As Handful watches her mother get tortured for stealing missus' emerald silk, she goes through a whirlwind of different emotions. When she narrates her thoughts as her mother endures her punishment, the tone throughout the passage changes many times and Handful struggles to convey the storm in her mind. Handful is a tough character, and she doesn't actually say that much that really conveys her despair at what's happening to her mother, so her feelings are kind of hard to gather from just reading the passage. This is why I wanted to read it aloud, because I think that even though her words might be tough, the tone and the emotions behind her words are desperate and distraught.
Here is the progression of her thoughts and the tone that corresponds to them:
1. Handful tries to pretend that what is happening isn't real as she shuts her eyes, but then is forced to confront reality. Her tone is fearful and to an extent disgusted at the punishment.
2. Handful petitions God, dropping her tough, "I-don't-need-anyone's-help" persona. Her tone is desperate for help for her mother.
3. Handful remembers that bad things like this have happened to them many times, and God hasn't stepped in then. She feels like He doesn't care about them at all, and that He would be more sympathetic to missus or Master Grimke, and her tone is cynical.
4. Handful and her mother manage to get through the rest of the punishment, and Handful dismisses her idea that God helped them, instead saying that it was Charlotte's own perseverance. Her tone in this part is the hardest to describe, but I would say it's resigned to the punishment, to the fact that God will not help them, to the fact that they are alone in the world, and to the fact that white people will always (in the foreseeable future) be able to control them. I think this gives Handful a great degree of sadness, which hurts the most when her infinitely strong and courageous mother, in her weakness and vulnerability, calls for her own mother like a child.
Here is the progression of her thoughts and the tone that corresponds to them:
1. Handful tries to pretend that what is happening isn't real as she shuts her eyes, but then is forced to confront reality. Her tone is fearful and to an extent disgusted at the punishment.
2. Handful petitions God, dropping her tough, "I-don't-need-anyone's-help" persona. Her tone is desperate for help for her mother.
3. Handful remembers that bad things like this have happened to them many times, and God hasn't stepped in then. She feels like He doesn't care about them at all, and that He would be more sympathetic to missus or Master Grimke, and her tone is cynical.
4. Handful and her mother manage to get through the rest of the punishment, and Handful dismisses her idea that God helped them, instead saying that it was Charlotte's own perseverance. Her tone in this part is the hardest to describe, but I would say it's resigned to the punishment, to the fact that God will not help them, to the fact that they are alone in the world, and to the fact that white people will always (in the foreseeable future) be able to control them. I think this gives Handful a great degree of sadness, which hurts the most when her infinitely strong and courageous mother, in her weakness and vulnerability, calls for her own mother like a child.