English 4400 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Obeah, Planation Surface, Serape
Document Summary
This was a period of territorial expiation for britain. Europe had gent through revolutions especially the american revolution and the french revolution. The french revolution lead to angst that one class might rise up against another. It threatened those of bourgeoisie classes, but make lower classes hopeful that they too could rise up. Gothic mode; the underclasses or outsiders were thought to possibly rise and take power. Slavery had already been banned by 1833, but the jamaican slave revolt in 1831 lead to many stories that travelled through the accounts of explores and colonizer about these kind of slave revolts. They were often told in gothic discourse; a language of fear and uncivilized beings rising up. However, slavery wasn"t banned in the states yet. This was significant because of bertha in the novel. Bertha was his mad" wife, from the west indies.
