Cutter asks, if Mary could free George, why did she not free herself? [10], Green and Clotel have a daughter Mary, also mixed race of course, and majority white. When Jefferson dies, the entire family is sold to different masters. She escapes at the market and leads her captors onto the Long Bridge. Eventually he dies, but Mary is freed. He was staying after a lecture tour to evade possible recapture due to the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act. True to the sentimental form (where increased happenstances or coincidences spell certain disaster), Clotel and Mary's existence are discovered by the new Mrs. Greene, who stumbles upon the cabin and is startled by Mary's close resemblance to her husband Horatio. "[27], 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution, Timeline of abolition of slavery and serfdom, The Afro-American Novel and Its Tradition, "Where in the World Is William Wells Brown? Clotel; or, The President's Daughter essays are academic essays for citation. At 16 years old, she is purchased by Horatio Green, with whom she has a daughter Mary. Such marked inconsistency between slavery and the United States' founding ideals severely destabilizes the country's exalted place as the bastion of democracy. Even individuals of mixed-race status who attempt to pass as white nevertheless suffer horrifically. There she meets William, another slave, and they plan a bold escape. Interestingly, Brown opens the novel with a shortened version of his narrative entitled, "Narrative of the Life and Escape of William Wells Brown"; however, he presents this account using third-person narration. He escapes to Canada. She and Horatio initially live in secret harmony, joyously sharing in the birth of their daughter Mary; yet, Horatio's political ambitions permanently disrupt the union. Althesa is sold to Henry Morton a businessman from the North. Set in the early nineteenth century, it is considered the first novel published by an African American[1][2] and is set in the United States. She arranges to trade places in prison with her lover, the slave George. She notes that he borrowed elements from the abolitionist Lydia Maria Child's plot in her short story, "The Quadroons" (1842). According to Brown in its preface, he wrote Clotel as a polemic narrative[21] against slavery, written for a British audience: If the incidents set forth in the following pages should add anything new to the information already given to the Public through similar publications, and should thereby aid in bringing British influence to bear upon American slavery, the main object for which this work was written will have been accomplished. He also incorporated notable elements of recent events, such as the escape of the Crafts, and the freedom suit court case of Salome, an enslaved woman in Louisiana who claimed to be an immigrant born in Germany. Recent scholars have also analyzed Clotel for its representations of gender and race. Sold to a slave trader, Mary is purchased by a French man who takes her to Europe. On the other hand Clotel is purchased by a Mr. Horatio Green. She becomes the lover of the slave George Green, jailed as an insurgent after. In Mississippi, Clotel now works for a planter. Currer and the girl strike up a friendship to the extent that the girl decides to advocate for Currer's freedom. Clotel; or, The President's Daughter: A Narrative of Slave Life in the United States is an 1853 novel by United States author and playwright William Wells Brown about Clotel and her sister, fictional slave daughters of Thomas Jefferson.