The Farewell of a Virginia Slave Mother contains strong imagery about the harsh reality of slavery. Whittier paints a vivid picture for his audience. He describes slavery and its conditions by using words and phrases such as "slave-whip ceaseless swings", "noisome insect stings,"sticky sunbeam glare", and "misty air". As you read further into the imagery you can begin to imagine yourself in such an unpleasant circumstance. Whittier repeats two impacting lines throughout The Farewell. The first reads, "to the rice swamp dank and lone". This line solidifies, in the reader's mind, that the mother in this poem would be subject to a lifetime of misery and loneliness. The second line, "Gone, gone, - sold and gone", which is the opening and closing line for the poem, shows how little the lives of slaves were valued at that time. With all this vivid imagery Whittier passively calls his audience to do something about the injustice and evilness of slavery. Since his audience was mostly well educated whites, he gave them an opportunity to, even if only momentarily, see what it would be like to be affected by the wrongs of white supremacist suppressors. With this brief glimpse into the lives of slavery, Whittier wanted to illicit a reaction from his readers so that just might do something about slavery in the United States.
