In our class discussions of the Invention of Wings, we defined happening upon meaning as finding a passage in the novel that was striking to us. So far, there have been a couple of places in The Invention of Wings where I have happened upon meaning; for now, I’ll just give a couple of examples. One of the passages that was striking to me was on page 13 (“She took…couldn’t swallow.”) where Missus and Aunt- Sister were preparing Handful to be given to Sarah as her personal slaves. What was striking to me about this passage was how the lavender ribbon that Missus tied so tightly around Handful’s neck reminded me of a dog owner putting a collar around the neck of their pet. I think this small passage helps to show how slaves were seen as property than could be treated in any way instead of people who have their own rights, thoughts, and desires. In addition, I found the passage on page 53 (“After he.. our necks.”) where mauma explains to Handful the story behind a spirit tree to be striking as well. The reason I found this to be striking was because despite all of the hardships Handful and her mother faced, they still could cope through having a strong mother daughter bond, storytelling, and the making of spirit trees. I think this shows the resilience a lot of slaves had during the 19th century. Also, I just thought that this passages was very heartwarming and sweet.
During our class discussions, we have discussed multiple times the concept of slavery and freedom and their meanings. Recently, I came to wonder whether Sarah was a slave herself. In this case, I’m not talking about someone who’s physically bound and abuse
d on a daily basis, rather, I’m talking about someone who may be a slave to society and its ideals. In a way, the majority of us are slaves to society because of the pervasive influence of media in our American culture and the many other traditional cultural American norms that have played a role in our history. Perhaps, Sarah could be seen as slave trying to escape from her bondage; for Sarah this bondage is the numerous ideals and norms placed on her as a young woman of high society and her way of escaping is trying to adhere to her abolitionist beliefs. I think as the novel progresses, we see Sarah’s continuous struggle towards her “freedom” from a young age where she first tried to free Handful to the times where she traveled up north to Philadelphia and stayed with a Quaker family. This “slavery” of Sarah is also at the hands of her mother, who wants Sarah to be the ideal woman of this time period desirable for marriage and homemaking. Sarah also struggles with dealing with her mother even to the point where’s she’s driven to tears on multiple occasions. I find this “slavery” of Sarah’s to be an interesting contrast to the harsh and brutal slavery that Handful has experienced since birth and in a way, this makes them even more alike, as they both try to escape the bonds of slavery, hoping to be able to fulfil their dreams and desires.While reading the Invention of Wings and observing the behaviors of the characters, Sarah Grimke was one of the characters that stood out to me. What I found interesting about her was the white savior complex that seemed to be a great part of her character. For those of you who may not be familiar with this term, a white savior complex is when someone who’s usually white feels as if it’s their duty to help out marginalized groups, particularly racial minority groups, and put them in a place of equal standing and upward mobility. However, they often do this more for themselves instead of for the person or groups they are trying to help Recently, a group on YouTube took a humorous look at this complex in their video titled Let's Save Africa ! - Gone wrong where they made a parody of a commercial for an NGO, hoping to get the public to understand the white savior complex. Sometimes those who have this complex may feel pity for the person they’re helping instead of having a genuine connection with that person. I think this is the case with Sarah and Handful’s relationship, especially as the two grow older and become more distant. For example, by the time of the workhouse accident that Handful was injured in, instead of comforting her, Sarah offers a measly “sorry” (168) to make Handful feel better. Instead of assuaging Handful’s pain, Sarah’s “apology” only adds to the resentment Handful had towards her when Sarah gave her back to the malicious Missus because she can’t stand the idea of owning a slave herself. This action of Sarah’s further reveals this complex, showing her more self-righteous nature as well. The giving back of Handful to Missus only worsens Handful’s situation that Sarah was trying to make better in the first place. As a result, it seems that Sarah is more into the cause of abolition for herself than for better the life of Handful because she only though about herself and not Handful. I think if Sarah really wanted to help Handful, she should have kept her and later set her free, maybe even taking Handful with her on her trips to the north. So far in all of the reading I have done, it seems to me that Sarah fails to take any actions to help the abolitionist cause she says she’s fighting for. I think this is because she is more caught up in society as she tries to figure out how to fit into a society that for the most part looks down upon outspoken women and abolition. Because of this, the pressures and norms placed upon her by her family, and her journey of self-discovery, I think Sarah gets a little lost in her goals to achieving freedom for the slaves. Only until she can see the slaves as people who need real human connections and not pity and learn to put her some of her self-righteousness aside, I think, will Sarah be able to be more of the activist she desires to become.
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