Sapphira and the Slave Girl was the last novel of Willa Cather’s distinguished literary career. Begun in the last summer of 1937 and finally completed in 1941, it is often regarded by critics as one of her most personal works. Although the story takes place in 1856, well before her own birth, she drew heavily on both vivid childhood memories and tales handed down by older relatives to describe life in rural northern Virginia in the middle of the 19th century. She even went on an extended journey to the area to give the story a further ring of authenticity.
Of all of Cather’s many novels, Sapphira and the Slave Girl is the one most concerned with providing an overall picture of day to day life in a specific era. A number of the novel’s characters, it would seem, are included in the story only because they are representative of the type of people to be found in 19th-century rural Virginia; indeed, a few of them play no part whatsoever in unfolding of the plot. For instance, we are introduced to a poor white women, Mandy Ringer, who is portrayed as intelligent and content, despite the fact that she has no formal education and must toil constantly in the fields. And we meet Dr. Clevenger, a country doctor who, with his refined manners, evokes a strong image of the pre-Civil War South.
The title, however, accurately suggests that the novel is mainly about slavery. Cather’s attitude toward this institution may best be summed up as somewhat ambiguous. On the one hand, she displays almost total indifference to the legal and political aspects of slavery when she misidentifies certain crucial dates in its growth and development. Nor does she ever really offer a direct condemnation of slavery. Yet on the other hand, the evil of slavery gets through to us.
Although in typically subtle ways, those characters, like Mrs. Blake, who oppose institution are portrayed in a sympathetic light. Furthermore, the suffering of the slaves themselves and the petty, nasty, often cruel behavior of the slave owners are painted in harsh terms.
Although Sapphira and the Slave Girl was certainly not meant to be a political tract, the novel is sometimes considered to be a denunciation of bygone days. Nothing could be further from the truth. In spite of her willingness to acknowledge that particular aspects of the past were far from ideal, Willa Cather was, if anything, a bit of a romantic. Especially in the final years of her life, an increasing note of anger about the emptiness of the present crept into her writing. Earlier generations, she concluded, had been the real heroes, the real creator of all that was good in American.
1. In the discussion of Willa Cather’s Sapphira and the Slave Girl, the author refers to the book
primarily as a（ ）.
2. In paragraph 2, Mandy Ringer and Dr. Clevenger are mentioned in order to emphasize which point
about Sapphira and the Slave Girl?
3. According to the author, why is Willa Cather's attitude toward slavery “somewhat ambiguous”
(paragraphs)?
4. In context, “a bit of a romantic” (paragraph 4) suggests that Willa Cather（ ）.
