Secret History By Mary Hassal's Secret History

Secret History was written by Mary Hassal in a series of letters to her Uncle, who was the Vice-President of the United States. The letters are her observations of what life was like in the Caribbean and in particularly, they were about the nobility and the women in St. Domingue. The letters sent from Hassal to her Uncle appear to be letters that allow the government in the United States to keep track of what is going on in the Caribbean. Because of this, it can be inferred that she is a spy from the U.S. even though she may not know it. Her observations are about what life is like for the Creoles, and non-Creoles, the positions of women in society, and what life was like in the urban areas and in the rural areas. The Creole’s life in St. Domingue before the revolution was good for some of the Creoles. Hassel comments on “One of them, whose annual income before the revolution was fifty thousand dollars … now lives in a …show more content…
Hassal’s observations about the urban areas, appear to be pointed towards the nobility. The urban areas are where the nobility is mainly located. She talks about the balls thrown and many other celebrations that she takes part in. The rural areas are the poorer areas, the people who live there, live in poverty. The Creoles and their slaves are the main residents of the rural areas. The slaves in the rural areas are more hostile because of the outcomes of the revolution. The slaves are also more hostile because of the poor living conditions. The masters of the slaves in the rural areas could not afford to give them more. The non-Creoles held more power in the Caribbean, they also did not have hostile slaves. The slaves of the non-Creoles also had better living conditions compared to the slaves of the Creoles. The Creoles and non-Creoles lifestyles in the urban and rural areas are shown to be distinctively different through Hassal’s