The Indigo Girl

“It was Ben’s knowledge of plants that had lit the flame of my own passion for botany.”

When Eliza credits Ben with the expertise that is vital to the success of her endeavors with indigo, the passage highlights the central role that the dissemination of crucial knowledge plays in the plot. Just as Ben has inherited his indigo knowledge from his grandmother, Eliza inherits his love of botany (and eventually compels him to impart his indigo knowledge as well).

“Back home in England, the idea that my father would leave his sixteen-year-old daughter in charge of his estates was absurd.”

In this excerpt, the author outlines the conflicting realities of two different societies. While England retains its strict and gendered social structures, the colonies do not have the same luxury, and this shift allows Eliza to redefine the social realities that dictate the structure of her daily life.

“Would he have picked me if George was of age?”

Eliza’s self-doubt and concerns over her worth in her family often arise from her knowledge that her abilities are only employed because of George’s continued absence. Although her father values her intelligence, there is no certainty that this measure of respect would have won against the prevailing social conventions that grant George the ability to inherit his father’s estates ahead of Eliza.

“A necessary evil, my father had counseled me. Impossible to build a new world without able-bodied help. Unfortunately, our new world also came with ‘necessary’ hard-handed overseers already in place. Like Starrat.”

Though she herself remains complicit in the institution of enslavement, Eliza often takes a passive view of the brutalities and injustices of enslavement, seeing the institution as an inherited—and unchangeable—predisposition to South Carolinian life. Thus, although she eventually comes to question the institution, she mostly takes issue with the violence inherent within the system, as represented by the actions of people like Starrat.

“‘The danger is not from [enslaved people], dear ‘Liza.’ My father’s reply jarred me from this dismal reverie. ‘But from the folk in town and roundabouts. You must be very cautious; people will be watching.’”

Here, Boyd implies that even those who would want to change the institution of enslavement find themselves limited in action. Because so many plantation owners earn their wealth through the free labor of enslaved people, any challenge to the status quo is seen as an attack on their source of income and societal power. Retribution, therefore, is often swift and fatal.

“It didn’t stop me from acknowledging how very vulnerable we were, three white females alone out here in the country.”

In this excerpt, Boyd highlights the delimitations between the Lucas family and the enslaved people on their plantation. Although there are many people who dwell on the plantation, the author implies that the three white women would not necessarily be able to count on anyone but themselves for protection in the face of unexpected danger.

“If I loved someone would that be enough when I no longer had the satisfying business of a plantation to run? My drive to succeed and improve our lot, as unattractive a quality as Mama said it was, couldn’t be helped.”

Here, Eliza explains the prospects that would typically be envisioned by a white woman of the period. Although she is given a rare opportunity to delve into the male-dominated arena of business, other women with equal dreams have had to curtail their ambitions and find what satisfaction they can within the limitations of the domestic sphere.

“Immediately, I understood the ramifications of my decisions that had seemed so simple. There was a structure and a hierarchy among the slaves, and I was removing a piece that would have to be reinforced or worked around.”

In this passage, Boyd indicates that enslaved people are able to adapt and remain resilient through their own internal social relationships, even as she highlights Eliza’s general ignorance of these connections. More than anything, this excerpt demonstrates the fact that despite her half-hearted protestations against the brutalities of enslavement, Eliza does not view enslaved people as being fully human. This bias is apparent in the fact that she does not initially consider the possibility that they might have their own desires and their own social relationships.

“Men do not like strong women.”

Though there are exceptions to this claim, this statement characterizes many of Eliza’s encounters with white men in South Carolinian society. Strength of character, as her mother reminds her, is seen as a fault in a woman rather than a virtue, for any show of agency from those meant to meekly adhere to society’s limitations ultimately threatens the established social order.

“Anyway, I plan to have enslaved Indians. Though I’m rather waiting for them to continue warring amongst themselves and make their numbers more manageable.”

Though many of the enslaved people working on plantations are African or of African descent, Boyd uses the offhanded callousness of this statement to highlight the fact that Indigenous people were also victims of enslavers, as they, too, were only seen as a commodity to benefit the white citizens of the colony.

“You can’t say you think it’s right that we enslave human beings.”

This claim from Elizabeth adds nuance to her character and complicates her position as the manager of three plantations that function due to the labor of enslaved people. While she claims that she is against the enslavement of human beings, the practical application of her claim falls short. Many of her behaviors and assumptions reveal that she fails to view enslaved people as being deserving of equal status.

“I knew I’d never completely stop play the role assigned to me in this life, but I would never, ever, let it compromise me.”

Here, Boyd highlights the fact that society’s clutches will never allow Eliza to be the fully independent woman she wishes to be, as she must continue to defer to social conventions in order to maintain a functioning business. While she refuses to compromise on her endeavors, she nevertheless acknowledges the need to be roundabout in her way of achieving them.

“The crack of splintering hardwood was as satisfying as the crack of it against Sarah’s skin had been horrifying.”

The comparison in this excerpt is one that implies poetic justice. Togo, an enslaved person, is the one to break John Laurens’s cane, the very weapon that a would-be enslaver used to commit senseless violence against Sarah.

“How would I protect my family on my own? It seemed I’d gotten my wish, and only now did the consequences truly weigh in.”

This passage indicates that Eliza’s independence from men comes at a steep price. Because she is unmarried, she has very little practical authority in social or financial matters, and her precarious position likewise makes her family deeply vulnerable.

“Families were routinely separated and sold and they never saw each other again. It was something I wanted to avoid here at Wappoo. I’d made Sarah that promise.”

This excerpt exemplifies the fact that enslaved individuals were seen as commodities and were often exchanged as readily as inanimate objects, with no thought given to their family and social connections. Enslavers thus dehumanized enslaved people by denying them basic human attachments. Eliza’s statement in this passage reflects her awareness of this injustice, but her unilateral decision to move Sarah from one plantation to another also demonstrates her continued obtuseness on this point, as Sarah’s overt hatred of Eliza implies.

“I couldn’t believe I was being spoken to this way. And yet I could. This was Ben. The lines of […] servant and master didn’t seem to exist here between us.”

In this instance, Boyd highlights how Eliza treats Ben with a certain exceptionalism that she does not extend to other enslaved people on her father’s plantation. While Ben can raise her voice to her, she by default believes that she is owed a certain level of respect and deference from enslaved people because she is a “master.” The passage therefore highlights Eliza’s ingrained hypocrisy on the topic of enslavement.

“I can’t be a son. And there isn’t much I can do about that. I’d say that was a rather large obstacle.”

Despite being older and able to manage the estates, Eliza will never be able to shed her womanhood in a way that would allow her to navigate the world as easily as her brother does. What would be easily accessible to George would always be hard-earned for her.

“How could you? […] I…I saved you. Didn’t I? Why would you do this?”

In this passage, Boyd implicitly reveals that Eliza views herself as something of a white savior. She believes herself to be different from other enslavers because she does not use violence, but the absence of violence does little to change the fact that she holds Sarah and the others in bondage, with their wills forfeit and their lives precariously hanging by a thread at all times.

“What had Plutarch said? Empire may be gained by gold, not gold by empire. Indigo was my gold and my silver. The empire was more than the Lucas family. I could be South Carolina.”

Here, Boyd highlights the eventual agricultural impact that Eliza and her family will have on the whole of South Carolina. Though the narrative never showcases the effects of her efforts with indigo, her insistence on the crop will eventually account for a third of export profits from the American colonies.

“You were closer to freedom than I ever was. I want to be free too. And you […] You, Benoit Fortuné, just took my chance of freedom from me.”

Though Ben lied about his participation in ruining Eliza’s indigo batch, Boyd highlights the complicated power dynamics of their relationship when those undercurrents are mingled with their respective dreams of freedom. Though both goals theoretically align with each other, each character is in a state of desperation and dependency on the other’s goodwill for survival—specifically, Ben’s personal survival and Eliza’s financial survival.

“Iciness swept across my neck as I prickled with sweat. I added my mother’s betrayal to the bag of stones that was tied around my neck and pulling me under.”

Boyd uses this passage to show that Eliza’s parents fail their daughter and thwart her ambitions. While her father drains his assets and makes it that much harder for Eliza to make their accounts thrive, her mother’s betrayal is born out of a shortsighted selfishness that would otherwise leave their family destitute.

“Did—did he love her back? Your father, the white man? Did he return your mother’s love?”

Here, Boyd alludes to how, while the rape of enslaved women by white men was a common occurrence on plantations, not all sexual encounters between a white person and an African or African-descended person constituted sexual assault. Though Quash’s parents were not allowed to be a couple, love did blossom between them.

“His soul…his soul done swim back to Africa.”

In this excerpt, the author implies that even in death, Ben would not be able to regain his freedom if his soul remained in South Carolina. Only by returning to Africa, where he and/or his family presumably come from, can Ben finally be free of his bondage.