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.

Well it looks like things started to heat in Mary’s cases when “Mr. Phillips of Antigua submitted his inspection of Mr. Wood’s letter and Mary’s narrative”Pg.46. This part in the reading was the first most interesting to me because of the way Mr. Phillips inspection actually defends Mary’s claims about her mistreatment while working for the Wood’s family. This came as a surprise to me because at that time in history (slavery era) I truly did not believed that a slave could have any chance at justice, let alone had a fair chance of winning a case (such as Mary’s) against a white slave owner.

The Last thing that caught my attention was a sentence on Page 55 “slavery is a curse to the oppressor scarcely less than to the oppressed” this irritated me the most. I really could not comprehend how slavery was a curse to the oppressor (slave owners) when they had all the power and could do anything they wanted to their slaves. For example the beating that the Wood’s did to Hetty I pretty sure that pained them a lot (I’m being sarcastic), that sentence made me realize that slave owners didn’t have any care or remorse for their heinous acts against slaves.

In the supplement near the end of the narrative, Mary’s previous master, Mr. Wood denies any wrong doing and refuses to emancipate Mary. Mr. Wood’s true colors are in the limelight and to prevent the case from going to court attempts to stall. Mr. Wood’s letter is scrutinized and many of his claims are falsified which makes Mary’s side of the story much more believable to the people. Mary is also proven in these letters by Mr. Phillip’s to be of good character and an honest person.
Mr. Woods doesn’t want this to go public in fear of being ridiculed by the British population. This is justice, although very miniscule, for Mary. At this point all Mr. Woods wants to do is scurry away with his tail between his legs after realizing everything is coming full circle. Mary Prince endured more than we can imagine and it was so that her voice could be heard and future generations can see what true determination is.

Louis’s experience was somewhat different from Mary’s in the sense that he wasn’t born into slavery; he actually knew what freedom was like before he became a slave, they were similar because they both ended up in England despite having different sentiments about being there. The two main points that stood out to me the most from the reading was when Louis explained the great lengths at which the  “Adinyés”  people went to capture them even though they were all one people which is what I think broke the trust between them, and contributed greatly to the fear Louis felt about going back to his to his homeland.

another moment that stood out to me was, when louis was explaining how happy he was to be in england, as he was able to have a peice of mind and not be worried about people chasing after him and got introduced to god, but he also had hope for his own people to someday experience the same kind of comfort as he has experienced in England; this to me showed that he still had a sense of nationalism and even though he was living in england and had some type of comfort, he still didn’t think of it as his “home”.

A significant moment that really stood up to me was located in page 53 the very first paragraph. It briefly states how the slave owner who goes by the name of Mr. Wood he deliberately refuses to grant Mary’s freedom. Also how much agony and furry he has over her. He wants to brutally beat her but she is in England premises. This significant moment stood up to me for many diverse reasons. One reason on to why this significant moment stood up to me. It is because it gives the reader a sense of how hard was it to gain freedom.  It demonstrated how slaves struggled so much just to gain freedom and to be liberated from the slave owner’s tyranny. Another reason on why this moment is very significant to me because slaves were often denied from their freedom no matter how many trials and approvals they went through. During slavery in the rural South slavery was never to be mentioned and if it was the slave was designated to be killed. Compared to our society we as humans are treated equally due to our Constitution. We all have natural rights in which the government can’t take away.  During slavery there was no such thing as natural rights and the constitution wasn’t created yet. Freedom was forbidden in the South the slaves were to be kept under tyrannical rule.

One excerpt which caught my attention is: “The narrative of Louis ASA-ASA” (don’t have exact paging E-version) is describing how the “adinyes” came into their home, killed, and burned everything. Asa-Asa through his short narrative describes how they invaded his home in explicit detail. They killed Asa-Asa village and then stole the people for trade or killed them, many children were killed because of their “uselessness”. This moment is extremely significant because his father was killed and the people who he knew were being killed for example he had a neighbor who couldn’t hold up his weight so he was killed. This also describes the hardships endure which helps us better understand Mary- Prince to show that she wasn’t the only person brutalized. This also helps understand how cruel the world was to the Slaves, Asa-Asa describes that people he knew were getting killed he describes people he knew getting killed while running away.