What caught my attention in this passage was the effort that Mr. Wood is putting in not to grant Mary her freedom, on page 43, reason #6 “He alleges that she was before marriage, licentious, and even depraved in her conduct, unfaithful to her husband afterwards” Mary Prince, here is where  I am reading between the lines that  Mr. Wood was having sex with Mary, he was condemning her as being promiscuous and being someone of low moral character because he knew what he was doing with her behind closed doors, but his actions were contradicting all the negative he was portraying Mary to be.

Mary was the one that took full care of his house when he and his wife was out of the country, she was the one that took care of the duties in his house, she took care of his kids, and most important he had the opportunity to sell her on five occasions and refused, even when he got offers that were more than her value, he choose to sell other slaves because she was giving him more than face value for his money, she was his most valuable slave because of the intangibles she brought to him, she wasn’t licentious, she was in survival mode in my opinion.

The history of Louis is similar to Mary’s experienced. Louis was captured by the Adinyes when they found him on a tree and he was taken as slave. The Adinyes sold all the slaves they got. Louis was sold over six times before he was sold again and taken to England. Louis was very happy to be in England because he found God. He wished to go back and see his friends again but he doesn’t want to go back to his country because he was scared to be taken a slave again which is the same reason Mary can’t go back to her country because if she returns she loses her freedom and the Wood’s family will punish her for causing them so much problem in England. Mary wishes to return to her husband but as long as Mr. Wood don’t give her freedom she can’t return which is very frustrating because they have done so much damage to Mary and they still won’t let her be free in her country.

Despite Mary Prince’s long service with the Wood’s family; Mr. Wood refuses bitterly to sell her to anyone else or to grant her the opportunity to be a free person.

I find it interesting when Mary was in England and is put out in the streets. She was smart enough to have made contact with a chapter of the Moravian church of which she had become a member in Antigua.

The part of Mary’s situation that stood out the most to me is how Mr. Wood fabricated stories condemning her good character. When the missionaries of England seeking her freedom, Mr. Wood would have high profile persons in Antigua write letters to paint a very negative and demeaning picture of Mary. However, one Mr. Joseph Phillips who seems to have been a high profile character and friend of Mr. Wood had himself been persecuted by Mr. Wood and his entourage (pp. 47-2, through pg. 48).

Mr. Phillips commented on Mr. Wood character while correcting the tarnish of Mary’s. Is it coincidence that Mr. Phillips would speak so kindly of Mary’s character or is he a fair humanitarian? This is my question which was answered later in the text as more abstracts (pg.50) were exposed about his character. I believe he was trying to be different from his colleagues, and true to humanity, hence, he fell on the oppose side of their power and was brought down.

“Expressing a desire to be furnished with some description of the marks of former ill-usage on Mary Prince person.” Mrs. Townsend, is saying I want to see the evidence of the continuous, brutal, devastated treatment that Mary Prince experience. I asked myself, how hard can it be to convince someone  who knows about slavery, of the broken, mutilated and battered state Mary’s body was in. However, what is not being addressed is the graphic episodes of the physical beating that was inflicted on her. Also what is not being addressed is the aftermath of the shame, pain, humiliation, manipulation and powerlessness Mary endurd as a slave.

Still there is much that is not being said and we have to read between the lines. Also, there is a silent voice crying out that is not being heard. A silence voice that if it could be heard that  in mourning for her lost of her innocence that was stolen. Crying for the freedom that her money could not buy, for the husband that she was beaten mercyfully for getting to. For the lost of her mother, brother, sister, and father, For the lost of a life. And yet, the main question is can I see the evidence of her beating.

The final pages of The History of Mary Prince gives insight on what was going on with Mary’s vs Mr. Wood’s case. The documents not only reveal Wood’s embarrassment and outrage as well as his attacks on Prince’s morals, but they also show the extent to which it became necessary to defend Prince’s character in order to maintain the veracity of her account and the abolitionist message it promotes. What I found interesting was on page 44 when it says “Her husband, he says, has taken another wife; ‘so that on that score, ‘he adds, ‘he does her no injury.’” I believe Mr. Woods was a very jealous man because he wanted Mary to himself. Woods wrote to his friend after Mary left them in England to make up lies about her being with another man. He didn’t want to see Mary happy; every time she was even the slightest bit of happy he had to do something to hurt her. I believe that he was having sex (rape) with Mary (which the book doesn’t discuss) and was very mad that she got married. He thought that Mary didn’t deserve and true freedom or happiness at all. When approached multiple times to sell Mary he would decline and not sell her.

While reading the final pages of the novel, I discover something very significant involving the court of explaining Mary Prince’s moral values and passions. The reason it is very significant because most of the witnesses revealed their true statements about Mary’s personality and worthiness. For example, Mrs. Forsyth proclaimed that Mary had been a very helpful servant for her about the last six months. In addition, Mary had also been taking care the house of the Secretary of the Anti-Slavery Society while he and his family were gone in Scotland for three months. The most interesting fact I am happy about Reverent J. Curtain firmly believes that Mary Prince was always dress appropriate and had faith in her. After the testimonies reveal their honest relationships with Mary Prince, the court believes the truth of her story was extraordinary persuasive. Overall, I like how most of the individuals described their relationships with Mary Prince with analysis and description.

The concluding pages of The History of Mary Prince gives details about Mary’s case against Mr. Wood. It seems like Mr. Wood’s main objective as the passage stated was to give himself the “satisfaction of preventing a poor black woman from returning home to her husband.” He presented what proved to be falsified information about Mary in efforts of not granting her freedom in Antigua. What makes this even more incomprehensible to me is the fact that he didn’t really want her himself, but if she wasn’t suffering under his violent hands he tried his best to ensure that she would suffer in every other aspect. The unnecessary animosity was ridiculous, he thought that Mary deserved no true freedom, no happiness. Since Mary was none of the things claimed by Mr. Wood, witness testimonies were in her favour and helped bring out the truth.

In the witness account from Mrs. Forsyth however,  she listed Mary’s “considerable share of natural pride and self importance” as one of her chief faults. Why should it be a fault? She makes it seem like slaves should posses no self loving or self appreciative thoughts, reminding me of just how little they thought of people like Mary.

In the latter part of this book after Mary Prince’s narrative was completed, the author shared and went into a comprehensive analysis about a letter written by John A. Wood; who was the former owner of Mary Prince during her time in slavery. Throughout the letter Mr. Wood put forth numerous contentions towards Prince during the span of her stay on his property. In one instance, he inculpated her for being unfaithful to her husband and often being caught sneaking out past her given curfew. Woods divulged that “…and prohibiting her going out after 10 to 12 o’clock (our bed-time) without special leave. This she considered the greatest, and indeed the only, grievance she ever complained of, and all my efforts could not prevent it. In hopes of inducing her to be steady to her husband…”  It is quite lucid the extent Woods went to intently convey malice and contempt.  It would easily be assumed that this was mainly due to Mary wanting freedom, but it is quite daunting to realzie how far a human being can go to prevent someone’s entitlement.

Woods constant denying of any wrongdoing or falsifying of Mary towards the ending of the narrative, indubitably exhibits his character, but also reveals how the truth always seems to emerge.  It was satisfying to read that Mr. Phillips actually wrote beneficial things that portrayed Mary in a positive light, heavily limiting the veracity of Woods remarks.  This in itself is essential to not only Mary’s story, but the story of all slaves and those who have ever been enslaved in general.  It is absolutely astonishing to sit back and think of how cruel the human race can actually be.  Although it is painless to think, read, or hear about reprehensible acts, such as slavery, to actually experience such inhumane acts in one form or another is a completely different story.

while reading this section the part that stood out to me was when they were speaking on the statement given by Patrick Ross. His 6th point where he states “before marriage, licentious, and even depraved in her conduct, and unfaithful to her husband afterwords” and the next line it is said that these are serious charges. this showed me how important and sacred marriage was back in those days. Back then infidelity was taken very serious and greatly shamed upon, especially for a woman. It is still shamed upon today but it was way more severe then. I also felt that at this point in the case anything was being said to make it see like she was the one in the wrong. Because saying that she was licentious and unfaithful would raise some questions for him. for example: how can you allow her to be around your family if she is all these things you claim her to be. that would then make it seem bad on his part because as the head of the home and master to his slaves, he allowed it to happen.

In this section of readings, one part that really caught my attention was on page 32 from the pdf version stating, “his wife was probably more severe than himself-it was almost impossible for the slaves ever to give her entire satisfaction.” This part made me realize how much has changed throughout history. It is so absurd to realize that women did not support one another in those times because their appearances was different. I would think that they would feel a type of sorrow to see men doing all forms of brutal punishments to other women, however it is evident that they are worse than men. They have used their power for opposite reasons to go against their own gender.
It is so pleasing to know that although there are women that seek hatred for other women, it is not as severe in today’s time. For example, on social media there would be many hateful comments under a famous person’s page, but there would be more supportive fans that are not afraid to speak their minds and correct them.
I believe that if we as women cannot support one another, we will only be seen as inferior. We should not look at each other differently because of our races, religion, or ethnicity, but to build one another up, instead of tearing each other down.