‘The Person who Bled Hearts’ is a unique tale of a captain who encountered a strange woman described as having an uncertain age, old and dusty, yet with a “childish Flutter” (Chamoiseau, 1997). In my opinion, the old woman represented the end of slavery. Before being thrown overboard, she pointed “a black finger” at the captain, warning him of facilitating slavery (Chamoiseau, 1997). The fact that the sharks could not eat her confirms that nothing could prevent the end of slavery. Her body transformed into a coral reef that served as a mark of the past era. The body transformation supports the thought that she represented the close of the slavery period because the slave became a powerful force that could not be destroyed by anything. The captain died of blood clotting around his “dried-up heart” (Chamoiseau, 1997), which further proves that the end of slavery (the strange woman) left a mark in the hearts of the perpetrators.
Reference
Chamoiseau, P. (1997). The person who bled hearts. In Creole Folktales. The New Press