Hatred And Greed Depicted In Frado's Poem, Nigger

The poem “Nigger” by Judy Simmons corresponds with the plight of Frado’s life in the book Our Nig. The story of Frado starts with her as a free black in the North living with and serving a white family called the Bellmonts. Frado was born into a society in which she was already at a disadvantage because of her skin color and socioeconomic status. The poem “Nigger” reflects the hatred that constantly surrounds Frado’s life and how she grows up through that hatred and tries to find her way out of it. The first few lines of the poem talk about how since the beginning of the voice of the poem’s life, he or she has been bathed in hatred, and Frado finds herself in a similar situation. Frado’s life starts out with her mother leaving her at the Bellmont’s house because her mother could not afford to feed her any longer.

The Bellmont’s hatred is a constant factor in Frado’s life. Frado wonders why God made her if people do not care for her beyond what she can do for them. She says, “No mother, father, brother or sister to care for me, and then it is, You lazy nigger, lazy nigger- all because I am black!” (Wilson 75). The hatred Frado experiences over her skin color is one factor of Frados existence that gives her a sense of identity and shapes who she is and how she lives in this society. Eventually, Frado tries to combat this constant hatred bestowed upon her from the Bellmont’s by finding her voice. One day, Mrs. Bellmont tries to strike Frado for not doing a task fast enough, but Frado stands her ground and tells her, “ ‘Stop!’ shouted Frado, ‘strike me, and I’ll never work a mite more for you;’ and throwing down what she had gathered, stood like one who feels the stirring of free and independent thoughts”(Wilson 105). Frado has finally found her voice to speak out against the hatred that surrounds her life since she was