86 CECILY JONES

by owners, the deprivations suffered, the long hours of arduous labour, the
forced separation of children from parents, of wives from husbands, provide
a stark counterpoint to Maria Nugent's insistence on the benevolent character
of slavery.
 These contrasting interpretations of slavery can only be understood in
terms of each woman's location within the system the former a mistress of
slaves, the other an enslaved woman. As women, the two shared a common
gender identity, yet racial and class differences proved more decisive in
shaping the different material contours of their lives. Feminists have argued
that women's shared gender identity and their common subordination to
patriarchal authority provides a platform for understanding and solidarity
between women. A nuanced reading of both texts however, abruptly disrupts
and problematises the notion of woman as a singular category, highlighting
the crucial roles of race and class in structuring relations between different
groups of women. Ultimately, in a slave society, the fact of shared gender
identity among women counted for little.