So Wench opens of course with two definitions of the word.
Wench (c.1290): A girl, maid, young woman; female child.
(1362): A wanton woman; a mistress.
United States: (1812; 1832); A black or colored female servant; a negress.
(1848): A colored woman of any age; a negress or mulatress, especially one in service.
So we see that the definition of wench has changed throughout the centuries and leaves us with the knowledge that the book takes place during the mid 1800's. But the next page give a quote which having read forward a bit certainly summarizes a definite feeling of what constituted "property" in the south during that era.
"Her beauty was notorious through all that part of the country; and colonel Moore had been frequently tempted to sell her by the offer of very high prices. All such offers however, he had steadily rejected; for he especially prided himself upon owning the swiftest horse, the handsomest wench, and the finest pack of hounds in all Virginia."
-The Slave: or Memoirs of Archy Moore (1836)
So, I have to wonder, really wonder of the audacity of a person who can take credit for not only the beauty of another human (that they did not birth) but apparently credits himself for how well trained she is, just like his dogs, and horses. Swallow that. Then get back to what this tells us about the story. I think the quote infers will be exploring the place of African American women in slave society. It gives detailed insight of white slave owners, their expectations and entitlements. It really sets the tone of where you are as you start chapter one.
Part one begins in 1852, (9 years before the first shots of the civil war are fired)
6 slaves sit in a circle plaiting each others hair; The book has a 3rd person narration. Lizzie who at this seems to be the main character. A "house servant" and mistress of a small plantation owner. Lizzie is half in love with her master, had born him 2 children and is treated (by comparison of the others) kindly by her Master. Phillip, a head groomsman from the same plantation. Reenie, an older female slave from another plantation. Henry and George twin brothers and Sweet a heavily pregnant twenty something slave. They are at a summer resort in Ohio (free territory) with their Masters. The females are their to "tend" to the needs of the men, cooking, sewing and cleaning (or so they tell their wives regarding why they need to bring the slave woman on their vacation) and managing horses, gathering wood, hunting and fishing etc. Enter Mawu; a light skinned freckled, bushy, red headed slave who's entire appearance in unconventional. Just the physical description tells you this one will be trouble. Lizzie is immediately struck by Mawu, drawn to and yet a little jealous of. Almost a "girl crush" . The untamed hair is a nice symbol of her supposed untamed spirit. The others want to plait her hair right away and she declines saying "Tip" her master wouldn't like it. They invite her to sit and talk and she takes them up on it. They don't need many words to fit together having shared many of the experiences of slavery they really understand each other. the dialog is pretty short and to the point. Written in slave vernacular, it reminds me of Toni Morrison but doesn't seem to have the same punch. The narrater tells us this is the second summer at the resort for all the slaves. The resort also has Northern white guests who dislike slavery so the guests with female slaves have their own cabins and don't stay in the hotel. The males sleep in the hot attic with the hotel servants. The slaves are lonely for companionship, even avoiding the "free black" servants who work in the hotel. George starts telling them about a place he heard about. a "free colored resort" she heard about on the other side of the woods. An immediate argument starts about the existence of free blacks, what their place in society is like, where they are etc. Mawu stops the conversation and says "when us going?" Lizzie senses an attraction between Phillip and Mawu. Reenie questions Mawu on why she doesn't want her hair plaited, a confrontation happens questioning what kind of woman Mawu is.....Mawu, indignant says she can "sho see what kind of woman y'all is" "Y'all aint talking about nothing, ain't doing nothing. You probably run behind your mens all day sweeping up they dirt".
They immediately give her silence, "shut out with a wall of disregard." Mawu leaves and nothing more is said.
The author gives you a very real sense of the isolation of each slave even among their constituents, their loneliness and need for companionship, particularly the woman's need for other woman. Yet they maintain a distance even from each other as a protection mechanism, based on their experiences of loss throughout their lifetime. In addition, as "house slaves" they have a real distance from the other slaves that makes it more palpable.
Chapter two finds Mawu teaching Lizzie how to make a stew from back in Louisiana that will "soften up a white man" . Lizzie is comparing herself to Mawu, physically and thinking that having seem Mawu's master Tip, that he didn't deserve to feel the tender scratch of Mawu's fingernail down his back. At this point you can see that Lizzie is projecting her thoughts and emotions of her relationship on to Mawu's making assumptions that there is some love and tenderness as in hers. Lizzie, however senses a carefree looseness about Mawu's that makes her question whether she ever gets beat. The conversation progresses to family and origins. Lizzie really has no living mother and no close females on her plantation where Mawu had a birth Mammy and other support on hers. A real dialog begins about their ancestry when Lizzie asks if Mawu's mammy was white. Mawu says her Granny was and she left the baby behind and took off. A discussion ensues about whether or not the baby was free if the mammy was white. Mawu says she never heard of such a thing, that the baby was rightful property. This discussion give us clues as to the attitudes the slaves have regarding their own caste system and their interpretations of the laws of the society in which they live. When Mawu asks why Lizzie talks different, Lizzie tells her she can read (which she is very proud of). So we see yet another way Lizzie is set apart from the other slaves and the different base she may have in her attitude toward her own slavery. Her Master has taught her to read which would be considered unusual for a male slave, never mind a female. Then when Mawu asks Lizzie if she likes coming to the resort Lizzie tells her she likes "spending time with her man" Mawus say he's not your man you know. Lizzie doesn't know if Mawu realizes what she means by "spending time with". Mawu, shocked, asks Lizzie if she loves him. Lizzie stops herself from saying yes when she see's Mawu's disapproval. Lizzie asks Mawu why she's with Tip.. Mawu says "cause I belong to him."
So we continue to see that although these two women seem drawn to each other, they are coming from two entirely different places.
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