Submitted by Bethanne on Sat, 03/13/2010 - 8:06am
"Wench" by Dolen Perkins-Valdez is a book that will make you think. It will also make you uncomfortable, and sad, and angry, and indignant, and maybe -- just maybe -- exhilarated in that way you get in the middle of a long run (it was a loooong time ago, but I was once a runner...).
The novel is about four slave women who are mistresses to their owners and as such are brought for a handful of summers to an Ohio resort that is a short distance from "free" territory. The main character, Lizzie, undergoes a sea change over the course of the summers as she watches what happens to her fellow slaves, male and female.
We have ten copies of "Wench" to give away to randomly selected visitors who leave an answer to the following question in our Comments section below:
What is your favorite thing about freedom?
This giveaway has ended. Congratulations to the winners:
Evelyn A.
Jennifer D.
Angela H.
Elizabeth F.
Suzanne W.
Jennifer M.
Joan B.
Rebecca C.
Malca W.
Dolen Perkins-Valdez
Dolen Perkins-Valdez about her new historical novel, Wench.
Authors mentioned in this post:
Books mentioned in this post:
My favorite thing about freedom
My favorite part about freedom is thinking - what I want, when I want, whenever. No limits.
This is
Freedom, is knowing we and our neighbors, eat until the next harvest, drink until the next rainfall, enabling us the human energy to build safe, strong communities to raise the next generation higher. Tell your friends and neighbors and see if there is a response. How did you respond?
The Greatest Thing About Freedom
Wench: A Novel The greatest thing about freedom to me is that all of my grandchildren, great grandchildren have the freedom to openly, in a school, learn how to read and write. People in slavery didn't have this right. Frederick Douglass, Phillis Wheatley and many more slaves had to meet a kind stranger who was willing to hide away and teach the skills of reading and writing to the slave. If they were caught, there was big trouble like a beating, being sent away to a crueler owner, etc. Being free sexually is a huge one too. I can't imagine my body being taken by any man just because he "wants" me. I can make the choice with whom I want to share my body. Thank God!
I wrote a comment. Where did
I wrote a comment. Where did it go???
Wench: A Novel
The greatest thing about fear to me is that all of my grandchildren, great grandchildren have the freedom to openly, in a school, learn how to read and write. People in slavery didn't have this right. Frederick Douglass, Phillis Wheatley and many more slaves had to meet a kind stranger who was willing to hide away and teach the skills of reading and writing to the slave. If they were caught, there was big trouble like a beating, being sent away to a crueler owner, etc. Being free sexually is a huge one too. I can't imagine my body being taken by any man just because he "wants" me. I can make the choice with whom I want to share my body. Thank God!
My favorite thing about
My favorite thing about freedom is that the state can't tell me I have to worship a certain god. I can choose whichever one I wish, and can change my mind if I like. I love that!
Freedom
Oh dang! I thought I had already responded to this post to win Wench.
My favorite thing about freedom is the humanity it allows you to have. Lizzie, Mawu, and all of the women in Wench who are enslaved, don't have the ability to make choices for themselves (without dreadful consequences)...and at least for Mawu, she doesn't feel whole without it, creating that desire to escape and be free.
My Favorite Thing About Freedom
My favorite thing about freedom is the ability to say, think, and do whatever I choose.
My favorite thing about
My favorite thing about freedom is that I am able to enjoy my life completely. I have no restraints on what I say or do (within the law of course) or what I can become if I put my mind to it. People of various races and idiologies couldn't always say the same thing. I am grateful that I have a choice.
My Favorite Thing About Freedom
My favorite thing about freedom is the simple fact that we have it. Having been in a situation in the past where my freedom was taken away, it opened my eyes to what it really means to be free. It helps me better appreciate what the men and women of our armed forces fight for each and everyday. It might be a simple thing to some but often the simple things are the most worth while.
Freedom
To me, freedom should allow you the ability to be your own person and make your own choices provided those choices do not threaten the freedom of others. I think slavery reminds us that by allowing one particular group to have more freedom than another group, the result will likely be detrimental to society. I think this is especially important to remember in the age of terrorism where fear can often drive decisions about freedom and its limits.
freedom
freedom means freedom makes choices that either excell on your decisions or learn from failures
My Favorite Thing about Freedom
My favorite thing about freedom is that I can pass it on to the students I tutor at an alternative high school by teaching them the importance of education, learning about history, and appreciating books.
Freedom
My favorite thing about freedom is that we are free to choose. Whether or not our choices are good ones, at least we have that option, even if there are serious consequences to those choices. Unfortunately, there are those who choose poorly and therefore "lose" their freedoms. But these days most people (at least in America) choose whether they have freedom or not. I am thankful to be free.
What is your favorite thing about freedom?
My favorite thing about freedom TODAY, is that it gives you the ability to look back on this period and begin to ask the hard questions about the very real reveberations and ramifications of slavery right up into today's society. We are freer than ever to begin to shed the light of science and fact on that era, and so are freerer to redefine ourselves not just as slave and master, oppressed and oppressor, runner and pursuer, but as interrelated humans who functioned in a hightly complex social construct often as best they could. There were crimes, cruelty and compromises but also close loving relationships and triumphs. We may finally be at a point were we can truly let these experiences bring us together and form a truly colorblind society. We are freer than ever to say: "We are all family. Now let's move forward together."
What is your favorite thing about freedom?
My favorite thing about freedom TODAY, is that it gives you the ability to look back on this period and begin to ask the hard questions about the very real reveberations and ramifications of slavery right up into today's society. We are freer than ever to begin to shed the light of science and fact on that era, and so are freerer to redefine ourselves not just as slave and master, oppressed and oppressor but as interrelated humans who functioned in a hightly complex social construct often as best they could. There were crimes, cruelty and compromises but also close loving relationships and triumphs. We may finally be at a point were we can truly let these experiences bring us together and form a truly colorblind society. We are freer than ever to say: "We are all family. Now let's move forward together."
My Favorite Thing About Freedom
In America, my favorite thing about freedom is the ability for each of us to live by our own rules.
My Favorite Thing About Freedom Is...
My favorite thing about freedom is not a thing at all. Instead, my favorite thing about freedom is the "freed" state of mind that makes me feel as though my freedom cannot be taken from me, or given. My favorite thing about freedom is the free will to be whomever I wish to be, and to live a life with honor and dignity, but also one that has been worn to shreds! My favorite thing about freedom is the ability to live a life that taken "as is" has been exploited to its fullest, and lived with as few "maybes" and "what-ifs" that my daringness will allow. My favorite thing about freedom is the freedom to write about more than one thing that is "My Favorite Thing About Freedom!"
My Favorite Thing about Freedom
Freedom gives me the personal power to decide my own actions with my own restrictions. Freedom makes boundaries limitless.
What freedom means to ME!
freedom allows me to 'let me be me....'
Freedom
My favorite thing about freedom is the ability to live my life fully and completely.
Freedom
My favorite thing about freedom is the ability to live life fully and completely.
Freedom- my favorite thing
Having the freedom to explore an intellectual life, read what we want, discuss politics, voice opinions, without fear of imprisonment, losing my job, or having my kids' future threatened is the best freedom we share in America. In many countries you can't say anything about the government without fear of punishment. You can't read a book unless it has been approved. You can't see a film or discuss ideas unless you are aware you may be suffering the consequences.
Freedom is....
...a lot of things but certainly Freedom ain't free! Freedom is the right to "choose" a whole slew of liberties. God bless freedom!
My Favorite Thing about Freedom
My favorite thing about freedom is living in the United States of America where we are free to do as we choose. Freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of choice. I think people often forget how great it is living here in the land of the free and the home of the brave.
My favorite thing about freedom
I appreciate the freedom to like or dislike anything based on my own opinion.
My favorite thing about
My favorite thing about freedom self-knowledge and responsibility. Because no one else owns me, I must know myself and decide what I aspire to be. I am responsible for all my decisions and actions; no one can take them away from me.
Freedom
Freedom lets me be myself. I tend to speak without thinking and if I didn't have freedom, I'd be in a lot of trouble at times for speaking my mind.
I've lost a lot of independence because of my health issues. I would love to be able to do things myself again that I can't anymore, like saddling up a horse on my own or clipping my own toenails. But at least no one can take away my freedom to be me.
Fave thing about freedom. . .
My favorite part of freedom is self-expression - the opportunity to express our complex, conflicted selves as we attempt to accomplish our personal hearts' desires. What an infinite array that creates!
freedom
my favorite thing about freedom is the inspiration that it brings to people. i mean, as an example, would Braveheart be the movie that it is without that line??
Freedom
Freedom means that my children can grow to be whatever they want. The sky is the limit and it is a powerful feeling.
freedom
Freedom to me means the ability to make choices and act on my choices and decisions with free will and no penalty for these choices. That being said everything has consequences including freedom.
Freedom
I love that freedom is mostly an illusion; thus, I'm free because I pretend to be.
Freedom
As a journalist, my favorite thing about freedom is the ability to write whatever I want and not be thrown in prison for it!
FREEDOM
Freedom means being able to pursue what I wish, read what I want, listen to what I am interested in and appreciate this wonderful ability to fulfil my dreams.
favorite thing about freedom
Being able to pursue my dreams, see my family and friends, share my views, read my books -- and not having to worry about doing so.
reading,writing,whatever I
reading,writing,whatever I want ( mostly...) at least without punishment of imprisonment
Freedom
My favorite thing about freedom is the ability I have to make decisions about my life based only on things that are important to me, and not have to seek permission from an outside agency (government, owner, landowner/lord, husband). I was trying to explain to my 10-year old daughter just today what it was like to be a woman in the late 19th century and early 20th century, when in many places women still had no rights independent from their father/husband.
Freedom
My favorite thing about freedom is not having to think about it.
freedom
My love of freedom is having a free thought and being able to act on it!!!
Freedom
I guess my favorite thing about our "ostensible" freedom is having the rights to my own body. The right to love, celebrate, and do with my physical person what I will, when I will. To me, this freedom is foundational to all others, and it is more than the most black women of the era that Valdez writes about--and really most women --enjoyed.
Freedom
Freedom gives you the ability to cultivate your mind and enrich your environment without any limitations. Freedom is sacred. Freedom is my passport to an enriched life.
Freedom
Freedom means that we can move around freely without boundaries, express our opinions, and study or read whatever we wish.
The Freedom To Remember
As an expatriate living in Montreal - partially because of a research interest - I am overwhelmed by the freedom to remember. The freedom to document the horridness of the past and not have it omitted entirely. The freedom to say what was done, to acknowledge it as a country - regardless of how far we have to go - when there are places, I have found, where significant denial exists.
Freedom
My favorite thing about freedom is being able to do what I please, when I please, where I please so long as it does not hurt, harm, insult, or in any way change someone else's life for worse instead of better.
My favorite thing about freedom
My favorite thing about freedom is knowing that I can express my thoughts freely without fear.
My Favorite Thing About Freedom
My favorite thing about freedom is to be able to be my own person and the freedom to be able to go out and enjoy life without with out having to answer for every moment of it. To be able to watch my children and grandchildren develop into their own selves without the abuse of not having the freedom to develope their own characteristics. Freedom is a wonderful thing.
Freedom
I hate to compare this in any way to what Wench is about, but it is what I immediately think about when I think about freedom. I didn't have a car for a long time because I couldn't afford it. It was fine, but I really didn't live somewhere that had public transportation or anyway to get anywhere, other than when someone said they could drive me somewhere. Thankfully I had really great friends, but I never felt like my own person because I was constantly relying on someone else. Now, that I finally have a car, I feel like a real person that has command over herself and her actions. And that is still such a small thing -- I can't even imagine what it must have been like to feel that in every aspect of your life.
Freedom
Living in the United States is the epitome of freedom to me and my family. It has afforded me the ability to live independently.
My favorite part of freedom
My favorite part of freedom is being able to freely express my beliefs.
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