\u201d (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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, the association between \u201cblack\u201d and \u201cpoor\u201d 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\u2019s lack of agency and control over her family\u2019s money. For example, Mrs. Merton frequently references Dido and black individuals, in general, \u201cas a poor n****\u201d (87) in an often \u201csneering and contemptuous tone\u201d (87). Coming from an affluent white woman, the description of black people as \u201cpoor\u201d (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\u2019s fortune. In her article \u201cInterracial Sex and Narrative Crisis in The Woman of Colour<\/em><\/a>,\u201d Joyce Green MacDonald highlights how the money fought over throughout the novel must be acknowledged as wealth \u201cgenerated by white Britons\u2019 exploitation of their African-descended slaves\u201d (MacDonald 72), further conveying Olivia\u2019s 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 \u201cpoor\u201d in conjunction with \u201cblack\u201d as a negative and oppressive descriptor throughout the novel conveys the chronic socioeconomic othering of black individuals during the Romantic period. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In her article \u201cThe Woman of Colour<\/em> and Black Atlantic Movement<\/a>,\u201d Brigitte Fielder argues how Olivia also uses her \u201cblackness as a tool of resistance by which she also makes the most clearly antislavery statements of the novel\u201d (Fielder 181). For example, after the rice incident, Olivia writes, \u201cMrs. 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\u2019s idea, there was no distinction between us\u2014you will believe that I could not be wounded at being classed with my brethren!\u201d (TWOC<\/em> 77). Olivia also claims relations and kinship with \u201cour poor slaves (my brothers and sisters, smiling)\u201d (77) in both letters and against her white family members. From Fielder\u2019s perspective, Olivia calling her enslaved people \u201cpoor\u201d 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 \u201cbrothers and sisters\u201d (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 \u201cpoor\u201d when used as an oppressive insult by white characters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The critical conversation surrounding the word \u201cpoor\u201d in conjunction with \u201cblack\u201d throughout The Woman of Colour<\/em> being, yet, another cruel factor of the marginalized experience reminds me of another primary text we read during Dr. Leuner\u2019s ENGL 147 course, The History of Mary Prince<\/em>. Prince\u2019s novel begins with an introduction including vivid imagery of enslaved people\u2019s grim realities: \u201cThe subject was certainly blood-curdling enough, and Mary Prince does not flinch from detailing what she calls \u2018the horrors of slavery\u2019\u2013\u2013the 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\u2019s narrative is a testament to the sufferings of both herself and other slaves whose misery she witnessed\u201d (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<\/em>. 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\u2013\u2013like Mrs. Merton\u2013\u2013can understand that the marginalized did not choose to be the \u201cpoor\u201d 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related Page Numbers in The Woman of Colour<\/em><\/strong>: 53, 55, 56, 60, 76, 77, 79, 80, 92, 96, 99, 116, 127, 137, 141, 142, 157, 160, 162, 168, 170, 188<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Works Cited<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anonymous. The Woman of Colour, A Tale<\/a><\/em>. [1808]. Ed. Lyndon J. Dominique. Broadview, 2008. Print.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fielder, Brigitte. \u201cChapter 11: The Woman of Colour <\/em>and Black Atlantic Movement<\/a>.<\/em>\u201d Women\u2019s\u00a0Narratives of the Early Americas and the Formation of Empire<\/em>, Palgrave Macmillan US, 2016, pp. 171-185.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MacDonald, Joyce Green. \u201cInterracial Sex and Narrative Crisis in The Woman of Colour<\/em><\/a>.\u201d Eighteenth-Century Fiction<\/em>, vol. 35 no. 1, 2023, p. 65-80. Project MUSE<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prince, Mary. The History of Mary Prince, A West Indian Slave<\/a><\/em>. [1831]. Ed. Sara Salih. London: Penguin, 2004. Print.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cPoor\u201d in conjunction with \u201cblack\u201d As previously discussed in this project, the repeated use of \u201cblack\u201d 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 \u201cpoor\u201d and \u201cblack\u201d simultaneously when referring to each other, further conveying the hegemonic perception of black socioeconomic … Continue reading Poor<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3283,"featured_media":102,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"qubely_global_settings":"","qubely_interactions":"","kk_blocks_editor_width":"","_kiokenblocks_attr":"","_kiokenblocks_dimensions":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[16,20,6,18,21,17,27,5],"class_list":["post-93","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-colour","tag-england","tag-father","tag-independence","tag-marriage","tag-poor","tag-whiteness","tag-will"],"gutentor_comment":0,"qubely_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/womanofcolourkeywords\/files\/2023\/06\/frimg_55534-image-kybdgt8v.jpg",800,533,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/womanofcolourkeywords\/files\/2023\/06\/frimg_55534-image-kybdgt8v.jpg",800,533,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/womanofcolourkeywords\/files\/2023\/06\/frimg_55534-image-kybdgt8v.jpg",480,320,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/womanofcolourkeywords\/files\/2023\/06\/frimg_55534-image-kybdgt8v-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/womanofcolourkeywords\/files\/2023\/06\/frimg_55534-image-kybdgt8v-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/womanofcolourkeywords\/files\/2023\/06\/frimg_55534-image-kybdgt8v-768x512.jpg",720,480,true],"large":["https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/womanofcolourkeywords\/files\/2023\/06\/frimg_55534-image-kybdgt8v.jpg",720,480,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/womanofcolourkeywords\/files\/2023\/06\/frimg_55534-image-kybdgt8v.jpg",800,533,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/womanofcolourkeywords\/files\/2023\/06\/frimg_55534-image-kybdgt8v.jpg",800,533,false],"qubely_landscape":["https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/womanofcolourkeywords\/files\/2023\/06\/frimg_55534-image-kybdgt8v.jpg",800,533,false],"qubely_portrait":["https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/womanofcolourkeywords\/files\/2023\/06\/frimg_55534-image-kybdgt8v.jpg",480,320,false],"qubely_thumbnail":["https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/womanofcolourkeywords\/files\/2023\/06\/frimg_55534-image-kybdgt8v.jpg",140,93,false],"canard-post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/womanofcolourkeywords\/files\/2023\/06\/frimg_55534-image-kybdgt8v.jpg",800,533,false],"canard-featured-content-thumbnail":["https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/womanofcolourkeywords\/files\/2023\/06\/frimg_55534-image-kybdgt8v.jpg",750,500,false],"canard-single-thumbnail":["https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/womanofcolourkeywords\/files\/2023\/06\/frimg_55534-image-kybdgt8v.jpg",800,533,false],"canard-logo":["https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/womanofcolourkeywords\/files\/2023\/06\/frimg_55534-image-kybdgt8v.jpg",135,90,false]},"qubely_author":{"display_name":"frandurzo","author_link":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/womanofcolourkeywords\/author\/frandurzo\/"},"qubely_comment":0,"qubely_category":"Uncategorized<\/a>","qubely_excerpt":"\u201cPoor\u201d in conjunction with \u201cblack\u201d As previously discussed in this project, the repeated use of \u201cblack\u201d 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 \u201cpoor\u201d and \u201cblack\u201d simultaneously when referring to…","post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/womanofcolourkeywords\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/womanofcolourkeywords\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/womanofcolourkeywords\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/womanofcolourkeywords\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3283"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/womanofcolourkeywords\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/womanofcolourkeywords\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":250,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/womanofcolourkeywords\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93\/revisions\/250"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/womanofcolourkeywords\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/womanofcolourkeywords\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/womanofcolourkeywords\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/womanofcolourkeywords\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}