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Florens
Florens’s mother, who is unnamed throughout the book, is a slave on D’Ortega’s Maryland plantation. She was born in Africa and then taken to Barbados as a slave to work on the sugar cane plantations. Florens’s mother was later bought by D’Ortega and shipped up to Maryland. D’Ortega ordered Florens’s mother to be gang raped when she arrived on the plantation, and he later sexually abused her himself. Florens’s mother has two children, Florens and her brother, as a result of these rapes. When Jacob comes to the farm, Florens’s mother, not wanting her daughter to suffer the same fate that she did, begs him to take her. Jacob does, and Florens’s mother hopes that her daughter understands her sacrifice.
Florens’s Mother Quotes in A Mercy
The A Mercy quotes below are all either spoken by Florens’s Mother or refer to Florens’s Mother. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 11
Quotes
I will keep one sadness. That all this time I cannot know what my mother is telling me. Nor can she know what I am wanting to tell her. Mãe, you can have pleasure now because the soles of my feet are hard as cypress.
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Chapter 12
Quotes
To be female in this place is to be an open wound that cannot heal. Even if scars form, the festering is ever below.
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It was not a miracle. Bestowed by God. It was a mercy. Offered by a human. I stayed on my knees. In the dust where my heart will remain each night and every day until you understand what I know and long to tell you: to be given dominion over another is a hard thing; to wrest dominion over another is a wrong thing; to give dominion of yourself to another is a wicked thing.
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Florens’s Mother Quotes in A Mercy
The A Mercy quotes below are all either spoken by Florens’s Mother or refer to Florens’s Mother. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 11
Quotes
I will keep one sadness. That all this time I cannot know what my mother is telling me. Nor can she know what I am wanting to tell her. Mãe, you can have pleasure now because the soles of my feet are hard as cypress.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 12
Quotes
To be female in this place is to be an open wound that cannot heal. Even if scars form, the festering is ever below.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
It was not a miracle. Bestowed by God. It was a mercy. Offered by a human. I stayed on my knees. In the dust where my heart will remain each night and every day until you understand what I know and long to tell you: to be given dominion over another is a hard thing; to wrest dominion over another is a wrong thing; to give dominion of yourself to another is a wicked thing.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
