Our Nig

To me I see many reasons why this novel would be kept hidden for a number of years. First of all the title is somewhat offensive if you don't really take the time to read it and understand why it has the title that it does. Second of all, I think it was because the North did not want others to see how the slaves or their black servents were treated because they were seen as good and just people. I mean, even though you knew that there was beating and whipping and starvation going on, you didn't want to read about it! There are many parts in this story where things do get a little graphic and discussions tend to get unfair and prejudice which could anger any person who would have been reading it, I know it did me. I applaud Harriet Wilson though that she had the guts and courage to write about this and show people that even though you worked in the house and you were just a young girl, you still got the unruly treatment, worse than a dog. The Christians are actually given a good name in this novel ( except for the characters Mrs. Bellmont and Mary that is ) and I just think that many didn't want this book to be seen by the public eye because of her and they were pretty much ashamed of her and thought that she would give Christianity a bad name. The rest of the other characters treated her fairly, like she was a human being and no different from the rest of them. Christianity didn't want to look bad.
After Frado left the Bellmont's, she had a tough time getting by because she was black, thinking that her work or what she made wasn't good enough for anyone else to buy or respect. When her brother came up to her and wanted to marry her, she didn't hesitate because she finally had someone out there in the real world that cared about her, which almost reminds me of how her mother felt out in the public when Jim told her that he cared for her ( who was also black ). Even when she was wick, she was still having false rumors spread about her saying that she was a fraud and that she wasn't sick at all, which made her feel even worse. She bounced back and forth between different houses just trying to find someone who would take the time to care for her and hopefully accept her, but each time she got better, she had to leave. she never really had a home after the age of six and I think that Harriet was trying to show us that even though you are a free black, you still don't feel like you belong like everyone else. People still look down upon you and turn their noses up at you as if to show you are inferior to them and to their race just because of the color of your skin.