Analyzing Discourse in Sugar Cane: Epigraph

Some view our sable race with scornful eye,
"Their color is a diabolic dye."
Remember, Christians, Negroes, black as Cain,
May be refined, and join the angelic train.

Phillis Wheatley, "On Being Brought from Africa to America"

This epigraph, though short, is dense with allusions to the cultural discourses which it engages in. Phillis Wheatley is an educated slave who was freed. This poem was published in 1773 when slavery was still an institution in the united states, but also at a time when the abolitionist movement began to gain momentum.

Though the words slave and slavery are not used in the poem, the title of the poem, "On Being Brought from Africa to America" is a blatant allusion to the slave trade and slavery.  This poem directly engages in the cultural discourse of slavery.  This creates an immediate polarity of oppositions. On one side there are "Negroes" and on the other side non-negro Americans, implied as the "Some" in line one of the epigraph who "view our race with scornful eye."  Another related discourse immediately implied is race and race relations.
The speaker in Wheatley's "On Being Brought from Africa to America" is herself dark skinned, the possessive pronoun "our" in the first line of the epigraph makes that clear, as the speaker identifies in "our sable race."   The poem engages in this discussion of race with the use of color. "Sable race" "Their color" "diabolic dye" and "black as Cain" describe darkness related to skin color.

Another discourse present in this poem is one of religion and morality. The way non-negro Americans view dark-skinned negros is with a "scornful eye."  The non-negro American judges the negro based on the color of his or her skin as Wheatley ascribes in the quotation in the second line of the epigraph. The dark skin color is given demonic or devilish characteristics via the term "diabolic" and characteristics which conjure up the idea of intentional stains and impurity via the term "dye." The binary to this would indicate purity and holiness. These elements are present in the use of the terms "angelic" and "refined" in the last couplet. There is also a biblical allusion to the story of Cain and Abel.  According to certain versions of the bible, Cain was the first official murderer in the Bible. After killing his brother Abel, Cain was confronted by God who asked him of Abel's whereabouts... to whcih cain replies "How should I know? I am not my brother's keeper" Whereby God calls Cain out on his lie, cursing him and banishing him to wander. His curse was a mark that made clear he were not to be killed (#markofcain ). This story is is often referenced to exemplify the wicked and the righteous. 

Furthermore, the speaker in  "On Being Brought from Africa to America" addresses Christians in the third line, commanding them in the imperative to "remember."

This epigraph does two things. First, it creates binary oppositions. There are three binary oppositions in the epigraph. The second thing the epigraph does is overcomes those oppositions.  In the first two lines, an "us" and "them" relationship is fairly clear. There are negroes  and non-negroes. By the third line, it is unclear who the "us" and "them" is.  Another binary opposition is dark and light as described through color "sable" "black" "dye" "refined." And the third binary opposition is that of good and evil in the biblical context as alluded to through the words "diabolic" "Cain" and "angelic."

The speaker of the poem addresses Christians, "Remember Christians." And Christians refers to religion and belief, which is not dependent on skin color. (Even if you want to assume that Africans brought from an non-Christian Africa to serve as Negro slaves in America do not traditionally practice Christianity, it cannot be denied that African slaves were forced to attend church services and observe Christian practices as slaves. Many also adopting the religion and belief system).

Another way the "us and them" binary opposition is overcome is through a mixed speaker. The speaker of the poem identifies as having dark skin, and uses the possessive pronoun "our" when identifying as belonging to a "sable race" however, Wheatley then chooses to give the non-negroe voice within the poem as well, using a quotation "Their color is a diabolic dye" --- however, this distinction is only present in the printed version of this poem.  When recited orally, the lines become more ambiguous.

Another interesting thought about this epigraph is to take into consideration it's form and the medium it is being transmitted on. When it is printed it is easier to perceive the us in them through punctuation, grammar,  and layout, -- it is of all things, black ink, printed on whiite paper. However, if the poem is transmitted orally, it becomes less clear who the "us and them" is -- Wheatley could have kept the poems speaker without including the quotation marks around the second line....  she could have written something like: they see their color as a diabolic dye... however in this poem, there are two voices. And the medium which it is transmitted makes the difference. The voice can neither be  black nor white, at least not in color.



There is an opposition created in this poem immediately.


 Below is this poem in it's entirety:

'Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land

Taught my benighted soul to understand

That there's a God, that there's a Saviour too:

Once I redemption neither sought nor knew.

Some view our sable race with scornful eye;

"Their colour is a diabolic die."

Remember, Christians, Negros black as Cain,

May be refin'd, and join th'angelic train^.

^{- from "Poems on Various Subjects Religious and Moral"}