The element of speaker is extremely pronounced in the poem “The Slave Mother” by: Frances E.W. Harper and gives the reader insight as to why slavery should be abolished. Harper’s poem depicts an African-American slave who is denied the right of her child because of her status as a slave. Although, it is not said that Harper had children herself, it is said that she was an only child which perhaps could have strengthened her bond to family ties. A climax of emotion: "He is not hers, although she bore / For him a mother's pains; / He is not hers, although her blood / Is coursing through his veins!" demonstrates the pure anguish that this mother laments as she cannot claim her own son. However, it is not just the claim that causes her suffering, but also the fact that he has no ties to her in legal and economic sense as well and is eventually torn from her arms and is made to leave her by which reason the reader is not let onto.
"Oh! never more may her sad eyes / Gaze on his mournful face." Harper narrates as her son is stripped away from her as if she were never his mother. The presence of speaker is vital to this poem, as we are told a regrettable story made real by the cries of a mother and son forced to separate by an unjust system. The reader is immersed in the tragedy of this story by the mother and thus called into social reform as to ensure that oppression like this does not occur again.
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