West Indian Plantation Slavery

West Indian plantation slavery has four important components that provide a basic overview of its importance both historically and in relation to literature.

European Colonization
· The area that is known today as the Caribbean was first discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492
· After his discovery, the Indians of the Caribbean land were now enslaved to the Spanish crown – all traces of the former life on this land were erased by the Spanish rule
Emergence of the Slave Trade
· New plantations were created, requiring an army of human hands to work them
· By the 17th century the majority of the original inhabitants of the West Indies had been wiped out by a combination of European diseases and physical exploitation – black slaves were brought in bondage from Africa
·
Slave Treatment
Duties:
· The cultivation of crops and tending of the animals
· Serving their “owners” in any way possible
· Sixteen to eighteen hours of work per day, and during the season of sugarcane harvest most slaves got only four hours of sleep
· Severe punishment for disobeying orders
· Etc.
Slave Compensation
It wasn’t until the mid 1800’s that the Emancipation Act of 1838 freed the slaves of the West Indies, however the unequal system still continued. The owners of these slaves were paid compensation by the British government, applying to the British colonies in the Caribbean, Bermuda, Belize, Guyana, Mauritius, and Cape Colony (South Africa).
West Indian Slavery and Literature
Slavery is a recurring theme in the literature of the Caribbean. Many writers feel the need to attempt a vocalization of all that was denied under the brutal system. Writers such as Derek Walcott in Omeros, and George Lamming in In the Castle of my Skin talk about the difficulty of moving forward from the feelings of injustice inspired by the slave system and the lack of improvement of life after slavery.
Video
This video sums up the main points about West Indian plantation slavery, outlining its emergence, purpose, and conditions:
Video – “The Caribbean: Colonial Past”
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/640195/West-Indies/54384/Plantation-slavery

Other useful resources:
European Colonization (Christopher Columbus)
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/columbus.htm
(Columbus's journal appears in Olson, Julius, The Northmen, Columbus and Cabot, 985-1503 (1926); Dyson, John, Columbus: for Gold, God, and Glory (1991); Morrison, Samuel Eliot, Admiral of the Ocean Sea (1942); )
Slave Compensation Claims – The Emancipation Act
http://compensations.plantations.bb/
Slavery and the Caribbean – Literature
http://www.qub.ac.uk/schools/SchoolofEnglish/imperial/carib/slavery.htm

West Indian Plantation Slavery and Jane Eyre

As mentioned, once Columbus took over the Caribbean new culture and traditions were established to replace the original customs and way of life. This can be immediately related back to Jane Eyre and how she was almost forced to go to Lowood. Jane is taken over by the reforms and rules placed upon her by Lowood. Her choices are limited and her life is regulated harshly. Like slaves relocated from Africa, she was taken from a place she knew and relocated to a cold, unrecognizable place. On page 103 Jane is interviewed by a women who seems kind enough and says “She hoped I would be a good little child” “and dismissed me”. Although this women is kind enough to Jane. The girls, especially Helen are subject to other unfairness in the classroom picked on for simple and unrealistic things. They have less then standard food, live in below par housing and have unsatisfactory food. When Mr. Brocklehurst comes to the school he can be compared to a plantation owner. The girls must live in these horrible conditions and Mr. Brocklehurst continues to subject the girls to tyrannical rules: cutting the girls hair, limiting their clean clothes and proper food. He also separates Jane from the rest of group and subjects her to humiliation in order to make her loose self esteem.
As mentioned - in the 17thC majority of the inhabitants had been wiped out from disease and physical exploitation. At Lowood, Jane explains how semi starvation and neglected colds (caused by poor conditions) had killed many of the girls. Their deaths are hidden, like they aren’t human - which is the same treatment slaves received.
Lowood was not the only place in which Jane was subject to slave like treatment. In Thornfield Jane was still considered an outcast, as she was not a servant but not a person of higher status. She is lucky, in the fact that some governesses had worse treatment during this time. As part of the Slave treatment they would have to “Serve their owners”, and this could be applied to governess’s at the time, who would be disgraced and out of jobs. When she leaves Thornfield she lives in poverty and starvation as many freed slaves had to do after the emancipation act, unsure of what they could do with their lives or where they could go.When telling her cousin St. John about their relationship Jane speaks about the relationship as if he is trying to control and own her. He tries to make her feel guilty about moving to India without being married.

Also, see page 607 on “Race, Empire, and the West Indies”