ABSTRACT

This chapter presents excerpts from the novel The History of Three-Fingered Jack. The novel celebrates Jack’s intrepidity and heroism, justifying his actions and decrying the institution of slavery. Jack’s defiance of Jamaican slave society is treated as a cautionary tale. The tale begins with Jack being told by his mother Amri of her capture along with her husband Makro in Africa, the horrors of the Middle Passage, and the death of Makro at the hands of the cruel Captain Harrop. The conclusion of the novel involves the death of Amri, a single combat between Jack and William, and Jack’s defeat and death.