Poetry · Chapter
The Bondwoman's Dream explained
A bondwoman, exhausted from reaping wheat, tends to her infant son and dreams of a future where he is free, prosperous, and independent.
What happens
A bondwoman, exhausted from reaping wheat, tends to her infant son and dreams of a future where he is free, prosperous, and independent. She wakes to her harsh reality and returns to her labor, hoping the dream may one day come true.
Themes in this chapter
Motherhood and Sacrifice
The bondwoman's nurturing of her child amidst exhaustion and her dream of his future freedom highlight the sacrifices of motherhood.
Social Injustice and Class
The bondwoman's status as a slave and her dream of her son being 'no longer the landlord’s but his own man' underscore class oppression and the desire for liberation.
Characters to notice
- Unknown
The bondwoman, a slave who reaps wheat and dreams of her son's freedom.
- The Servant
The bondwoman is a servant, forced to work in the fields and care for her child.
Key passages
“The slave with sickle reaped the wheat, Then wearily limped among the stooks; But not to rest, Her little son she sought Who wakened crying in cool nest among the sheaves.”
The enslaved woman harvested wheat with a sickle, then limped tiredly through the grain stacks, not to rest but to find her crying baby hidden among the sheaves.
Establishes the bondwoman's grueling labor and maternal duty.
“In dreams she saw her little son, Her Johnny, grown to man, handsome and rich. No lonely bachelor but a married man In freedom it seemed, no longer the landlord’s but his own man.”
She dreamed of her son Johnny as a grown, handsome, and wealthy man, married and free, no longer owned by the landlord but independent.
The dream contrasts her current bondage with a vision of freedom and prosperity for her son.
“The poor thing laughed in her sleep, Woke up— a dream indeed it was. She looked at Johnny, picked him up and swaddled him, And back to her allotted task; Sixty stooks her stint.”
The poor woman laughed in her sleep, then woke to realize it was only a dream. She picked up Johnny, wrapped him, and returned to her assigned work of stacking sixty sheaves of grain.
The harsh return to reality after the dream emphasizes the gap between hope and her daily oppression.