Sab

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Sab
March 3, 2008
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SAB

• Written by Gertrudis Gómez de Avellandeda y
  Arteaga
• Published 1841 in Spain banned in Cuba until 1914

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CHARACTERS
Sabs Mother
Don Carlos
Don Luis
Sab
Carlota
Martina
Teresa
Luis
Enrique Otway
George Otway
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CHARACTERS

• Sab
• A Mullato half-black, half-white--son of an
  African Princess and Don Luis (brother to Don
  Carlos)
• Raised by Don Carlos grew up with Carlota and
  rarely left her side
• Mayoral (chief administrator) at Don Carlos
  plantationunique honour for a slave

His coloring was of a yellowish white with a
certain dark undertone, his broad forehead was
half-hidden under irregular locks of hair as
lustrous and black as the wings of the raven his
nose was aqualine, but his thick, purplish lips
revealed his African heritage. (28)
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CHARACTERS

• Carlota
• Daughter of Don Carlos about to marry Enrique
  Otway
• Sweet, innocent, carefree character
• More concerned with ideals of love than with
  pragmatic concerns

Her beautiful, pure brow rested in one of her
hands as she supported her arm on the windowsill
her parted chestnut hair cascaded in a multitude
of ringlets which framed a seventeen-year-old
faceThe ideal nature of her lovely figure was
enhanced by a dress of purest white. (35)
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CHARACTERS

• Teresa
• Distant relative of Carlota
• Orphaned and taken in by Don Carlos
• Like a sister to Carlota
• Outwardly emotionless
• Upset by her lot in life?
• Yet evidence of caring for Sab and Carlota

Still young, yet lacking the charms of youth,
Teresa had one of those ordinary faces that,
while not repugnant, were in no way attractive
either. After a close look at her, no one would
call her ugly however, on seeing her for the
first time, no one would think her beautiful, for
her face was so devoid of expression that it
might just as well inspire hate as love. (35)
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PLOT

• Central story is Carlotas upcoming marriage to
  Enrique Otway
• Enriques father George is about to go bankrupt
  and wants Enrique married to a wealthy woman
  before this happens
• Meanwhile, Don Carlos (Carlotas father) has lost
  his fortune Carlota cares little but Enrique is
  deeply grieved
• Sabs love for Carlota is introduced and Sab
  finds Enrique unsuitable for Carlota as he can
  see his true intentions
• Despite this Sab saves Enriques life afterhe is
  knocked unconscious in a storm

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PLOT

• Enrique is conflicted over whether he should
  marry Carlota
• Sab is unofficially freed
• Don Carlos, Carlota, and the whole party travel
  to Cubitas and discover that Sab is a hero who
  saved young Luis (his adoptive mothers grandson)
  and his dog from a fire
• Sab is freed and paid so he can support his
  adoptive mother Martina
• Throughout all the emotional points in the novel
  Teresa remains emotionless

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PLOT

• Teresa and Sab conduct a secret meeting in which
  Sab professes his complete and ultimately fatal
  love for Carlota, Teresa shows compassion for Sab
• Sab has won the lottery and offers it to Teresa
  who would then become rich and could possibly
  marry Enrique but instead they end up giving it
  to Carlota so that Enrique will still want to
  marry her
• Just as Enrique decides he is going to leave
  Carlota he receives news of her winnings and goes
  immediately to her

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PLOT

• Sab breaks down and dies at the same hour Enrique
  and Carlota are married
• Everyone thinks that Teresa loved Sab and upon
  his death she joins a convent
• Despite all the death and people leaving, Enrique
  convinces Carlota to be happy
• Carlota lives a very unhappy life, discovering
  the true nature of her husband, and Teresa finds
  happiness in the convent where Carlota visits
  often to cry upon her shoulder
• As Teresa dies, she gives Carlota the letter Sab
  wrote her on his deathbed
• In this letter Sab condemns himself because of
  his race

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EXCERPT

• Part I, Chapter 6
• Follows episode in which Sab saves Enriques life
• Reveals Carlotas naïveté and idealism shows her
  innocent love for her suitor Enrique
• Shows Sabs unhappiness with his lot in life and
  his love for Carlota
• Exemplary of Sabs romantic writing style

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EXCERPT

• Part II, Chapter 2
• Second chapter in which Sab confesses to Teresa
  his love for Carlota
• Sab proposes to appeal to Enriques love of money
  by giving Teresa a winning lottery ticket
• Exploration of theme of fortuneSab sees himself
  as a noble soul trapped in a slaves body
• Sab cannot undertake his plan because Carlota
  really does love Enrique

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Structure Style
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STRUCTURE STYLE

• Word to the Reader
• These pages were written for amusement during
  moments of leisure and of melancholy at that
  time the author had no intention of exposing them
  to the publics unforgiving eye. (26)
• Means of de-emphasizing the anti-slavery message
  in the text?

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STRUCTURE STYLE

• Story Structure
• Divided into two parts and a conclusion
• Recurring devices letters, correspondence, mail
• Similar in style to Avellanedas Autobiography
• Each chapter begins with an apt epigraph
  indication of Avellanedas educated background

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STRUCTURE STYLE

• Style
• Linear story
• Third person narrativebut not an objective
  narrator
• Florid and descriptive language description of
  the natural world echoes the emotion of the text
• Use of song and letter to impart emotion
• Extensive footnoting

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Ideas
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FREEDOM SLAVERY

• What does it mean to be free?
• Sab is in a privileged position from the
  beginning of the novel and is formally freed
  early onyet he feels trapped.
• Sab is not concerned with formal (legal) freedom
  nor is he looking for a revolution
• Freedom to be virtuous to be passionate to exist

You are free, she repeated, glancing at him in
surprise, as though she wished to read in his
face the cause of an emotion which she could not
attribute to the pleasure of the freedom long
offered and many times withdrawn. But Sab had
himself under control his look was sad and calm
and his appearance serious and melancholy. (140)
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MARRIAGE

• Marriage as an economic union
• Practically, marriage is a device for inheritance
  or status
• Marriage for greed or love
• Carlota and Enriques marriage and their
  respective intentions
• Marriage as enslavement
• Teresas escape to the convent

I cannot love another woman as much as you, and
none willmake me so happy as you would have, but
destiny separates us. Ineed to be rich, and you
cannot make me rich, Carlota. (116)
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FORTUNE

• Identities prescribed by class, race, gender
• Arbitrary divisionsyet they define each
  characters role
• The device of the lottery
• Preoccupation of most of the characters with
  winning money
• Sab gives up his winnings

What use is talent and education to a man
destined to be a slave? (45)Dont all have the
same needs, the same passions, the same flaws?
Why,then, do some have the right to enslave and
others the duty to obey? (140)
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LOVE

• Several versions of love in Sab
• Sabs passionate but impossible love for Carlota
• Carlotas innocent love for Enrique
• Enriques uncertain love for Carlota
• What kind of love is attainable? What love lasts?

I knew nothing of love except what I had
gathered from the novels I read, and I convinced
myself that naturally I was madly in love with my
intended. As I had little contact with him and
knew him hardly at all, I could freely choose the
character I most wanted him to have.
(Autobiography, 4)
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EMOTION/PASSION

• Sabs passion makes the world unbearable
  Carlotas innocence hurts her
• Contrast between idealism and stoicism
• Contrast between passion and restraint
• Only Teresa ends the novel content
• Suggestion that only option is resignation? Give
  in or give up

Teresa had indeed reached that calm and grave
happiness which virtue bestows.Her proud, strong
spirit had mastered her destiny, and her feelings
and elevated, firm,and decided character had
allowed her to reach that noble resignation which
is asdifficult for passionate souls as it is for
those of weak character. (135)
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RELIGION SPIRITUALITY

• Religion/Spirituality in Cuba
• Frequent invocation of God
• Reference to both local spirituality and
  institutionalized religion
• Teresa joining the convent and becoming a nun
• Relationship to death
• Carlota as reincarnation of Martina

Doubtless Heaven heard his entreaties and God
sent him a merciful glance, for at that instant
the unhappy man felt his entire body falter, and
the coldness of death froze his heart. (119)
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ROLE OF WOMEN

• Parallel to slaveryentrapment, lack of freedom
• Marriage or convent seem to be the only choices
• Carlotas ultimate unhappiness with Enrique

Dont hate your husband, Carlota he is just
like the majority of men, and thereare many
worse!...It is useful to know what they are and
not to ask more of themthan they can give it is
useful to relinquish those dreams that perhaps
nolonger exist except in the heart of a daughter
of Cuba. (138)
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Reading Sab
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EVALUATING SAB

• A radical text for its time contrary to social
  mores
• Yet the novel is never about social change
  explicitly not a free the slaves narrative
• Acceptance of slavery as a fact of life
  likewise, Teresas speech to Carlota is about
  taking heart in what they have rather than
  changing
• Subversive but not a call to action a subtle
  anti-slavery narrative

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EVALUATING SAB

• Significance of female author
• Groundbreaking pushes boundaries
• Yet recognition that Avellaneda is also writing
  from a privileged position

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EVALUATING SAB

• Aesthetically pleasing descriptive setting,
  beautiful language
• Yet an imperfect work broad characters,
  sometimes heavy-handed, deus ex machina
• Word to the reader These pages were composed
  by the at times exaggerated but always generous
  sentiments of early youth (26).
• A flawed work, yet still politically significant

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QUESTIONS

• Is Sab still radical? Still relevant?
• Is love across racial/class boundaries still a
  controversial subject?
• Does Sab work as a political text?

Love him! repeated Carlota, Him, a slave!
(130)
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References
Gómez de Avellaneda y Arteaga, Getrudis. Sab and
Autobiography. Trans. Nina M. Scott. Austin
University of Texas Press, 1993. Images of Cuba
licensed under Creative Commons 1, 2, 3, 4
(2008).