Viviana Chavez
Professor Prather
History 1301
July 2, 2018
The Invention of Wings
In the “Invention of Wings” the main characters name is Handful but is also referred to as Hetty. Handful was given to Sarah as an 11th birthday “gift”, however Sarah was not content and does not like that her family owns slaves. Even though she wanted to set Handful free there was nothing Sarah could do. Throughout this story I will be going over Hetty’s background, her life throughout the story and her relationship with Miss Sarah by doing so it will show how she is the protagonist.
As a little girl Handful was always told a story by her mother in which Handful’s grandma would explain how people in Africa had wings and could fly a really long time ago. However, her mother then told her she lost her wings when she came over to America and all that was left were her back-wing bones. On page 3 the author mentioned “This all what left of your wings. They nothing but these flat bones now, but one day you gon get’em back.” I believe that by this she is referring to their freedom and that she believes that one day they will be free again. At the age of ten Handful was given to Sarah who was an 11-year-old girl that refused to have a slave work for her. Since this was a tradition there was nothing she could do to stop Handful from being her personal slave.
Handful’s life throughout the story was very irregular, some days were better than others. However, Miss Sarah made her life so much easier by covering up some of her mistakes, keeping her company, and teaching her new things other slaves would never have the chance of learning. Sarah thought Hetty how to read and write even though she knew this was extremely prohibited for slaves to learn and could result in severe punishment or even death. During the story, Sarah father noticed Hetty had the ability to read and write. Immediately Sarah’s father punished both girls, he whipped Hetty and banned Sarah from going into his library and reading the books. To sum up her life throughout the story, at the end her mother passed away in her sleep, she had slept for six days straight and never woke up with both Sky and Handful by her side. On August 4th Handful wrote Miss Sarah a letter telling her about the tragedy and every bit of information behind her mother’s passing. “Mauma passed on last month. She fell into a sleep under the oak tree and never roused.” As said on page 312.
Miss Sarah and Handfuls relationship was admirable due to the things they did for each other. They were both having their own obstacles to overcome throughout life and both helped each other out in very different ways. Sarah would help Hetty out by covering all her mistakes, on page 27 the author states “I spilled lamp oil on the floor leaving a slick spot, broke one of those porcelain vases, and fried a piece of Miss Sarah’s red hair… Miss Sarah never tattled. She tugged the rug over to cover the oily place, hid the broke porcelain in a storeroom in the cellar, and cut off her singed hair.” This shows Miss Sarah’s caring personality and proves that they had a great relationship. As days passed by Sarah and Handful grew closer, Sarah tried teaching her how to read and at the time in Charleston it was prohibited to teach a slave how to read or write. On page 54 Handful states “People say love gets fouled by a difference big as ours. I didn’t know for sure whether Miss Sarah’s feelings came from love or guilt. I didn’t know whether mine came from love or a need to be safe.” All the good deeds Sarah did for her had Handful very confused of why Sarah was so good to her, and at the end of the day all Sarah wanted to do was set her free.
I believe Handful is the protagonist of the story due to the fact that everything throughout the story was about her. For example, when it was Miss Sarah’s chapter she would talk about wanting to help Handful and the constant arguments with her parents’ due to her not believing in the same things they do. Although it was very neck to neck Handful went through the most pain however at the end of the story they both learned to fly. On April 23, 1838 Handful finally escaped and left behind a note for Miss Sarah. She stated “Me and Sky will be leaving here or die trying. That’s how we put it. I don’t know how we’re going to do it, but we’ve got mauma’s money… I hope I see you again one day.” This represents Handful gaining her wings back by escaping and getting her freedom back.