Sab
March 3, 2008
SAB
• Written by Gertrudis Gómez
de Avellandeda y Arteaga
• Published 1841 in Spain;
banned in Cuba until 1914
CHARACTERS
Sab’s Mother
Martina
Luis
Don Luis
Sab
Don Carlos
Carlota
Enrique Otway
George Otway
Teresa
CHARACTERS
Sab
• A Mullato: half-black, half-white--son of an
African Princess and Don Luis (brother to Don
Carlos)
• Raised by Don Carlos; grew up with Carlota
and rarely left her side
• Mayoral (chief administrator) at Don Carlos’
plantation—unique honour for a slave
“His coloring was of a yellowish white with a certain dark undertone, his broad forehead was
half-hidden under irregular locks of hair as lustrous and black as the wings of the raven; his nose
was aqualine, but his thick, purplish lips revealed his African heritage.” (28)
CHARACTERS
Carlota
• Daughter of Don Carlos; about to marry
Enrique Otway
• Sweet, innocent, carefree character
• More concerned with ideals of love than
with pragmatic concerns
“Her beautiful, pure brow rested in one of her hands as she supported her arm on the windowsill;
her parted chestnut hair cascaded in a multitude of ringlets which framed a seventeen-year-old
face…The ideal nature of her lovely figure was enhanced by a dress of purest white.” (35)
CHARACTERS
Teresa
• Distant relative of Carlota
– Orphaned and taken in by Don Carlos
– Like a sister to Carlota
• Outwardly emotionless
– Upset by her lot in life?
– Yet evidence of caring for Sab and Carlota
“Still young, yet lacking the charms of youth, Teresa had one of those ordinary faces that, while
not repugnant, were in no way attractive either. After a close look at her, no one would call her
ugly; however, on seeing her for the first time, no one would think her beautiful, for her face was
so devoid of expression that it might just as well inspire hate as love.” (35)
PLOT
• Central story is Carlota’s upcoming marriage to
Enrique Otway
• Enrique’s father George is about to go bankrupt and
wants Enrique married to a wealthy woman before this
happens
• Meanwhile, Don Carlos (Carlota’s father) has lost his
fortune; Carlota cares little but Enrique is deeply
grieved
• Sab’s love for Carlota is introduced and Sab finds
Enrique unsuitable for Carlota as he can see his true
intentions
• Despite this Sab saves Enrique’s life after
he is knocked unconscious in a storm
PLOT
• Enrique is conflicted over whether he should
marry Carlota
• Sab is unofficially freed
• Don Carlos, Carlota, and the whole party travel
to Cubitas and discover that Sab is a hero who
saved young Luis (his adoptive mother’s
grandson) and his dog from a fire
• Sab is freed and paid so he can support his
adoptive mother Martina
• Throughout all the emotional points in the
novel Teresa remains emotionless
PLOT
• Teresa and Sab conduct a secret meeting in
which Sab professes his complete and
ultimately fatal love for Carlota, Teresa shows
compassion for Sab
• Sab has won the lottery and offers it to Teresa
who would then become rich and could
possibly marry Enrique but instead they end up
giving it to Carlota so that Enrique will still want
to marry her
• Just as Enrique decides he is going to leave
Carlota he receives news of her winnings and
goes immediately to her
PLOT
• Sab breaks down and dies at the same hour Enrique
and Carlota are married
• Everyone thinks that Teresa loved Sab and upon his
death she joins a convent
• Despite all the death and people leaving, Enrique
convinces Carlota to be happy
• Carlota lives a very unhappy life, discovering the true
nature of her husband, and Teresa finds happiness in
the convent where Carlota visits often to cry upon her
shoulder
• As Teresa dies, she gives Carlota the letter Sab wrote
her on his deathbed
• In this letter Sab condemns himself because of his
race
EXCERPT
Part I, Chapter 6
• Follows episode in which Sab saves
Enrique’s life
• Reveals Carlota’s naïveté and idealism;
shows her innocent love for her suitor
Enrique
• Shows Sab’s unhappiness with his lot in
life and his love for Carlota
• Exemplary of Sab’s romantic writing style
EXCERPT
Part II, Chapter 2
• Second chapter in which Sab confesses to
Teresa his love for Carlota
• Sab proposes to appeal to Enrique’s love of
money by giving Teresa a winning lottery ticket
• Exploration of theme of fortune—Sab sees
himself as a noble soul trapped in a slave’s
body
• Sab cannot undertake his plan because
Carlota really does love Enrique
Structure & Style
STRUCTURE & STYLE
Word to the Reader
• “These pages were written for
amusement during moments of leisure
and of melancholy: at that time the author
had no intention of exposing them to the
public’s unforgiving eye.” (26)
• Means of de-emphasizing the antislavery message in the text?
STRUCTURE & STYLE
Story Structure
• Divided into two parts and a conclusion
• Recurring devices: letters,
correspondence, mail
• Similar in style to Avellaneda’s
Autobiography
• Each chapter begins with an apt
epigraph; indication of Avellaneda’s
educated background
STRUCTURE & STYLE
Style
• Linear story
• Third person narrative—but not an
objective narrator
• Florid and descriptive language;
description of the natural world echoes
the emotion of the text
• Use of song and letter to impart emotion
• Extensive footnoting
Ideas
FREEDOM & SLAVERY
• What does it mean to be free?
• Sab is in a privileged position from the
beginning of the novel and is formally
freed early on—yet he feels trapped.
– Sab is not concerned with formal (legal)
freedom; nor is he looking for a revolution
– Freedom to be virtuous; to be passionate; to
exist
“‘You are free,’ she repeated, glancing at him in surprise, as though she wished to read
in his face the cause of an emotion which she could not attribute to the pleasure of
the freedom long offered and many times withdrawn. But Sab had himself under
control; his look was sad and calm and his appearance serious and melancholy.” (140)
MARRIAGE
• Marriage as an economic union
– Practically, marriage is a device for inheritance or
status
• Marriage for greed or love
– Carlota and Enrique’s marriage and their respective
intentions
• Marriage as enslavement
– Teresa’s escape to the convent
“I cannot love another woman as much as you, and none will
make me so happy as you would have, but destiny separates us. I
need to be rich, and you cannot make me rich, Carlota.” (116)
FORTUNE
• Identities prescribed by class, race,
gender
– Arbitrary divisions—yet they define each
character’s role
• The device of the lottery
– Preoccupation of most of the characters with
winning money
– Sab gives up his winnings
“What use is talent and education to a man destined to be a slave?” (45)
“Don’t all have the same needs, the same passions, the same flaws? Why,
then, do some have the right to enslave and others the duty to obey?” (140)
LOVE
• Several versions of “love” in Sab:
– Sab’s passionate but impossible love for
Carlota
– Carlota’s innocent love for Enrique
– Enrique’s uncertain love for Carlota
• What kind of love is attainable? What
love lasts?
“I knew nothing of love except what I had gathered from the novels I read, and I convinced
myself that naturally I was madly in love with my intended. As I had little contact with him and
knew him hardly at all, I could freely choose the character I most wanted him to have.”
(Autobiography, 4)
EMOTION/PASSION
• Sab’s passion makes the world unbearable;
Carlota’s innocence hurts her
– Contrast between idealism and stoicism
– Contrast between passion and restraint
• Only Teresa ends the novel content
– Suggestion that only option is resignation? Give in
or give up
“Teresa had indeed reached that calm and grave happiness which virtue bestows.
Her proud, strong spirit had mastered her destiny, and her feelings and elevated, firm,
and decided character had allowed her to reach that noble resignation which is as
difficult for passionate souls as it is for those of weak character.” (135)
RELIGION & SPIRITUALITY
• Religion/Spirituality in Cuba
– Frequent invocation of God
– Reference to both local spirituality and
institutionalized religion
– Teresa joining the convent and becoming a nun
• Relationship to death
– Carlota as reincarnation of Martina
“Doubtless Heaven heard his entreaties and God sent him a merciful glance, for at that instant
the unhappy man felt his entire body falter, and the coldness of death froze his heart.” (119)
ROLE OF WOMEN
• Parallel to slavery—entrapment, lack of
freedom
– Marriage or convent seem to be the only
choices
– Carlota’s ultimate unhappiness with Enrique
“Don’t hate your husband, Carlota: he is just like the majority of men, and there
are many worse!...It is useful to know what they are and not to ask more of them
than they can give; it is useful to relinquish those dreams that perhaps no
longer exist except in the heart of a daughter of Cuba.” (138)
Reading Sab
EVALUATING SAB
• A radical text for its time; contrary to
social mores
– Yet the novel is never about social change;
explicitly not a “free the slaves” narrative
– Acceptance of slavery as a fact of life;
likewise, Teresa’s speech to Carlota is about
taking heart in what they have rather than
changing
• Subversive but not a call to action; a
subtle anti-slavery narrative
EVALUATING SAB
• Significance of female author
– Groundbreaking; pushes boundaries
– Yet recognition that Avellaneda is also
writing from a privileged position
EVALUATING SAB
• Aesthetically pleasing; descriptive
setting, beautiful language
– Yet an imperfect work: broad characters,
sometimes heavy-handed, deus ex machina
– Word to the reader: “[These pages] were
composed by the at times exaggerated but
always generous sentiments of early youth”
(26).
• A flawed work, yet still politically
significant
QUESTIONS
• Is Sab still radical? Still relevant?
• Is love across racial/class boundaries still
a controversial subject?
• Does Sab work as a political text?
“Love him!” repeated Carlota, “Him, a slave!” (130)
References
Gómez de Avellaneda y Arteaga, Getrudis. Sab and
Autobiography. Trans. Nina M. Scott. Austin:
University of Texas Press, 1993.
Images of Cuba licensed under Creative Commons: 1,
2, 3, 4 (2008).