Summer Sanctuary, Secret Sorrows

In the 1850s, Southern slaveholders bring their enslaved mistresses to Tawawa House, a summer resort in free Ohio. Here, Lizzie, Reenie, Sweet, and later Mawu, form a tenuous sisterhood, sharing chores, stories, and the rare taste of relative freedom. The resort is a paradox: a place where the boundaries of slavery blur, yet the women remain property, their fates tied to the whims of their white masters. The women's relationships are complicated by jealousy, longing, and the ever-present threat of violence. The arrival of Mawu, a fiery, red-haired woman from Louisiana, disrupts the group's fragile balance, introducing new ideas about resistance and escape. The resort's proximity to free Black communities and abolitionist sympathizers stirs hope and fear, as the women contemplate the possibility—and peril—of running for freedom.

Sisterhood and Survival

The women's bond deepens as they share their histories and daily struggles. Lizzie, favored by her master Drayle, is educated and lives in relative comfort, but her heart aches for her children left behind. Reenie, the eldest, bears the scars of incest and betrayal, her resilience masking deep wounds. Sweet, gentle and perpetually pregnant, clings to her children as her only solace. Mawu, hardened by loss and abuse, is determined to escape, her spirit both inspiring and unsettling to the others. Their conversations—about love, motherhood, and the meaning of freedom—reveal the psychological toll of slavery and the different ways each woman copes: some with hope, others with resignation, and some with a simmering rage.

Love, Power, and Property

Lizzie's relationship with Drayle is complex: he teaches her to read, brings her to the resort, and fathers her children, yet he remains her owner, controlling her fate and that of her children. Their intimacy is fraught with contradictions—affection and exploitation, tenderness and coercion. The other women's relationships with their masters are similarly fraught, ranging from indifference to outright brutality. The men's power is absolute, but their dependence on the women for comfort and companionship reveals their own vulnerabilities. The women's attempts to negotiate for their children's freedom or better treatment expose the limits of their agency and the ever-present threat of betrayal.

Dreams of Freedom

Rumors of a nearby free Black resort and the presence of abolitionists ignite dreams of escape. Mawu urges the others to run, arguing that true freedom is worth any risk. The others hesitate, torn between the hope of liberation and the fear of losing their children or bringing retribution upon their loved ones. The group's visit to the free Black resort is a revelation: they witness Black families living with dignity and autonomy, a vision both inspiring and painful. The possibility of escape becomes a wedge, exposing the different priorities and fears among the women.

The Price of Betrayal

When Mawu attempts to orchestrate an escape, Lizzie, fearing for her friend's safety and her own children's future, betrays the plan to Drayle. The fallout is immediate and brutal: Mawu is savagely beaten and raped in front of the others as a warning. The women's trust in Lizzie is broken, and she is consumed by guilt and shame. The episode underscores the impossible choices enslaved women face, forced to weigh their own survival and the safety of their children against the bonds of friendship and the dream of freedom.

Stories in the Shadows

The narrative delves into the women's backstories, revealing the traumas that shaped them. Lizzie's journey from a child sold away from her family to Drayle's favored mistress is marked by small acts of resistance and adaptation. Reenie's story is one of incest, forced motherhood, and self-mutilation to prevent further abuse. Sweet's life is defined by her children, her hope for their safety, and the ever-present threat of loss. Mawu's history of sexual violence and loss of her children fuels her determination to escape. These stories, shared in whispers and silences, bind the women together, even as their paths diverge.

The Cost of Motherhood

Motherhood is both a source of strength and a shackle. The women's love for their children is fierce, but it is also weaponized against them by their owners. Lizzie's desperate negotiations with Drayle for her children's freedom are met with empty promises. Sweet's children are ravaged by disease, and she is left to mourn them with only symbolic graves. The threat of separation, sale, or death haunts every mother, shaping their choices and their willingness to risk everything for a chance at freedom.

Escape and Endurance

As the summer ends, the women's world unravels. Mawu and Reenie attempt a daring escape after Mawu's failed attempt to kill her master in a fire. Sweet succumbs to grief after losing all her children. Lizzie, paralyzed by indecision and guilt, remains behind, haunted by the loss of her friends and the knowledge that she could not save them—or herself. Mawu is eventually captured, her fate uncertain, while Reenie's letter from New York offers a glimmer of hope that at least one of them found freedom. The cost of escape is high, and survival often means enduring the unendurable.

Losses and Legacies

The aftermath of loss is profound. Sweet's death leaves a void, her memory honored by the women's ritual burials of her children's clothes. Reenie's escape and letter become a symbol of possibility, while Mawu's capture is a reminder of the dangers that persist. Lizzie is left to reckon with her choices, her guilt, and her longing for a different life. The women's stories become a legacy, a testament to their resilience and the enduring power of their bonds.

The Weight of Choices

Throughout, the women are forced to make impossible choices: to run or stay, to betray or protect, to hope or surrender. Their agency is circumscribed by the violence and unpredictability of slavery, yet they find ways to assert themselves—through small acts of defiance, through care for one another, and through the stories they tell. The narrative refuses easy answers, showing that survival often requires compromise, and that freedom, when it comes, is always partial and fraught.

Letters, Maps, and Hope

Letters and maps become lifelines. Reenie's letter from New York, written with the help of others, is a beacon for Lizzie and Mawu, proof that escape is possible. Mawu's hand-drawn map, passed to Lizzie, is both a practical tool and a symbol of hope, a promise that their stories and their strength will endure. These tokens of connection sustain the women, even as they are separated by distance and fate.

The End of Tawawa

The resort's decline mirrors the unraveling of the women's world. As the resort is sold to become a school for Black children, the era of the summer sanctuary ends. The women's fates diverge: Philip, Lizzie's closest friend, is freed and begins a new life; Reenie is free in the North; Mawu's fate is uncertain; Sweet is gone. Lizzie returns to Tennessee, changed by all she has witnessed and endured, her faith in Drayle replaced by a new faith in herself.

The Power of Names

In the final chapter, Mawu's story of her name—drawn from African mythology—becomes a metaphor for the women's journey. Mawu and Lisa, twin creators, represent the duality of strength and wisdom, night and day, earth and sky. Lizzie, once defined by her master's naming, claims her own identity, drawing strength from the myth and from the memory of her sisters. The power of naming, of storytelling, becomes an act of resistance and self-creation.

Returning, Changed

Lizzie's return to Tennessee is marked by a profound transformation. She is no longer the woman who left; she carries the stories, losses, and lessons of Tawawa within her. Her relationship with Drayle is forever altered, her faith in him replaced by a hard-won faith in herself and her children. She resolves to teach her daughter to value herself, to resist, to remember her name and her worth. The journey has not brought freedom, but it has brought a new sense of self.

Faith in Herself

The novel ends with Lizzie's quiet assertion of her own power. No longer waiting for Drayle or anyone else to save her or her children, she places her faith in herself, in the strength she has inherited from her sisters, and in the stories that will sustain her. The myth of Mawu-Lisa becomes a source of comfort and inspiration, a reminder that even in the darkest times, women can create, endure, and transform their world.

Characters

Lizzie

Lizzie is the central figure, a literate, intelligent enslaved woman whose relationship with her master, Drayle, is both a source of privilege and pain. She is torn between her love for her children, her complicated feelings for Drayle, and her loyalty to her friends. Lizzie's psychological journey is marked by guilt, shame, and a gradual awakening to her own agency. Her ability to read and write sets her apart, but also isolates her. Over the course of the novel, Lizzie moves from dependence on Drayle to a hard-won faith in herself, shaped by loss, betrayal, and the enduring bonds of sisterhood.

Mawu

Mawu is a fiery, red-haired woman from Louisiana, marked by trauma and loss. Her spirit is indomitable, her desire for freedom unquenchable. Mawu's history of sexual violence and the loss of her children have hardened her, making her both inspiring and intimidating to the others. She is a catalyst for change, urging the women to consider escape and challenging their resignation. Mawu's embrace of African spirituality and her mythic self-understanding offer an alternative to Christian resignation. Her fate—capture after a failed escape—underscores both the dangers of resistance and the necessity of hope.

Reenie

Reenie is the oldest of the group, a woman whose life has been shaped by incest, forced motherhood, and the loss of her children. Her wisdom and strength make her a leader among the women, but her scars run deep. Reenie's story is one of survival against impossible odds, and her eventual escape to freedom is a testament to her resilience. Her letter from New York becomes a symbol of hope for the others, proof that escape is possible, even if it comes at great cost.

Sweet

Sweet is defined by her love for her children and her gentle spirit. Perpetually pregnant, she is the most nurturing of the group, but also the most vulnerable. The loss of her children to disease and death devastates her, and her eventual death is a profound loss for the group. Sweet's story highlights the particular cruelties visited upon enslaved mothers, whose love is both their greatest strength and their greatest vulnerability.

Drayle

Drayle is Lizzie's master and lover, a man who prides himself on his kindness but remains complicit in the system of slavery. His affection for Lizzie and their children is genuine, but always circumscribed by his ownership and control. Drayle's inability to free Lizzie or their children, despite his promises, reveals the limits of his benevolence. He is both a source of comfort and a reminder of Lizzie's bondage, embodying the contradictions of the "kind" slaveholder.

Tip

Tip is Mawu's master, a man marked by violence, sexual predation, and a need for control. His abuse of Mawu and his other slaves is relentless, and his pursuit of Mawu after her escape is driven by a desire for retribution as much as by a sense of ownership. Tip represents the brutal reality of slavery, unmitigated by sentiment or affection.

Philip

Philip is Lizzie's closest male friend, a skilled horseman whose loyalty to Drayle is eventually tested by his love for a free Black woman. His successful bid for freedom, aided by Lizzie's intervention, offers a rare moment of triumph. Philip's journey from trusted slave to free man is marked by longing, loss, and the hope of a new life.

Fran

Fran is Drayle's wife, a woman whose inability to bear children and her husband's relationship with Lizzie fuel her resentment and cruelty. Her treatment of Lizzie and the children oscillates between jealousy, envy, and moments of unexpected solidarity. Fran's own sense of powerlessness mirrors that of the enslaved women, though her suffering is always mitigated by her whiteness and privilege.

Glory

Glory is a white Quaker woman who befriends Lizzie and the others, offering small acts of kindness and, at times, practical assistance. Her presence is a reminder of the possibilities and limitations of white allyship. Glory's own loneliness and outsider status make her both sympathetic and, at times, naïve about the realities of slavery.

The Children (Nate, Rabbit, Sweet's children)

The children are both symbols of hope and reminders of the precariousness of enslaved life. Lizzie's children, Nate and Rabbit, embody her dreams and her fears, their fates uncertain despite her best efforts. Sweet's children, lost to disease, represent the ever-present threat of loss. The children's innocence is both a source of joy and a constant vulnerability.

Plot Devices

The Resort as Liminal Space

Tawawa House is both a sanctuary and a prison, a place where the boundaries of slavery are blurred but never erased. The resort's setting in free territory creates a sense of possibility, but also heightens the risks of escape and betrayal. The juxtaposition of white Southern men, their enslaved mistresses, free Black servants, and abolitionist neighbors creates a volatile mix, exposing the contradictions and hypocrisies of American society.

Letters, Maps, and Oral Storytelling

Letters and maps serve as lifelines, connecting the women across distance and offering hope of reunion. Oral storytelling—of personal histories, African myths, and whispered plans—binds the women together and preserves their sense of self. These forms of communication are acts of resistance, asserting the women's humanity and agency in the face of dehumanization.

Motherhood as Double-Edged Sword

Motherhood is central to the women's identities, shaping their choices and their willingness to risk everything for their children. Yet it is also a source of pain, as children are lost to death, sale, or the whims of their owners. The tension between the desire for freedom and the fear of losing one's children is a recurring motif, highlighting the impossible choices faced by enslaved mothers.

Betrayal and Forgiveness

The theme of betrayal—whether of friends, lovers, or oneself—runs throughout the novel. Lizzie's betrayal of Mawu is a pivotal moment, shattering trust and forcing the women to confront the limits of solidarity under oppression. The possibility of forgiveness, and the difficulty of achieving it, is explored with nuance and empathy.

Myth and Naming

The African myth of Mawu-Lisa becomes a powerful metaphor for the women's journey, offering an alternative to the narratives imposed by their oppressors. Naming—whether by owners or by oneself—is an act of power, and the reclamation of names and stories is a form of resistance and self-creation.

Analysis

Wench is a searing exploration of the lives of enslaved women caught between the hope of freedom and the reality of bondage. Through the intertwined stories of Lizzie, Mawu, Reenie, and Sweet, Dolen Perkins-Valdez exposes the psychological and emotional complexities of slavery, particularly for women whose bodies and children are both coveted and controlled. The novel refuses easy answers, showing that survival often requires compromise, and that freedom, when it comes, is always partial and fraught. The resort setting, with its paradoxical blend of privilege and peril, serves as a microcosm of American society, exposing the hypocrisies and contradictions at its heart. The women's relationships—with each other, with their children, and with their masters—are rendered with empathy and nuance, revealing the ways in which love, loyalty, and betrayal are shaped by the brutal realities of slavery. Ultimately, Wench is a story of endurance, transformation, and the quiet, persistent assertion of selfhood in the face of dehumanization. Its lessons—about the power of sisterhood, the cost of survival, and the necessity of hope—resonate far beyond its historical setting, offering a powerful meditation on freedom, identity, and the meaning of home.

Last updated: May 20, 2025