One of the more problematic things I do as an English Major is privilege interpretations based on whether or not I think they're "better" than others. Typically "better" for me is an interpretation that is more interesting, or less problematic in a wider sense.
In reading Phillis Wheatley's "On Being Brought from Africa to America," I was struck by how unaware it was, praising the people who stole her from her family and forced her to abandon her culture and language. Phillis Wheatley proved herself to be exceptionally intelligent, as she learned English in record time and took on the classics. I find it hard to believe that Wheatley's poetry lacked any attempts to subvert her position.
I found my subversion in the penultimate line of "On Being Brought from Africa to America," where Wheatley writes "Remember, Christians, Negroes, black as Cain,/May be refin'd, and join th' angelic train." The typical reading suggests that Wheatley's speaker is reminding Christians that negroes may be refined. However, nothing requires that interpretation except maybe unspoken grammatical convention, a convention that poetry is not generally in the business of keeping.
I posit instead that "On Being Brought from Africa to America" is instead written to the negroes, reminding them that the Christians may be refined. The only difference is an unusual change in emphasis in the line, but it opens the entire poem up to be read subversively. Perhaps the "Pagan Land" is not Africa.
I believe we had this discussion in class at one point, and it is one I definitely found interesting and plausible. Perhaps with Wheatley's poetic skills, she cleverly wrote this poem concerning the impurities and sin of white people. Her master believed it to be the opposite. That is also a very interesting point, that the "Pagan Land" is indeed America. An America that prides itself on it's religious heritage and freedom, yet did not subscribe to racial freedom for many years.
ReplyDeleteIt is hard to decide who Wheatley is addressing in this poem because of the punctuation that is used in the line that states, "Remember, Christians, Negros, black as cain." The commas throw people off about who Wheatley is speaking to. In the beginning of the poem, Wheatley says, "'TWAS mercy brought me from my Pagan land." In the first line Wheatley clearly states that she is coming from her home continent in Africa. She goes on to say that America has transformed her-in fact, has changed her for the better. In this controversial line, we must read it with the breaks where the commas are. When you read it word-by-word, "remember, christians..," you see that Wheatley is talking directly to the Christian Americans. In the last line, Wheatley states that since she was an African American that changed her ways when she came to the United States, then other African Americans can as well.
ReplyDeleteI think you could see either reading, and that the first is the more read one. But, like the video we watched in class once, this poem can be seen as deeply sarcastic. And as our class continued to study and read poems by Wheatley, we noticed how incredibly clever and smart she was while writing her pieces; she was doing so for entry and for certain purpose. I just don't think she wrote this piece to praise those who took her from her home.
ReplyDeleteJust some food for thought that I picked up in our Wheatley unit.