Cruelty Under the Guise of Kindness

Madame Delarivière has raised Zoraïde to be well-mannered and cultured, and she wants her slave and goddaughter to marry well. At first, it seems the two have as positive a relationship as is possible under the overarching brutal context of slavery. However, Madame Delarivière is unwilling to listen to Zoraïde's claims that she loves another man, Mézor, because Mézor is a dark-skinned field hand, and this match will not bring honor to Zoraïde or, by association, to Madame Delarivière. By denying Zoraïde's request, her mistress insists that she is really being kind despite the fact that she is denying Zoraïde's desire to marry the man she loves. She is rejecting her autonomy in yet another way. Later, Madame Delarivière has the nurse tell Zoraïde that her baby has died, and she hopes that this will restore Zoraïde to her former, happy self. She ends up crushing Zoraïde's spirit with her cruelty. Her kindness is merely a facade that cloaks her more rampant cruelty and racism.

Dehumanization and Objectification

Only after Zoraïde loses her mind does Madame Delarivière seem to understand what she has done. In her guilt and sorrow, she sends for Zoraïde's daughter, but Zoraïde cannot recognize the child as her own now, believing in her "demented" state that a small bundle of rags is actually her lost infant. If only Madame Delarivière would have recognized Zoraïde's humanity sooner, a great deal of pain could have been avoided. Instead, Madame Delarivière put her own honor and pride ahead of another human being's happiness and saw Zoraïde as her property to control. She also clearly considered Méza and the baby to be objects she can control. At her word, these human being are shipped off to plantations. Just as Madame Delarivière fails to see Zoraïde’s full humanity and personhood, so, too does Madame Delisle dehumanize Zoraïde. When Manna Loulou finishes telling her the story, Madame Delisle expresses pity for the child who will grow up without parents. She does not, however, comment on the tremendous loss that Zoraïde experienced. She is unable to recognize the humanity in the grief that the story focuses on.

A Person Can Only Take So Much Sorrow

Zoraïde tries to reason with her mistress and secure permission to marry the man she loves, but she is denied after being insulted and ridiculed. Then, Madame Delarivière actually has this man sold to a plantation owner in another state, all to separate the young lovers. When this does not render Zoraïde more like her old self, Madame Delarivière orders the nurse to tell Zoraïde that her infant daughter has died, and she sends the baby away. The loss of her child, following the loss of the man she loves, eventually leads to the loss of Zoraïde's senses. She begins to treat a bundle of rags as her child because the pain and grief of her actual loss are too much to bear. She has endured cruelty after cruelty, with her misfortune coming to a head in her loss of sanity.