Clotel · Chapters
Chapters explained
Chapter companions for Clotel by William Wells Brown.
Chapter 1
Preface to the 1853 Edition
William Wells Brown introduces his narrative by tracing the history of slavery in America from 1620 to the present, highlighting the complicity of the entire white population—including Northerners and Christians—in maintaining the institution. He argues that exposing the system's corruption, especially among the influential and pious, is essential to abolition, and he appeals to British public opinion to pressure the United States.
Chapter 2
Narrative of the Life and Escape of William Wells Brown
This chapter details William Wells Brown's experiences as a hired slave under the slave-trader James Walker, including his role in preparing slaves for market and witnessing the brutal realities of the slave trade. It also covers his escape to freedom, his subsequent work as an abolitionist lecturer, and his travels in England where he received widespread support and recognition for his efforts to end slavery.
Chapter 3
Epigraph
The chapter opens with the Declaration of Independence's assertion that all men are created equal and endowed with inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, setting a foundational irony for the narrative about slavery.
Chapter 4
Clotel
The chapter introduces Clotel, the daughter of Thomas Jefferson and a slave woman, and follows her tragic story of love, betrayal, and eventual death. Clotel is sold into slavery, begins a relationship with Horatio Green, is later sold again, escapes in disguise, returns to Richmond to find her daughter Mary, is arrested as a fugitive, and ultimately leaps from the Long Bridge to her death rather than be recaptured.
Chapter 5
I: The Negro Sale
This chapter introduces the institution of slavery in the United States, focusing on the auction of slaves in Richmond, Virginia. It describes the legal and social degradation of slaves, the denial of marriage rights, and the moral hypocrisy of slaveholding society. The narrative centers on the sale of Currer and her daughters, Althesa and Clotel, who are the illegitimate children of Thomas Jefferson. Clotel, a beautiful quadroon, is sold for $1,500 to Horatio Green, a young white man who intends to make her his mistress. The chapter condemns the commodification of human beings, the corruption of Christianity, and the destruction of families under slavery.
Chapter 6
Going to the South
Dick Walker, the slave speculator, transports Currer, Althesa, and his gang of forty slaves from Richmond to the New Orleans market. During the journey, his assistant Pompey prepares the older slaves for sale by lying about their ages. On the steamboat, gambling and violence occur, and Currer is sold to a clergyman, separating her from Althesa. The chapter ends with the arrival in New Orleans, where the slaves are sent to market.
Chapter 7
III: The Negro Chase
This chapter describes the brutal practice of hunting runaway slaves in the Natchez region, including the use of trained dogs, a detailed account of a slave chase through swamps and roads, and the horrific public execution by burning of a recaptured slave who resisted. It also includes advertisements for slave-catching services and a description of a hidden runaway den, all witnessed by Currer, who gains a grim impression of the cotton district.
Chapter 8
The Quadroon’s Home
Clotel is installed by Horatio Green in a secluded, beautiful cottage near Richmond, where they live as husband and wife in a union sanctioned by heaven but not by law. Their daughter Mary is born, and Clotel, though happy, grows anxious about Mary's future under slavery. She urges Horatio to move to Europe, but his political ambitions and growing interest in Gertrude, a wealthy man's daughter, begin to pull him away.
Chapter 9
The Slave Market
This chapter describes the brutal realities of the New Orleans slave market, focusing on the dehumanizing examination and sale of enslaved individuals, including Althesa, Aaron, and others. It highlights the cruelty of the trade, the separation of families, and the complicity of society in the slave economy.
Chapter 10
The Religious Teacher
In this chapter, Mr. Peck and Carlton debate slavery and Christianity, with Georgiana Peck defending abolitionist views. Carlton visits the plantation and attends a Sunday sermon by Hontz Snyder, who preaches a pro-slavery interpretation of the Bible to the enslaved people. After the service, the enslaved characters critique the sermon, revealing their skepticism and resistance.
Chapter 11
VII: The Poor Whites, South
Carlton and Snyder discuss the dire condition of poor whites in Mississippi's Sand Hill district, highlighting their ignorance, poverty, and lack of education due to slavery. Snyder recounts visits to destitute families and a grotesque funeral sermon. Huckelby, an illiterate overseer, confirms the degradation. The chapter also recounts a violent slave rebellion where a negro, after being abused, kills a man and is brutally killed by a posse. Snyder and Huckelby both condemn slavery as the root cause of the region's social ills.
Chapter 12
VIII: The Separation
Clotel learns of Horatio's impending marriage to Gertrude and resolves to end their relationship. In a painful farewell, she refuses his offer of a continued secret affair, choosing moral integrity over comfort. The chapter explores her emotional turmoil, her reliance on Christianity, and the lasting impact of the separation on both her and Horatio, as well as the suspicion it arouses in Gertrude.
Chapter 13
IX: The Man of Honour
Henry Morton, a young physician from Vermont, boards with James Crawford in New Orleans and falls in love with Althesa, a beautiful white slave girl of fifteen. He purchases her and marries her, and they live happily. Althesa attempts to redeem her mother Currer from Mr. Peck but fails.
Chapter 14
X: The Young Christian
Georgiana Peck, a devout young Christian, engages in theological debate with her father Mr. Peck and the freethinking Mr. Carlton. She argues that the Bible does not sanction slavery, citing Old and New Testament passages, and condemns the hypocrisy of Southern Christians who hold slaves. Her persuasive reasoning leads to Carlton's conversion and a vindication of Scripture against pro-slavery interpretations.
Chapter 15
XI: The Parson Poet
Carlton prolongs his stay at Mr. Peck's plantation, drawn by Georgiana's charm. Mr. Peck encourages him to visit neighbor Jones's farm to observe the slaves' religious condition. Carlton reads a disturbing advertisement for sick negroes wanted for medical dissection, revealing the brutal commodification of enslaved people. Mr. Peck dismisses the horror and shares a racist poem he wrote for Carlton's sister, exposing the hypocrisy of a Christian parson who dehumanizes slaves.
Chapter 16
A Slave Hunting Parson
Carlton visits the slaveholder Jones and attempts to give religious instruction to the slaves, revealing their profound ignorance under slavery. He also learns from Georgiana about her father Mr. Peck's cruel participation in hunting and killing a runaway slave named Harry with bloodhounds. The chapter exposes the hypocrisy of Christian slaveholders who use religion to control slaves while perpetuating brutal violence.
Chapter 17
XIV: A Free Woman Reduced to Slavery
Althesa Morton, a former slave now married to Henry Morton, encounters a white servant named Salome who is secretly a free-born German woman wrongfully enslaved. Salome shares her tragic story of being kidnapped and sold into slavery. Despite the Mortons' efforts to help her, legal obstacles prevent her immediate freedom. Eventually, a former ship passenger, Mrs. Marshall, recognizes Salome and initiates a trial that secures her legal freedom, though her children remain enslaved.
Chapter 18
XV: Today a Mistress, Tomorrow a Slave
Clotel is sold away from her child and taken to Vicksburg, where she is purchased by Mr. French. Mrs. French, jealous and cruel, forces Clotel to cut her hair and subjects her to harsh treatment. The chapter contrasts the condition of English laborers with American slaves, emphasizing the unique horrors of slavery, including family separation and commodification.
Chapter 19
Death of the Parson
Mr. Peck dies suddenly of cholera, leaving Georgiana an orphan. Carlton remains to comfort her, and they overhear the enslaved people singing a jubilant song about the parson's death, revealing their hidden feelings. Georgiana defends their expressions as a lesson in the injustice of slavery.
Chapter 20
Retaliation
Horatio Green is humiliated when his wife Gertrude discovers that Mary, Clotel's daughter and his own child, has been brought into their home as a servant. Gertrude, feeling deceived, subjects Mary to cruel treatment, forcing her to work in the sun without protection to darken her fair skin. The chapter highlights the hypocrisy of Thomas Jefferson, who spoke eloquently against slavery yet left his own children enslaved, and reflects on the deep-seated prejudice among both whites and blacks.
Chapter 21
XVIII: The Liberator
Following the death of Mr. Peck, his daughter Georgiana inherits the estate and, despite legal and social pressures, marries Carlton, a kindred spirit who shares her desire to improve the condition of the slaves. Together they implement new rules and a system of gradual emancipation, challenging the overseer and the Dutch preacher. The chapter includes a debate about sending freed slaves to Liberia versus recognizing their native claim to America, and highlights the slaves' industriousness under the promise of freedom. The death of Currer from yellow fever deeply affects Mrs. Carlton, who had grown attached to her and learned of her tragic story.
Chapter 22
XIX: Escape of Clotel
This chapter recounts several daring escapes of fugitive slaves, including a man who drove a pig for fifty miles to the Ohio River, two slaves who used a 'ride and tie' method, and a slave who drugged his captors and escaped in their clothes. The narrative then focuses on Clotel, who, with the help of a fellow slave named William, disguises herself as a gentleman and escapes by steamboat to Cincinnati and then to Canada. The chapter also highlights the prejudice faced by free blacks in the North, as William is forced to ride in a luggage van and pays only thirty-seven cents for his fare.
Chapter 23
XX: A True Democrat
Henry Morton, a former resident of a free state and married to a former slave, delivers a scathing critique of American slavery and hypocrisy. At a party, he argues that the United States is a despotism where 16 million white rulers govern 4 million enslaved subjects with absolute power, stripping them of all rights. He warns that the nation's loss of moral character will lead to its destruction, citing the fall of Rome. The chapter also recounts a New Orleans story where a white man married a wealthy black woman by swearing he had black blood, highlighting the corruption of laws by money. Althesa feels proud of her husband's bold stance.
Chapter 24
XXI: The Christian’s Death
Georgiana Carlton, dying of consumption, frees all her slaves and sends them to Ohio, rejecting colonization to Africa. She dies shortly after, and her husband, Mr. Carlton, mourns her deeply. The chapter contrasts the Mayflower's arrival with the first slave ship, condemning American hypocrisy.
Chapter 25
A Ride in a Stagecoach
Clotel, disguised as a gentleman, travels by stagecoach from Cincinnati to Richmond in search of her daughter. During the journey, passengers debate politics, temperance, and regional morality, with a Connecticut minister and a Southerner clashing over the merits of the Maine Law and the piety of the North versus the South. Clotel remains silent, though she could testify to the South's moral failings.
Chapter 26
Truth Stranger Than Fiction
In the summer of 1831, a devastating yellow fever epidemic sweeps through New Orleans, killing thousands including Henry Morton and his wife Althesa. After their deaths, Morton's brother James arrives to settle the estate and discovers that Althesa was a slave, making her daughters Ellen and Jane slaves as well. The girls are seized by creditors and sold at auction. Ellen, sold to an old man as a housekeeper, commits suicide by poison. Jane, sold to a profligate young man, is imprisoned in his remote mansion. Her lover Volney Lapuc attempts to rescue her with a rope ladder but is shot dead by the master. Jane dies of a broken heart shortly thereafter.
Chapter 27
The Arrest
Clotel returns to Richmond in disguise to find her daughter Mary, but a slave insurrection led by Nat Turner has made authorities suspicious of strangers. After three days, she is discovered and arrested as a fugitive slave, imprisoned to await return to her owner.
Chapter 28
XXV: Death Is Freedom
Clotel is imprisoned in a Washington, D.C. slave pen to be sent to New Orleans. She escapes and flees to the Long Bridge, but is cornered by pursuers. Rather than be recaptured, she leaps into the Potomac River and drowns. Her body is buried without ceremony. The chapter includes a poem commemorating her death and reflects on the hypocrisy of American freedom.
Chapter 29
The Escape
Mary, Clotel's daughter, serves in her father Horatio Green's house. George, a white-skinned slave and son of a statesman, is sentenced to death for joining a slave revolt. Mary helps him escape by swapping clothes in his cell. George flees to Canada, where he finds freedom and education.
Chapter 30
The Mystery
George Green, now free in Canada, labors to earn money to rescue Mary from slavery. He hires an English missionary to purchase her, but learns she was sold to a New Orleans slave trader for aiding his escape. Losing hope, George emigrates to England, works as a porter, studies at night, becomes a clerk and then a partner in a firm. Ten years later, while visiting a graveyard in Dunkirk, he encounters a mysterious lady who faints at the sight of him, accompanied by an elderly gentleman who dismisses him. Returning for a forgotten book, he finds only her bouquet. The next morning, he receives a dinner invitation from J. Devenant, deepening the mystery.
Chapter 31
The Happy Meeting
George Green is brought to a villa where he meets Mr. Devenant and a mysterious lady, who is revealed to be his long-lost love, Mary. They reunite emotionally, and Mary explains how she discovered George's identity through a book he left behind.
Chapter 32
Conclusion
Brown concludes his narrative by affirming the truth of the incidents and scenes related, noting his personal participation in many and his reliance on other sources including fugitive slaves, Mrs. Child, and abolitionist journals. He then presents a statistical statement on slaveholding by American Christian denominations and appeals to British Christians to sever fellowship with slaveholders and advocate for emancipation.
