Respond to this response below. Your intake on this persons response to the article “The History of Mary Prince, A West Indian Slave, Related by Herself” .
“The History of Mary Prince, A West Indian Slave” as related by herself is an intriguing read. It was horrifying to read how many times Prince was handed around as a child whenever her slave owners were unable to keep her, one of those times where she was handed around that stuck out to me was “I had scarcely reached my twelfth year when my mistress became too poor to keep so many of us at home; and she hired me out to Mrs. Pruden, a lady who lived about five miles off, in the adjoining parish, in a large house near the sea. I cried bitterly at parting with my dear mistress and Miss Betsey, and when I kissed my mother and brothers and sisters, I thought my young heart would break, it pained me so. But there was no help; I was forced to go.” (Prince, 4). Prince didn’t have a stable life as a child, and it was unfortunate how she grew up being handed off to different people, even being sold to raise money for a wedding as stated “rs. Pruden came to me and said, “Mary, you will have to go home directly; your master is going to be married, and he means to sell you and two of your sisters to raise money for the wedding.” Hearing this I burst out a crying,–though I was then far from being sensible of the full weight of my misfortune, or of the misery that waited for me” (Prince, 4). Her life was not easy and she was incredibly mistreated on the plantation with her most recent owners either, their treatment was harsh, even while they were in England as well. It was appalling that even while in England the mistress was so cruel to Price, one instance was when her joint pain was flaring up, being cited as “When I complained to my mistress of this, she only got into a passion as usual, and said washing in hot water could not hurt any one;–that I was lazy and insolent, and wanted to be free of my work; but that she would make me do it. I thought her very hard on me, and my heart rose up within me.” (Price, 13). It was appalling treatment that nobody should be subjected to. I found relief though when she finally stood up and left her owners while she was in England, it was very brave of her to finally do that and I was very happy that she was finally getting away from all the abuse. The part that was the most relieving was when she stated “I lived a good many months with these poor people, and they nursed me, and did all that lay in their power to serve me.” (Price, 14). It was good finally seeing Price be treated well, as she did not deserve the mistreatment she had received over the course of her life.
The video, “How Slavery Shaped Our Cities” relates to the reading a bit. Mary Price’s account gives a greater understanding of the video. Price’s account had greatly explained what had happened to her body through the strenuous work and even the horrific abuse, the development of rheumatoid arthritis, and the countless beatings that she had endured at the hands of her slave masters as well as the other treatments the slaves around her had gotten. That coincides with the brutal treatment mentioned briefly in the video. Both also relate to each other with the sale of slaves for profit as mentioned in the video, with Price’s case also being related to her being sold at one point for her owner to get more money for a wedding (Price, 4). The video also mentioned plantation work, which also aligns with Price’s telling of her life. Her work gives an in-depth detailing of how arduous and stressful on the body the plantain work was that the video does not explore, with all the tasks she had undertaken there such as “Picking cotton and wool” (Price, 7). Price’s work gives a greater understanding of the video by providing an in-depth detailing of the treatment that slaves had received at that time, greatly aiding in understanding what the video mentions.
