The Longest Memory

Fred D’Aguiar’s short fictional novel, ‘The Longest Memory’, set during the 18th Century in Southern Virginia, demonstrates how both the captors and captives are shackled by an inhumane system. We explore the lives of Chapel, Cook, Lydia and Mr Whitechapel, as they fight through the suffering and harsh circumstances of life on an American
Plantation. D’Aguiar has presented his novel from multiple perspectives in order to give the audience a greater knowledge of the history and emotion behind each character. Revealing how the existence of such a vicious system, became a prison for both the enslaved and jailers alike.

The foundations of slavery confined Chapel to the sheltered life of living on a plantation that restricted him from using his reading and writing skills, both in which form a basic, yet valuable part of education. We see Chapel attempt to ignore the moral principles that exist, only to be caught out by Mr.Whitechapel who declared “do not let me ever catch you reading again”. This was not Chapels only attempt at escaping the plantation life. At one point, Whitechapel metaphorically speaks that ‘freedom is death’, and this is represented through Chapel's death, when he attempts to escape the plantation to pursue his love for Lydia. Written in Poetic form, to emphasize the emotion and pain of Chapel’s journey into his forbidden love, both circumstances demonstrate Chapel failure to free himself from the slave trade.

Cook also found her self in a similar situation to Chapel, trapped by the slave trade, due to the ‘anchor slaves inherit from the cradle to the grave’, which limited her opportunities and freedom. Cook was well trained, but had very little education, which is exemplified to us through her truncated sentences, she was unable to read and write nor did she have any freedom beyond the plantation fences. Her encounter with Sanders Senior demonstrated her ability to escape inner emotions, with the only