# Retaliation explained — Clotel

> Chapter companion for Clotel by William Wells Brown.

## What happens

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.

## Themes in this chapter

### Hypocrisy of American Democracy

Jefferson's eloquent condemnation of slavery is contrasted with his own actions as a slaveholder, and Horatio's complicity in Mary's enslavement mirrors this hypocrisy.

### Color Prejudice and Caste

Mary's fair skin provokes prejudice from both her mistress and fellow slaves, leading to deliberate darkening to enforce racial hierarchy.

### Sexual Exploitation and Racial Passing

Mary is the product of Horatio's relationship with Clotel, and her white appearance forces her into a liminal space where she is punished for not looking 'black' enough.

## Character check-ins

### Horatio Green

Deeply humiliated and distressed by his wife's treatment of Mary, his daughter with Clotel, but unable to intervene.

### Gertrude

Feels deceived by Horatio and retaliates by cruelly punishing Mary, forcing her to work in the sun to darken her skin.

### Clotel

Referenced as Mary's mother and Horatio's former lover, her memory haunts Horatio.

### Dinah

The black cook who expresses prejudice against lighter-skinned slaves and supports Gertrude's harsh treatment of Mary.

### Mary

Clotel and Horatio's daughter, now a white-skinned slave girl subjected to brutal treatment to darken her complexion.

## Key lines

> With the deepest humiliation Horatio Green saw the daughter of Clotel, his own child, brought into his dwelling as a servant.

Horatio Green was profoundly ashamed when his own daughter by Clotel was brought into his home as a servant.

_Highlights Horatio's shame and the irony of his child's enslavement._

> The child was white, what should be done to make her look like other negroes, was the question Mrs. Green asked herself.

Mrs. Green wondered how to make the white-looking child appear more like the other black slaves.

_Illustrates the deliberate enforcement of racial categories through physical alteration._

> Jefferson is not the only American statesman who has spoken high-sounding words in favour of freedom, and then left his own children to die slaves.

Jefferson was not alone among American leaders who spoke for freedom yet enslaved their own offspring.

_Condemns the hypocrisy of founding fathers who failed to practice their ideals._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/clotel_se/chapters/xvii-retaliation
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/clotel_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/clotel_se/chapters