Clotel · Chapter
XV: Today a Mistress, Tomorrow a Slave explained
Clotel is sold away from her child and taken to Vicksburg, where she is purchased by Mr.
What happens
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.
Themes in this chapter
Dehumanization and Commodification
Clotel is sold multiple times as property, separated from her child, and forced to cut her hair—a physical marker of her commodification and loss of identity.
Sexual Exploitation and Racial Passing
Clotel's beauty and light skin make her a target for sale as a 'housekeeper,' and Mrs. French's jealousy reflects the sexual tensions inherent in the master-slave dynamic.
Family Destruction Under Slavery
Clotel is torn from her daughter Mary without warning, and Mary is forced into servitude under her father's wife, illustrating slavery's systematic destruction of families.
Characters to notice
- Clotel
Sold to Walker and then to Mr. French in Vicksburg; forced to cut her hair; suffers grief from separation from her daughter Mary.
- Horatio Green
Defeated in politics and estranged from his wife; agrees to sell Clotel and her child under pressure from his father-in-law.
- Gertrude
Horatio's wife; demands Clotel and Mary be sold; takes Mary into her home as a servant.
- Mr. Walker
Slave-trader who buys Clotel and takes her out of state; previously sold Clotel's mother and sister.
- Mrs. French
Cruel mistress in Vicksburg; orders Clotel to cut her hair and treats her harshly.
- Nell
Fellow servant who mocks Clotel's short hair and fair complexion.
Key passages
“The English labourer may be oppressed, he may be cheated, defrauded, swindled, and even starved; but it is not slavery under which he groans. He cannot be sold; in point of law he is equal to the prime minister.”
While English workers face hardship and injustice, they are not legally property and cannot be bought or sold, unlike American slaves.
Brown contrasts the condition of English laborers with American slaves to refute apologists who equate the two.
“Today the woman is mistress of her own cottage; tomorrow she is sold to one who aims to make her life as intolerable as possible.”
A slave woman can go from relative comfort to brutal treatment in an instant, depending on the whims of her owner.
Highlights the precariousness and lack of security in enslaved people's lives.