Scenes at the Plantation explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Dehumanization and Identity

  Linda is treated as a disgraced soldier, drilled and ordered about, while the old slave is told he should be fed on grass when too old to work, illustrating the dehumanization of enslaved people.

• Motherhood and Family Separation

  Linda's anguish over her daughter Ellen's suffering and the threat of her children being brought to the plantation to be 'broken in' highlights the brutal separation and control of enslaved families.

• Hypocrisy of Religion and Morality

  Mrs. Flint is described as a 'praying woman' who takes satisfaction in Linda's humiliation, exposing the hypocrisy of religious piety used to justify cruelty.

Characters to notice

• Linda Brent

  Linda is forced to work at the plantation, enduring the cruelty of the Flints and the pain of seeing her daughter suffer. She resolves to escape when she learns her children will be brought to the plantation.

• Dr. Flint

  Dr. Flint orders Linda around with emphasis, calling her 'your mistress,' and plans to bring her children to the plantation to break them in.

• Mrs. Flint

  Old Mrs. Flint visits the plantation, is closeted with her daughter-in-law, and urges that Linda's children be brought to the plantation to keep her there.

• Ellen

  Ellen is brought to the plantation, neglected, and cries herself sick. Linda sends her back to her grandmother after she falls ill.

• Young Mr. Flint

  Young Mr. Flint brings Linda to the plantation, orders her around, and remarks that he will 'take the town notions out of her head.' He shows a moment of kindness by sending Ellen a biscuit and milk after finding her under the house.

• Grandmother

  Linda sends Ellen back to her grandmother for care after the child falls ill on the plantation.

Key passages

• “I knew that the young wives of slaveholders often thought their authority and importance would be best established and maintained by cruelty; and what I had heard of young Mrs. Flint gave me no reason to expect that her rule over them would be less severe than that of the master and overseer.”

  Linda believed that new slaveholding wives often used cruelty to assert their authority, and she expected young Mrs. Flint to be just as harsh as the master and overseer.

  Linda's expectation of cruelty from the new mistress reflects the systemic brutality of plantation life.

• “Truly, the colored race are the most cheerful and forgiving people on the face of the earth. That their masters sleep in safety is owing to their superabundance of heart; and yet they look upon their sufferings with less pity than they would bestow on those of a horse or a dog.”

  Linda observes that enslaved people are remarkably cheerful and forgiving, which is why their masters are safe, yet the masters show less compassion for them than for animals.

  Linda highlights the irony of enslaved people's resilience and the masters' lack of empathy.

• “When he hobbled up to get his bit of meat, the mistress said he was too old to have any allowance; that when niggers were too old to work, they ought to be fed on grass.”

  When an elderly enslaved man approached for his food ration, the new mistress declared that old slaves who couldn't work should be fed grass instead.

  This incident illustrates the dehumanizing treatment of elderly enslaved people, who were discarded when no longer productive.

• “I thought how well it would be for her if she never waked up; and I uttered my thought aloud.”

  Linda wished aloud that her daughter Ellen would die in her sleep rather than face a life of slavery.

  Linda's despair reflects the extreme suffering of enslaved mothers who saw death as a mercy for their children.