Contending Forces (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: Pauline Hopkins
- First Published: 1900
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Social morality
- Time of Work: The 1790’s and the 1890’s
- Setting: Bermuda, North Carolina, Boston, and New Orleans
- Genres: Long fiction, Social realism
- Subjects: African Americans, Civil rights, Social action, Family or family life, Politics, Racism, Love or romance, Suicide, Biracial people, South or Southerners, Nineteenth century, Slavery or slaves, Betrayal, Prostitution or prostitutes, Friendship, Eighteenth century, New Orleans, North Carolina, Greed, Lawyers, Boston
- Locales: Boston, MA, New Orleans, LA, North Carolina, Bermuda
Characters Discussed
Sappho Clark, a beautiful mulatto woman. Sappho is abducted by a white uncle when she is fifteen years old. She is placed in a brothel, where she remains for three weeks before she is rescued and carried to a convent, where she gives birth to a son. Later, she moves to Boston to start a new life. There, she meets Will Smith, whom she marries after a series of difficulties.
Will Smith, a black civil rights activist. An intellectual and philosopher, Will is a leader in his community. He meets Sappho in his mother’s boardinghouse and courts her,...
[The entire page is 583 words long]
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