Books Read: 5 & 6

I have been a bit slow in updating my reading accomplishments. Now that I am at school I will not be doing as much free time reading, but I am taking a literature course-Victorian Literature and Culture. I have already finished 2 books for that class and will talk about both of them in this blog: The History of Mary Prince and Hard Times by Charles Dickens.

The History of Mary Prince is an autobiography of a woman named Mary Prince who was a slave in the British Caribbeans, she is freed when she is taken to England by one of her masters. She relates the horrible treatment of slaves and her own personal experience of being beaten by her masters, as well as other slaves. She also talks about working as a house slave and a slave in the field-specifically the salt fields. She is separated by her family at a young age. Her last master allows her to get married to a free black man, but takes her to England where she is free (no slaves on British soil). Eventually her owners push her to leave them of her own free will. However,if she is not freed from her master she cannot leave England to go to her husband. The story ends with her and the abolitionists trying to help her gain her freedom.

This book was an amazingly influential book in changing the course of British legislation. Two years later, slavery was abolished in British colonies. There were some interesting choices made in the writing style of this book. It was written by dictation-much of the writing was written in much better English than a uneducated slave would have. They was also no mention of rape or sex in general-except when people suddenly become pregnant (Mary's mother and a fellow slave Hette). Although this book was detailed in the beatings it was very watered down for the British public so that they would not be put off by a graphic description of life as a slave. They wanted people to be just upset to start being active abolitionists.

Its a very simple but interesting read. It has supplementary material to gain more context about the text and its influence on British society. It is a very short read and very different from what one reads about American slavery. I personally enjoyed the book as a historical depiction of life in British Caribbeans as a slave and how this book affect the history of British legislation towards slaves in the colonies.

My next book that I finished was Hard Times by Charles Dickens. It is set in a fictional town of Coketown (supposed to represent any town in England). It is a town focused on machines and facts. An important figure in this is Thomas Grangrind-school master later government representative is the spokesperson for this belief in Facts only-no fantasy or wonder. He teaches his pupils this system as well as his children. His friend Bunderby is also part of this society-is the owner of the bank and a factory of workers in the town. His daughter Louisa attempts to get out of this system by talking to Sissy Jupe (a student and taken in by Thomas Grandgrind, who is from the circus) about fantasy stories and life in the circus. She is soon married off to Mr. Bunderby. His son Tom Grangrind rebels against his father and has a gambling and drinking problem. Finally, through a series of events, Thomas Grandgrind has a change of heart and realizes the importance of emotions and fantasy.

I had trouble truly seeing some of the sarcasm of Dickens, but I understood his position and sympathy for the factory worker and his fear that the society is become too focused on machines and technology. It makes me wonder what people in the Victorian era would think of todays society, especially the Silicon Valley, where I'm from. Everyone is involved in the technology field-people want the latest gadget and use computers, phones, and other means to stay connected with people and what is going on with the world. I would be greatly interested to see if Dickens thinks our society has become immoral due to the obsession with technology.

I do not think this would be a book for everyone unless you know you like Victorian literature, classic literature, or Dickens. Other than that you probably shouldn't read it. I happened to enjoy it, but I tend to enjoy Victorian literature. It isn't my favorite book, I think I would enjoy his other works more like Christmas Carol or Tale of Two Cities.