Jane E. Wilson And Fanny Fern - 1471 Words

Pride is a broad character trait that has both positives and negatives associated with it. The way one goes about confronting the hurdles in their life determines how others will perceive them. The wrong kind of pride can have serious negative ramifications on one’s life. While not a hard and fast rule, often characters of lower class tend to be written to show positive pride and work through their struggles, while the people of a higher class show a negative pride that limits the before mentioned characters associated with a lower class. Through their writing, Harriet E. Wilson and Fanny Fern exhibit a myriad of levels of pride exemplified by various characters, in their books, Our Nig or, Sketches from the Life of a Free Black and Ruth Hall: A Domestic Tale of the Present Time, respectively. In Harriet E. Wilson’s book, Our Nig, there are two opposing types of pride that are present throughout the book. The positive character of Frado, the young mulatto, is much different than that of Mrs. Bellmont’s negative pride, however the two are dependent upon each other. As Mrs. Bellmont is a privileged, white woman, Frado is a helpless, indentured servant to the Bellmont family. It is this whiteness, this superiority over the colored, which fuels Mrs. Bellmont’s hate and abuse toward young Frado. In the historical timeframe, even though Frado is considered a free black, she owns no property. As Philip Gould states in his discussion of class, â€Å"property is both evidence