Analysis Of The Book Clotel Or The Presidents Daughter

In the novel Clotel or The President’s Daughter, Williams Wells Brown’s use of irony as Europe, particularly France, as a pivotal setting for the liberation of African Americans from the bondage of slavery, by virtue of its political and social demeanor, contrasted from the United States of America. In the Letter Exchange between Benjamin Banneker and Thomas Jefferson, Banneker’s letter reinforces the situational irony when he argues, â€Å"Sir, suffer me to recall to your mind that time in which the arms and tyranny of the British crown were exerted with every powerful effort in order to reduce you to a state of servitude† (253). Thus, this citation reminds Jefferson of his and his country’s origin. The Letters of Exchange and scenes from the novel dramatize the oppression of enslaved African Americans while acknowledging the irony by assessing the persisting gap between America’s founding principles and the ruthless existence of slavery. The publication of Clotel in London in 1853 is the first indication of irony, by assessing the persisting gap between freedom in Europe and the ruthless existence of slavery in America. Furthermore, it indicates to the reader African American status in U.S. culture. To begin, allow us discuss Thomas Jefferson, father of American Independence and a father of slave children. A free African American, Benjamin Banneker, contested the â€Å"racialist views† offered in Notes on the State of Virginia and challenged the Declaration of Independence as a