Jubilee (novel)
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| Jubilee | |
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 1st edition |
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| Author(s) | Margaret Walker |
| Cover artist | William Hofmann |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Historical novel |
| Publisher | Houghton Mifflin |
| Publication date | 1966 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover |
| Pages | 497 pages |
Jubilee (1966) is a historical novel written by Margaret Walker, which focuses on the story of a biracial slave during the American Civil War. It is set in Georgia and later in various parts of Alabama in the mid-19th century before, during, and after the Civil War.
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[edit] Plot summary
Jubilee is a semi-fictional account of "Vyry Brown," based on the life of author Margaret Walker's grandmother, Margaret Duggans Ware Brown. Vyry Brown is a mixed-race slave--the unacknowledged daughter of her master--who is born onto the Dutton plantation in Georgia. The novel follows her experiences from early childhood to adult life.
The story of Vyry's life in the novel spans three major periods of American history: Slavery, the Civil War, and Reconstruction.
[edit] Characters
- Sis Hetta - Vyry's mother; a slave, she dies in the novel's opening chapter, when Vyry is a very small child.
- Caline, May Liza, and Lucy - servants in the big house who work with Aunt Sally and Vyry. Lucy is Vyry's older half sister, by Hetta's slave husband. After being beaten and branded for running away, Lucy succeeds in escaping to freedom.
- John Morris Dutton - "Marse" or "Marster John," he was also the owner of the Dutton Plantation; his slave mistress, Sis Hetta, is Vyry's mother.
- Miss Salina - the wife of Marse John and mother of his two legitimate children. She is also known as Big Missy, and is cruel to the slaves.
- Vyry - the protagonist of the novel. She is a dynamic main character. Vyry is the daughter of Sis Hetta, who dies as the novel opens, and her master, John Dutton. She is a slave, but her skin is so fair she can "pass" as white. She is a solemn, generous woman who has many skills.
- Aunt Sally - a slave in the house on the Dutton Plantation. She is the cook and teaches Vyry everything she knows. She acts as a mother to Vyry.
- Randall Ware - a literate black man who was born free and is a blacksmith. He promises to marry Vyry and buy her freedom, but Marse John won't permit it.
- Jim, Minna, and Harry - Vyry’s children.
- Miss Lillian - the daughter of Marse John and Big Missy. She is about the same age as Vyry, her unacknowledged half sister, whom she strongly resembles. She and Vyry play together when they are little. Unlike her mother, she is not cruel but gullible and easily manipulated.
- Grimes - the overseer on the Dutton Plantation.
- Innis Brown - a slave freed by the war, who meets Vyry at the war's end, protects her from an attacker, and marries her legally.
- John Dutton Jr.- takes over the plantation when his father dies and serves in the Confederate Army.
[edit] Adaptation
The novel was adapted into a three-act opera by Ulysses Kay, to a libretto by Donald Dorr; it was commissioned by Opera/South and premiered in 1976.[1]
