Injustice and Inequality
Injustice and Inequality
The theme of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s poem ‘The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim Point’ is centered on the horrendous injustice of slavery or rather inequality. Browning very clearly illustrates this theme by telling the story through the perspective of a black slave woman, who due to simply being black is robbed of not only her freedom and dignity, but also of her humanity. The phrase “I am black, I am black;”(Browning, 22) is frequently used during the course of this poem as a precursor to whenever something bad is about to happen to the slave woman, it’s a line which seems to express the injustice and frustration of someone whose life is ruined by that one fact, it’s also a sad reflection of her mood. Moreover this the poem goes on to debate the validity of slavery by elaborating on the shared experiences of blacks and whites in an effort to showcase their equality as human beings. The line “And still God's sunshine and His frost, They make us hot, they make us cold, As if we were not black and lost:”(50-53) refers to how blacks feel hot and cold just like any white man, and this furthers the belief of their equality. This view is further shown in the line “And the beasts and birds, in wood and wold, Do fear and take us for very men.”(54-57).
After this revelation the poem delves further into the cruelty of slavery but at the same time explores the power of love. For in the poem the black slave woman falls in love with a male slave. The love which is reciprocated from her fellow slave reinvigorates her and allows her to carry on in spite of the horrible hardships she is forced to endure as a slave. Unfortunately the slave woman’s happiness is short lived, and just after the line “We were black, we were black, we had no claim to love and bliss :”(92) her lover is killed by the white masters and her blissful reprieve is ended. Further compounding her suffering the slave woman is raped by presumably the very same men who put to death her lover, and as a result she ends up with a white child.
It’s at this point where the poem takes its most disturbing turn. The slave-woman is unable to bare the pain of seeing the horrors of the white man in the face of her beloved child and as a result she smothers it with a kerchief and kills it. This is the most tragic part of the poem as the very thing she loves the most she is forced to kill out of even stronger hate. Yet she doesn’t kill the baby completely out of spite because she also realizes that she and the child would be ostracized by society, which is suggested by the line “A child and mother, do wrong to look at one another, when one is black and one is fair.”(140) Thus killing the baby can be seen as an act of compassion as well as hate.
Finally the poem ends with the slave women contemplating the designs and potential fate of the white people who have caused her so much pain. She speaks of the wounds of blacks and whites and says “Our wounds are different, Your white men, Are, after all, not gods indeed, Nor able to make Christ’s again”(238-240). This suggests a moral injury to the white men who have performed such horrendous acts by enslaving blacks for their own gain. Lastly the reference to Christ seems to mean that they will not be forgiven, as Christ will not come and die again to redeem them. The religious imagery used frequently in the final stanzas of the poem hints at the theme of inequality expressed throughout the poem, in that death all will be even, the slave women even makes a mention that when she reunites with her son in death their “where our kisses agree”(250) which hints at the fact she believes all racial divides that precipitate the inequalities will be abolished in death.
The theme of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s poem ‘The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim Point’ is centered on the horrendous injustice of slavery or rather inequality. Browning very clearly illustrates this theme by telling the story through the perspective of a black slave woman, who due to simply being black is robbed of not only her freedom and dignity, but also of her humanity. The phrase “I am black, I am black;”(Browning, 22) is frequently used during the course of this poem as a precursor to whenever something bad is about to happen to the slave woman, it’s a line which seems to express the injustice and frustration of someone whose life is ruined by that one fact, it’s also a sad reflection of her mood. Moreover this the poem goes on to debate the validity of slavery by elaborating on the shared experiences of blacks and whites in an effort to showcase their equality as human beings. The line “And still God's sunshine and His frost, They make us hot, they make us cold, As if we were not black and lost:”(50-53) refers to how blacks feel hot and cold just like any white man, and this furthers the belief of their equality. This view is further shown in the line “And the beasts and birds, in wood and wold, Do fear and take us for very men.”(54-57).
After this revelation the poem delves further into the cruelty of slavery but at the same time explores the power of love. For in the poem the black slave woman falls in love with a male slave. The love which is reciprocated from her fellow slave reinvigorates her and allows her to carry on in spite of the horrible hardships she is forced to endure as a slave. Unfortunately the slave woman’s happiness is short lived, and just after the line “We were black, we were black, we had no claim to love and bliss :”(92) her lover is killed by the white masters and her blissful reprieve is ended. Further compounding her suffering the slave woman is raped by presumably the very same men who put to death her lover, and as a result she ends up with a white child.
It’s at this point where the poem takes its most disturbing turn. The slave-woman is unable to bare the pain of seeing the horrors of the white man in the face of her beloved child and as a result she smothers it with a kerchief and kills it. This is the most tragic part of the poem as the very thing she loves the most she is forced to kill out of even stronger hate. Yet she doesn’t kill the baby completely out of spite because she also realizes that she and the child would be ostracized by society, which is suggested by the line “A child and mother, do wrong to look at one another, when one is black and one is fair.”(140) Thus killing the baby can be seen as an act of compassion as well as hate.
Finally the poem ends with the slave women contemplating the designs and potential fate of the white people who have caused her so much pain. She speaks of the wounds of blacks and whites and says “Our wounds are different, Your white men, Are, after all, not gods indeed, Nor able to make Christ’s again”(238-240). This suggests a moral injury to the white men who have performed such horrendous acts by enslaving blacks for their own gain. Lastly the reference to Christ seems to mean that they will not be forgiven, as Christ will not come and die again to redeem them. The religious imagery used frequently in the final stanzas of the poem hints at the theme of inequality expressed throughout the poem, in that death all will be even, the slave women even makes a mention that when she reunites with her son in death their “where our kisses agree”(250) which hints at the fact she believes all racial divides that precipitate the inequalities will be abolished in death.
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