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as nobody. Suddenly, Florens shouts out to the society bravely. She explains that she is under the errand of her Mistress who gets illness. Then she shows up the
Mistress‟s letter to prove that she is in the errand. Florens is brave, it is seen by her action, her conversation and her thought.
6. Trustworthy
Because of F lorens‟s cleverness, Rebekka is trustworthy with her. She
gives an order to find blacksmith. Firstly, it is to cure Sorrow‟s sickness and
secondly, it is to heal Rebekka‟s mouth illness.
“Already she did not have to be told repeatedly how to complete a chore. Not only was she consistently trustworthy, she was deeply grateful for every shred
of affection, any pat on the head, any smile of approval” 2009: 61. Because she is trustworthy, her Mistress likes her way to do the work. Therefore, Rebekka
gives affection for Florens as a sign of her good work. “They stuff them with hay and oily corn husk and tell me to hide the letter
inside my stocking no matter the itch of the sealing wax. I am lettered but do not read what Mistress writes and Lina and Sorrow ca
nnot” 2009: 4. Florens is trustworthy because her Mistress orders her to go to find blacksmith alone. In the
statement above, Florens is depicted that she has a letter from her Mistress, but she is not open it. It reveals that she is trustworthy. Her master believes with
Florens that she won‟t escape everywhere. Florens is loyal with her master. Even her master makes a letter for her in the errand. The letter is used for Florens when
she gets any trouble in her journey to get blacksmith. Therefore, her characteristics can be seen by her action and her thought.
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B. The Major Character’s Bad Experiences
The novel is full of intrigues. The time when the civil war occurred in America, it became harsh life for colored people from Africa. Many whites from
Europe sold not only good, raw, and material but also the Negro‟s people which
existed in America. The exploitation between the superior and inferior occurred because of the Western people wanted to take a big profit from the America‟s
land. They took control the economic and employed many slaves in the plantation. As a black girl slave, Florens has several bad experiences. It is very usual
that slave always gets bad treatment from white people in the colonialism era. Black slaves are under control white people. They are oppressed for sure by
white. Kellog says, “on the whole, life for the slaves was bleak” 1995: 131.
From that quotation, it means that black slaves experienced the difficult condition throughout their life. Hine and Thompson explain that
Oni and the other women in that first ship were the first of thousands, tens of thousands, of black women who would be brought to labor in America.
They would live lives of sorrow and toil, separation and loss, and often desperate humiliation. They would also create a new culture in this new
land. Weaving fragments of their African past with rags and threads from a new, Allen world, they would dress themselves in dignity, love, and even
joy 1998: 9. It is begun when the European country open the land in America. They
need more people to employ them to cultivate the land. Many slaves from Africa come to America and brought them by several ships. Therefore, many black
slaves continue their life in America whatever situation they get. The whites do not only employ them as well as their races, but they are very cruel to the black
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slaves. They pretend them as a property. Hence, Florens ‟s bad experiences based
on the novel A Mercy are described in the following.
1. Being Abandoned by her Mother
This occurs when D‟Ortega the first Florens‟s master a plantation owner
in Catholic Maryland gets bad debt. He doesn‟t have enough money to pay his
debt, therefore, he offers his slaves as the payment of his debt. Her mother says, “please Senhor. Not me. Take her. Take my daughter” 2009: 26. Minha Mae
begs her master to offer Florens as a payment for his debt. Me watching, my mother listening, her baby boy on her hip. Senhor is not
paying the whole amount he owes to Sir. Sir saying he will take instead the woman and the girl, not the baby boy, the debt is gone. A Minha Mae
begs no. Her baby boy is still at her breast. Take the girl, she says, my daughter, she says. Me. Me 2009: 7.
Firstly, D‟ Ortega bids Minha Mae and Florens to Jacob Vaark. Minha Mae neither wants to be sold nor moved to the other owner. She has a reason that
she has a baby boy which he still in her breast. Therefore, Minha Mae offers Florens, her daughter to Jacob Vaark.
Agreeing that the girl was worth twenty pieces of eight, considering the number of years ahead of her and reducing the balance by three hogsheads
of tobacco or fifteen English pounds, the latter preferred 2009: 27. Agreeing from Minha Mae first to be offered, finally Florens is sold by
D‟Ortega. He and Jacob Vaark count the price of Florens to be change with D‟Ortega‟s debt. From the quotation above, Florens equals with three hogsheads
of tobacco. It is priced fifteen English pounds. After that Florens moves to Jacob Vaark‟s house. She works in Jacob Vaark‟s house, hence, she separate with her
mother and her little brother.
