The Woman of Colour's Counter-Domesticity

Abstract:This essay explains why The Woman of Colour cannot assimilate Olivia Fairfield into Romantic-era marriage: a black matriline and Jamaican upbringing imbue the heroine's abolitionism with a racial consciousness white women could not claim. Such an articulate criticism, while necessary for the novel's anti-slavery stance, is at odds with its domestic ideology, which requires instead the translucent, dependent figure of Angelina as the ideal wife. By setting up such a contrast of feminine subjectivities, the novel aligns a global feminist consciousness with women of color rather than the dependent white women associated with British marriage.