But something which
The Invention of Wings hints at is how slavery dehumanizes the slave owners as well. They invent ways to torture/punish slaves. Things which are totally barbaric, yet was practiced by cultured and refined ladies of the South. The book shows how evil some of the people got.
The style of alternating voices between Sarah Grimke and Handful at times was useful when it talked about the same incident. But at other times the rigidness of this structure got in the way as it seemed like one or the other had little to say. I think rather than just alternating the voice which could be an effective technique, maybe a better use would be of use when one of them had something to say, to use that person and continue using that voice until the other had meaningful contribution.
Presbyterianism
Kidd makes mention the disdain Southerners had about Presbyterianism. It should be noted that even back in the late 1700's through the mid-1800's, there were several groups of Presbyterians, so one statement does not cover them all.
I attend a Presbyterian church which sometimes does a self-mocking by
referring to themselves as the
frozen chosen. There is a tendency
for us to be pretty set in our ways and how we worship. I was surprised
when looking over some sites while researching this statement that
Presbyterianism was associated with a more rougher type of
religion-revivalism. Consequently they brought in undesirables if you
were part of the upper class in society-not that all Presbyterians were
that way. Many of the Founding Fathers of the United States were
Presbyterians.
I was wondering if Presbyterians of the time were more abolitionist in nature because of the comments Kidd makes. The answer is somewhat yes, but the view of slavery seemed to be more consistent concerning location rather than theology. Before the war, some Presbyterian churches even owned slaves and would rent them out to help pay expenses. According to
Wikipedia, in 1861, the United Presbyterian Church of America split along North-South lines with the South becoming Presbyterian Church of the United States after the Civil War. Some more information can be found at the following sites:
Or the treadmill as a means of punishing slaves. This is not our modern exercise or Medicean treadmill. It is a cylinder, maybe 10-12' high with steps. The slaves hands were tied above their head to a bar and then they needed to continue to walk up the steps. If they slowed Down, then they got whipped. Many slaves were either killed or crippled on this device. There was the added functionality that it ground grain and corn for the city.
Evaluation:
I was surprised by this book. Normally I do not read historical fiction-if you are interested in why, you can read more in my blog. Having previously I had read American Slavery by Theodore Weld, I was interested in seeing how Kidd's book would compare. Kidd skillfully brings the contents of American Slavery into The Invention of Wings without making it seem like these were actual occurrences to their main characters.
Kidd writes her book based upon a curiosity of two of the Grimke sisters. They would grow into being abolitionists and probably the first US feminists. But do not mistake this for being a biography of them. This is a fictional account to bring the Grimke sisters forward to their proper place in our thinking. The Invention of Wings takes the basis of facts somewhat from what is known about the sisters, somewhat from how slavery functioned, somewhat a composite of whites, and some from the imagination of Kidd.
This combination makes the book a good diving board to understand more of the South during slave times, along with some of the effects we still see in our society now.
New Words:
- Supercilious (229): behaving or looking as though one thinks one is superior to others
- Desiccated (284): Desiccation is the state of extreme dryness, or the process of extreme drying.
- Thalassotherapy (284): the medical use of seawater as a form of therapy
- Laudanum (284): a tincture of opium containing approximately 10% powdered opium by weight (the equivalent of 1% morphine).
- Paregoric (284): camphorated tincture of opium, also known as tinctura opii camphorata, is a medication known for its antidiarrheal, antitussive, and analgesic properties.
- Manumission (40): the act of a slave owner freeing his or her slaves
- Quevery (50): ????
- Crenulated (103): a fabric formed in metamorphic rocks such as phyllite, schist and some gneiss by two or more stress directions resulting in superimposed foliations.
- Cosseted (116): to pamper; coddle; pet
- Anomalous (164): deviating from or inconsistent with the common order, form, or rule; irregular; abnormal:
- au courant (211):Informed on current affairs; up-to-date.
- Cabriolet (220): A light two-wheeled carriage with a folding top pulled by a single horse.
- Cowrie (224): the common name for a group of small to large sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries.
- Circumambulation (229): to walk or go about or around, especially ceremoniously.
- Supercilious (229): haughtily disdainful or contemptuous, as a person or a facial expression.
- Jonkonnu (318): a street parade with music, dance and costumes in many towns across The Bahamas
Book References:
Good Quotes:
- First Line: There was a time in Africa the people could fly.
- Last Line: We rode onto the shining water, onto the far distance.
- Everything she knew came from living on the scarce side of mercy. (14)
- There is no pain on earth which does not desire a benevolent witness (165).
- I have one mind for the master to see. I have another mind which I know is me. (275)
- To remain silent in the face of evil is itself a form of evil. (310)
- she was trapped same as me, but she was trapped by her mind, by the peoples minds around her, not by the law. ... Be careful you can get enslaved twice, once by your body and once in your mind. Was some of this a quote from Denmark Versay?
Table of Contents:
- Part One: November 1803-February 1805
- Part Two: February 11-December 1812
- Part Three: October 1818-November 1820
- Part Four: September 1821-July 1822
- Part Five: November 1826-November 1829
- Part Six: July 1835-June 1838
Kidd also has sub-parts to each section. The sub-parts alternate between Handful and Sarah Grimke's voices. There are several of these sub-parts in each part.
Book Group:
Why did you want the group to read this book? Why did you read it
in the first place?
Did you all read the book? Any of you attempt
American Slavery
As It Is?
Did you think Kidd presented a
realistic view of slavery? How so?
Does the title of the book, The
Invention of Wings, provide
a good cover for this story? What images does it evoke for you?
Why hadn't I told her Hetty's
freedom was impossible? That the most which I could offer her was
kindness? (59).
Sarah tried to educate Hettie-this is one of the few things we know
about Sarah's slave. What obstacles prevent Sarah from doing what
she thinks is right with Handful? How can we learn from how Sarah
confronted these obstacles?
I
used to make a glob with cornstarch and water. When left out, it was
solid, but if squeezed, it would act like slime-think of a little
food coloring to scare kids. Cause I could [make
trouble]. You do your rebellions any way you
could. (69) What
is the effect of depriving a person of their freedom? Docile?
Rebellion? What tools does one have to use to squelch rebellion?
Does it matter on how rebellion or resistance is treated? Is torture
the end result of slavery? Of a sense of superiority?
How
is religion portrayed in this book? What affect did it have on Sarah?
On Handful? In particular, why did Sarah chose a Presbyterian church?
How was Presbyterian viewed? Why was the reaction for her that way?
Handful and Denmark's church or the spirit tree?
Is there a Christian basis
for slavery? If so, how would it look?
[Slavery is] our
way of life. One
of things we have learned is that any thing will have an effect on
us, on our culture. From this book, what effects did slavery have on
the South? On white? On blacks? What did the whites see when they
looked at a black? there is a tendency in slavery to dehumanize the
slave. But something which The Invention of Wings
hints at is how slavery dehumanizes the slave owners as well. They
invent ways to torture/punish slaves. Things which are totally
barbaric, yet was practiced by cultured and refined ladies of the
South. The book shows how evil some of the people got. The opposite?
Do we see any of those effects today? There is one place in the book
which Handful says that she is constrained in her body, but her mind
is free, while Sarah has freedom of doing what she wants, but her
mind is bound by the customs, laws and ways of her people.
Pete Seeger sang a German song, Die
Gedanken sind frei which one of the lines in it says :
Die Gedanken Sind Frei, my thoughts freely
flower
Die Gedanken Sind Frei, my thoughts give me power
No
scholar can map them, no hunter can trap them
Historical Fiction. This is
one of the places which Sherri and I disagree. I am leery of reading
historical fiction, mostly because it leaves too many unsubstantiated
images behind. What kinds of images does this book leave in your
mind? Do you think they are fair images what happened, or slanted
through this book? As an example, the tea Party of Tennessee is
trying to get a different take of slavery in their school's
circculium.
======
1. The title
The Invention of Wings was one of the first
inspirations that came to Sue Monk Kidd as she began the novel. Why
is the title an apt one for Kidd's novel? What are some of the ways
that the author uses the imagery and symbolism of birds, wings, and
flight?
2. What were the qualities in Handful that you most
admired? As you read the novel, could you imagine yourself in her
situation? How did Handful continue her relentless pursuit of self
and freedom in the face of such a brutal system?
3. After
laying aside her aspirations to become a lawyer, Sarah remarks that
the Graveyard of Failed Hopes is "an all-female establishment."
What makes her say so? What was your experience of reading Kidd's
portrayal of women's lives in the nineteenth century?
4. In
what ways does Sarah struggle against the dictates of her family,
society, and religion? Can you relate to her need to break away from
the life she had in order to create a new and unknown life? What sort
of risk and courage does this call for?
5. The story of
The
Invention of Wings includes a number of physical objects that
have a special significance for the characters: Sarah's fleur-de-lis
button, Charlotte's story quilt, the rabbit-head cane that Handful
receives from Goodis, and the spirit tree. Choose one or more of
these objects and discuss their significance in the novel.
6.
Were you aware of the role that Sarah and Angelina Grimke played in
abolition and women's rights? Have women's achievements in history
been lost or overlooked? What do you think it takes to be a reformer
today?
7. How would you describe Sarah and Angelina's unusual
bond? Do you think either one of them could have accomplished what
they did on their own? Have you known women who experienced this sort
of relationship as sisters?
8. Some of the staunchest enemies
of slavery believed the time had not yet come for women's rights and
pressured Sarah and Angelina to desist from the cause, fearing it
would split the cause of abolition. How do you think the sisters
should have responded to their demand? At the end of the novel, Sarah
asks, "Was it ever right to sacrifice one's truth for
expedience?"
9. What are some of the examples of
Handful's wit and sense of irony, and how do they help her cope with
the burdens of slavery?
10. Contrast Handful's relationship
with her mother with the relationship between Sarah and the elder
Mary Grimke. How are the two younger women formed-and malformed-by
their mothers?
11. Kidd portrays an array of male characters
in the novel: Sarah's father; Sarah's brother, Thomas; Theodore Weld;
Denmark Vesey; Goodis Grimke, Israel Morris, Burke Williams. Some of
them are men of their time, some are ahead of their time. Which of
these male characters did you find most compelling? What positive and
negative roles did they play in Sarah and Handful's evolvement?
12.
How has your understanding of slavery been changed by reading
The
Invention of Wings? What did you learn about it that you didn't
know before?
13. Sarah believed she could not have a vocation
and marriage, both. Do you think she made the right decision in
turning down Israel's proposal? How does her situation compare with
Angelina's marriage to Theodore? In what ways are women today still
asking the question of whether they can have it all?
14. How
does the spirit tree function in Handful's life? What do you think of
the rituals and meanings surrounding it?
15. Had you heard of
the Denmark Vesey slave plot before reading this novel? Were you
aware of the extent that slaves resisted? Why do you think the myth
of the happy, compliant slave endured? What were some of the more
inventive or cunning ways that Charlotte, Handful, and other
characters rebelled and subverted the system?
16.
The
Invention of Wings takes the reader back to the roots of racism
in America. How has slavery left its mark on American life? To what
extent has the wound been healed? Do you think slavery has been a
taboo topic in American life?
17. Are there ways in which
Kidd's novel can help us see our own lives differently? How is this
story relevant for us today?
These 17 questions are from the publishers questions
References:
