Prologue: Henry Louis Gates buys an unpublished manuscript from the Swann Gallery auction and, after much research, verifies it as belonging to Hannah Crafts, a slave in 1850’s North Carolina.

Chapter 1: At a young age, Hannah makes the acquaintance of an elderly woman and her husband, referred to in the book as "Aunt Hetty" and "Uncle Siah". The couple teach her how to read and write, as well as evangelize to her. Unfortunately, their secret meetings are discovered, and Hannah is forbidden from ever seeing them again. Distraction soon comes in another form - her master is going to take a wife and the whole household is thrown into an uproar, trying to make preparations.

Chapter 2: Under the watchful eye of the housekeeper, Mrs. Bry, the household continues to prepare, made uneasy by the creaking of an old tree that grows right outside the main house. Plantation legend has it that the first owner of the house brutally tortured an old slave and her beloved dog to death, and that her ghost haunts the tree and makes it creak when misfortune is going to befall the house. Soon the new mistress of the house arrives. Hannah is given the post of her personal maid, and is torn between being thoroughly captivated by her beautiful new mistress and wondering about a strange, black-clothed man.

Chapter 3: Amid the endless parties during the next few weeks, Hannah learns that the strange man is called Mr. Trappe, who claims to have been the mistress's guardian before her marriage. Hannah learns from the other waiting maid of the mistress that Mr. Trappe is the reason for the mistress's constant gloominess and withdrawn nature, and that the lady is afraid of him. Later, Hannah is witness to a strange conversation between the mistress and Mr. Trappe, which reveals that Mr. Trappe knows some dark secret about the mistress, and he will tell her new husband if she doesn't live up to their "agreement".

Chapter 4: In this chapter, Hannah seeks to comfort her distraught mistress, who reveals the truth - she is the daughter of a white man and a slave, who was raised as a white woman, with only Mr. Trappe knowing her true parentage. He has kept her paying him a large sum of money to keep from revealing the secret, but she has run out and worries he'll tell her husband. Hannah and the mistress then decide that the best thing to do is to run away and head north, to freedom.

Chapter 5: The two women escape without being discovered, but soon become lost in the wilderness. They find shelter at the house of a kind woman, but in the middle of the night see - or think they see - Mr. Trappe looking into their window, prompting them to run again. They then stay for many months in an abandoned log cabin in the woods. The mistress is driven insane from fear, both that they'll be discovered and of their hiding place, which has bloodstains and bones all around it. Finally, in the middle of autumn, the two are found by a trio of men, who promise to take them somewhere that the mistress can be safe and cared for. From them they learn that the master of the plantation is dead, having committed suicide after a talk with a strange dark-clothed man - Mr. Trappe.

Chapter 6: Hannah and her mistress are taken to a prison in a nearby town, where they spend the first night in horrible, terrifying conditions. However, after a time the jailer moves them to a series of rooms which they share with an old lady called Mrs. Wright, who is insane and believes that she is living in a fine palace, rather than in a jail. They learn from her, in a lucid moment, that she was imprisoned for trying to help her favorite slave girl escape being sold. The mistress's insanity goes away, somewhat, but she is still prone to fits of terror now and then.

Chapter 7: After some time, Hannah and her mistress are taken out of the prison and driven to a house in the woods, where they are locked in a series of rooms and attended by an old man. He won't tell them who has brought them there, but they suspect it to be Mr. Trappe. Their suspicions are confirmed when, after a month, they are called into a room to meet their "master". Mr.Trappe tells the mistress that he owns her now, and he will do whatever he pleases with her, and that means selling her to a private purchaser. But before he can finish his sentence, the mistress falls down, blood pouring from her mouth and, with one last kind word to Hannah, dies of terror.

Chapter 8: Hannah, overcome with grief, learns that she is to be sold to a slave-trader called Saddler, who means to take her down to the Deep South and sell her.

Chapter 9: Saddler and Hannah are in a wagon, headed towards her new life, when suddenly the horse gets spooked and starts running away. The wagon crashes, killing Saddler and injuring Hannah. She is saved by a kind woman called Mrs. Henry, who takes her to her plantation and nurses her back to health. One of the first events that Hannah is able to attend is a wedding between one of Mrs. Henry's slaves and a slave man from a neighboring plantation.

Chapter 10: Once Hannah recovers her strength, she finds that Forget-Me-Not, the plantation owned by the Henry's, is beautiful and wonderful, with the master and mistress being very kind to their slaves - in short, a place that would be perfect to live in. However, Hannah learns that Saddler's next-of-kin is coming to claim her and, in fear, beseeches Mrs. Henry to save her. Mrs. Henry says that she swore to her dying father to never buy a slave, but says that she has a friend, Mrs. Wheeler, who is coming to visit and might buy her. The chapter ends with Hannah learning that Charlotte, the slave who was married the previous chapter, is upset and weeping constantly, for some reason...

Chapter 11: Charlotte is increasingly sad, and Hannah notices lights coming from her window, one night. Around that same time, the servants start growing more and more afraid of a spirit supposedly haunting the plantation. Hannah discovers that the “spirit” is really William, Charlotte’s new husband. The couple intends to run away together, and offer to take Hannah along with them. She declines, but tells Mrs. Henry, who says she will not stop the couple from escaping.

Chapter 12: Charlotte and William escape successfully. Hannah then meets the aforementioned Mrs. Wheeler who initially seems soft and kind. However, later Hannah learns that she’s whiny and shrewish, never satisfied with anything Hannah does, and somewhat verbally abusive. However, since Mrs. Henry is unaware of this, Hannah doesn’t tell her, even after Mrs. Wheeler forces Hannah to write a very unflattering letter about herself.

Chapter 13: This chapter is set after Hannah moves to Washington D.C. with the Wheelers. She is sent on many errands – in this chapter, to go and retrieve a powder for Mrs. Wheeler that is supposedly meant to prolong youth. While out, she sees Mr. Trappe, but quickly turns and runs away. Later, the powder ends up turning Mrs. Wheelers face black, which causes her much embarrassment. Then Hannah runs into Lizzy, who was her deceased mistresses personal slave.

Chapter 14: Lizzy tells Hannah a story about the Cosgroves, who now own the old plantation. Apparently Mrs. Cosgrove had spent a long time in Europe, visiting relatives, and returned to discover that Mr. Cosgrove had been sleeping with many of the young female slaves. She demands that he sell them all, which he does, to keep peace, though one of the young women kills her infant child and herself, rather than be sold.

Chapter 15: Lizzy’s story continues, telling how Mrs. Cosgrove found another of her husbands lovers, hidden in a secret room with her twin babies. Mrs. Cosgrove forced the girl, Evelyn, to run away, knowing full well that she would most likely die in the wilderness. Mr. Cosgrove went after her and hid her away in a secret cabin in the woods. When Mrs. Cosgrove went out to find them, she “fell” – Lizzy believes Mr. Cozgrove pushed her – and injured herself, reconciling with her husband before her death.

Chapter 16: Hannah and the Wheelers travel to a plantation in North Carolina, where Hannah soon clashes with Mrs. Wheelers’s former maid, Maria. Maria spreads lies about Hannah, saying that she told everyone about Mrs. Wheelers’ accident with the blackface powder. So Mrs. Wheeler banishes Hannah to marry a field slave and work out there.

Chapter 17: Hannah is miserable in the fields and terrified of her unwanted soon-to-be husband, so she decides to run away, disguising herself as a boy to avoid being caught.

Chapter 18: On the road, Hannah encounters a runaway slave, Jacob, and his dangerously ill sister. She stays with them until the sister dies, then continues traveling with Jacob, still pretending to be a boy.

Chapter 19: Jacob is killed by a stray bullet from the men who are hunting them, and Hannah is just barely saved by a kind woman, who proves to be Aunt Hetty, who taught her to read so long ago.

Chapter 20: Aunt Hetty provides Hannah with new clothes, food and safe passage on a steamboat north. On the boat, she overhears some men talking about a recent “murder”. Apparently a man who had specialized in trafficking young female slaves had been killed, presumably by one of his victims. The man’s name? Mr. Trappe.

Chapter 21: A sort of epilogue. Hannah marries a minister, becomes a teacher, reunites with her mother and lives next door to Charlotte and William. A perfect happy ending.

ALSO if anyone has any socks that I can use, please bring them to class tomorrow, THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

Obviously it is written as a slave narrative-
4 phases to slave narratives
1. First comes the loss of innocence, which is objectified through the development of an awareness of what it means to be a slave.
2. Second is the realization of alternatives to bondage and the formulation of a resolve to be free.
3. The third phase is the escape.
4. The fourth phase is that of freedom obtained.
I could clearly see the influence of the sentimental writing style in her book, especially in her over indulgence in emotion, specifically in regards to her relationship with the mistress. Her influence from gothic writing style is also fairly plain to see.
The writing style overall is very enjoyable and if one didn’t know could think it was written yesterday, minus the few grammatical and spelling errors, which Henry Louis Gates Jr corrected in brackets.

any suggestions for more things to add?

Conflicts Second Half
Race, Equality, Self Identity
 “The greatest curse of slavery is its hereditary character. The father leaves to his son an inheritance of soil and misery, and his place on the fetid straw in the miserable corner, with no hope or possibility of anything better.” (p.200)
 “It must be a strange state to be prized just according to the firmness of your joints, the strength of you sinews, and your capability of endurance.” (p.201)

Hannah: Loyalty and Freedom
Charlotte and William wish her to flee with them to freedom but she is currently in the employ of a generous host: Mrs. Henry and is compelled to stay

Hannah and Mrs. Wheeler
Hannah is sold to Mrs. Wheeler and her Husband. Mrs. Wheeler is extremely demanding but Hannah is getting by. Hannah picks up a beauty product for Mrs. Wheeler and it ends up turning her face black, so she becomes the laughing stock of the area she lives in, and blames Hannah for the reaction the make-up caused.
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Mistress Cosgrove and Husband’s “favorite” ones
Mistress Cosgrove returns from England to find that her husband has slept with a number of his beautiful slaves and has given them and their children preferential treatment. Her mission is then to rid her plantation of the “favorite” ones and in doing so she ruins her relationship with her husband and her vengeance and paranoia consume mer.

Maria and Hannah
When the Wheelers flee Washington DC because of the humiliating reaction Mrs. Wheeler had to some make-up they take Hannah with them. When they arrive, the jealous slave Maria schemes to rid Hannah of her preferential treatment within the household. Maria tells the mistress that Hannah has been telling the whole plantation about the mishap with the make up which she was sworn to keep secret.

Bill and Hannah
Once Hannah is removed from the household due to Maria’s successful plan, another slave named Bill asks and the Wheelers if he can have Hannah as his wife. The Wheelers allow it but Hannah wants nothing to do with Bill. It doesn’t last long because Bill and her removal from the comforts of working in the Household ultimately compel her to flee.

.Hannah and inner conflict to Flee
As she reaches Carolina with the Wheelers she is put into a situation where she would rather risk her life by escaping to the north and freedom than to stay and deal with the life that Mrs. Wheeler has chosen for her; one working in the fields, living in the dirty huts, and being the wife of the repulsive Bill.
“I hear a voice you cannot hear which says I must not stay
I see a hand you cannot see which beckons me away” Tickell (p.206)

Conflicts First half
Race, Equality, and Self Identity

Intro-
Before the story begins there is the conflict of whether or not the writings were legitimately written by an actual slave girl, not a white person trying to re create or make up a slave narrative. One of my favorite indications that this is a legitimate story is that the color or race of the characters is not presented before we get to know the character. Sometime we don’t ever get an idea of their color. When whites attempt slave narratives they usually always state the color of the person in one way or another before anything else is known about them.

Between different people-
Mr. Trappe and the Mistress.

Mr. Trappe and Hannah

Hannah and the Mistress: while the mistress is going crazy in the cabin in the woods

Slaves Vs. Masters: story of old woman and dog

Within people
Identity of the mistress herself, is she black or white? Slave or Mistress?

Identity of Hannah, is she a slave or just a person? A writer or a servant? One of god’s children or just a black girl in the south?

Hope: Hannah is always trying to get away in hopes of a better situation.

Running away from problems: this could possibly be seen as a sense of hope but Hannah did a lot of running away. I know that it was for good reason.

Ideas/ thoughts?

*The Master: The Mistresses husband. Although only slightly mentioned in the story, he was key in the development of the begging story, as he marries The Mistress. And therefore thanks to him one of the main characters is brought into the story. Also, as he was Hannas master, he was the reason for the busy time for Hannah in the preparations for the wedding. He was linient towards his slaves and did not harm them. There is also an element of fairness to him. Unfortunately he kills himself after Hannah and the mistress escape, and after he finds out that the mistress is half black.

* Mrs. Bry: The housekeeper of Hannah’s master’s mansion. She was ambitious in her work and was very strict and enforcing of hard work among the slaves.

* Horace: He is the main guy out of the three hunters that find the Mistress and Hannah hiding in the woods, promising to take them some place safe and good.

*Jail Guard: A hazy character who is not mentioned much except the fact that he guards Hannah and the Mistress when they are in jail, and later moves them to better conditions (still as captives) where they meet Mrs. Wright.

*Mrs. Wright: The mentally ill lady whom the escapees meet in jail. She has her “panick attacks”. It is revealed that she has been imprisoned for helping one of her slaves escape.

* Mr. Saddler: Slave trader that buys Hannah from Mr. Trappe. While transporting Hannah to the deeps south to sell her there, he is killed in an accident as his horses go out of control and the wagon crashes.

* Mr. and Mrs. Henry: Mrs. Henry is the lady that found Hannah injured after the incident with the horses going wild. Mrs. Henry takes Hannah to the Henrys’ plantation, where she restores her back to health, and where we are introduced to Charlotte and William. Mrs. Henry is extremely nice to Hannah, and so is Mr. Henry (Mrs. Henry’s husband). Overall, the dream owners of any slave, if there were such. Don’t even hold their slaves back from running away!

 Charlotte and William: They are the slaves that get married at Mrs. Henries plantation. Charlotte is from Mrs. Henry’s plantation, and William is from a neighboring one. Charlotte is grieves a lot, and William is known for secretly lurking around the Henry’s plantation, and therefore responsible for the ghost rumor that starts because of it. After some planning, they run away North for a happier life.

* Lizzy: The mistress’s personal slave whom the mistress brings with her to the Masters plantation. She is a friend of Hannah’s when they were owned by the master and mistress. She reappears later in the story to tell the tale of the cosgroves. Also Lizzy is good with names and numbers, overall has a good memory.

*Mr. Cosgrove and Mrs. Cosgrove: New owners of the plantation which used to be owned by the Master. They are only mentioned in a story by Lizzy. Mr. Cosgrove is a filthy animal who sleeps with his female slaves. Mrs. Cosgrove is a jealous (but justified in her jealousy) woman who doesn’t tolerate Mr. Cosgroves behavior. Both Cosgrave’s can be abusive to their slaves, both physically and mentally.

*Maria: The annoying x-maid of Mrs. Wheeler whom spreads lies about Hannah, and sets her up to be forced into marriage of a field slave, as Mrs. Wheeler is lead to believe by Maria that Hannah told everyone about the black powder accident.

*Evelyn: One of the favorite slaves whom Mr. Cosgrove doesn’t sell but keeps secretly, until Mrs. Cosgrove finds out. Mrs. Cosgrove scares Evelyn into running away.

*Jacob and his sister: The two runaway slaves whom Hannah finds in the woods as she is running away from Mrs. Wheeler. Jacobs sister is very ill and dies. Jacob is killed by a slave hunters bullet.

I won't be done editing and rendering and uploading until around like 12 or 1 (maybe later...) so if you want to stay up and wait and see them then great if not I understand.

I will post the link here once it's up on Youtube.

Hannah Crafts: Hannah is the main character of the story, born as a slave in the Carolinas. Hannah runs away with her mistress to prevent the mistress' true identity being exposed to the master of the household, and the majority of the book is centered on Hannah's experiences as a runaway slave.

The Mistress: The mistress becomes the wife of Hannah's master. Mr, Trappe, the mistress "guardian", soon threatens to expose the mistress as the black woman she actually is, and to prevent her being sold into slavery, she runs away with hannah.

Mr. Trappe: Mr. Trappe is an old slave trader with black eyes, who never smiles. He moves into the master's house when the mistress is married to him and tornments the mistress all the while until she and hannah run away. Later, the three meet again.

Aunt Hetty: Aunt Hetty is an old white woman who lived down the road from hannah's master's house when she was a child. Aunt Hetty and Uncle Siah teach Hannah to read. Aunt Hetty too re-emerges in the story later.