Contending Forces (Masterplots II: African American Literature Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Pauline Hopkins
- First Published: 1900
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Social criticism
- Time of Work: The 1790’s and the 1890’s
- Setting: Bermuda, North Carolina, Boston, New Orleans
- Principal Characters: Sappho Clark, Will Smith, Dora Smith, John Langley, Arthur Lewis
- Genres: Long fiction, Social realism
- Subjects: African Americans, Civil rights, Social action, Family or family life, Politics, Racism, Love or romance, Suicide, Biracial people, South or Southerners, Nineteenth century, Slavery or slaves, Betrayal, Prostitution or prostitutes, Friendship, Eighteenth century, New Orleans, North Carolina, Greed, Lawyers, Boston
- Locales: Boston, MA, New Orleans, LA, North Carolina, Bermuda
The Novel
The novel is divided into two distinct parts. The first part traces the fate of the family of a Bermuda planter, Charles Montfort, who leaves Bermuda in the 1790’s with his wife, children, and slaves to avoid compliance with a British law ordering him to free his slaves. He moves to North Carolina, where he soon incurs the jealousy of Anson Pollack, who has Montfort murdered after spreading the rumor that Montfort’s wife is black. She commits suicide, and the Montfort children are remanded into slavery; one son, Charles, Jr., is purchased and taken to England by...
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