The novel Cambridge by Caryl Phillips uses multiple forms of writing to

express the relationship between black and white individuals in both Britain and
more so the British colonies in the Caribbean. This story takes place in the later
years of the slave trade, when tension has grown between the colonists and there
benefactors in England, and the treatment towards slaves has become to be
questioned and even considered by many immoral. The importance of the novel
Cambridge by Caryl Phillips is not just the events taking place during this time
period, but the importance of perspective, and how different individuals perceive
the same situation in different ways depending on their background and
relationships with others. This is clear through the difference between Emilys and
Cambridges depiction of the same events but also the influence of other characters
on their own views.
In the case of Emily, the main character through a majority of the novel, her
viewpoint is clearly influenced due to her background. She comes from England
which is largely patriarchal and has witnessed the feeling of being persecuted
because of who she is, in her case being a woman. She is not enabled the same
privileges of men in her same situation because of her gender, and generally feels
misunderstood, even by her own father saying, (pg 3) It must be difficult for papa
to understand the heart of a women without the refining influence of a wife. Her
own father could not understand the persecution women faced, even those of a
promenant wealthy family. She continues to face challenges because of her gender
even crossing the sea to the Caribbean stating that,
These men were clearly used to treating female creatures as little more than
beings of an inferior nature whose task it was merely to render service and
expect in return neither gratitude nor the simplest cheering word or kind
smile (Pg. 19)
This feeling of being treated as inferior to her male counter parts may have largely
contributed to her understanding and sympathy towards the treatment of slaves in
the Caribbean. This is not just Emily that felt sympathy towards the treatment of
slaves, but many women in Britain became a driving force behind the treatment of
slaves in the Caribbean, as Cambridge mentions in his account of his time in Britain.
He even mentions the step women took forward of refusing to use sugar from the
Caribbean in their tea as a way of pushing for the end of slavery, showing that Emily
is represents one of many women in England who understood the persecution and
injustice that resulted from slavery.
Despite the sympathy Emily felt for those persecuted and tortured through
slavery, she did show moments of judgement of her own, especially towards slave
women. This is especially seen in her treatment towards Christiania, who she not
handle seeing her sitting at a table with her, even referring to her as a coal black
ape-women(pg.72) and an inky wench(pg. 75). Despite how understanding she
might be to the treatment of a slave, the idea that a slave can consider themselves
equal to herself seemed outrageous. She was sure that the only reason that the
slave owner, Mr. Brown, would ever allow a slave to act in such a way must be
because she has seduced him, which Emily clearly did not approve of. She asked, if

it were not true that young black wenches are inclined to lay themselves out for
white lovers and hence bring forth a spurious and degenerate breed neither fit for
the field nor any work that the true negro would relish. (pg.75) She clearly did not
approve of such relations between a slave master and his property.
The origin for Emilys hostility towards the slave Christiania can be traced to
the complex relationship between white men with white women compared to that of
white men with black women. As described in Slavery and Abolition: A journal, for
white men, black women were forbidden fruit, sexual relations between black and
white could create perpetual sprials of power and pleasure from which white women
were excluded.(Pg 246) These relationships between white men and black women
only became more common place as the availability of white women compared to
black women in the British Caribbean grew, only perpetuating this cycle. This
natural tendency of hostility towards female slaves resulted in a very different view
of the actions of Christiania compared to how Mr. Brown would have seen her
actions, or even her husband Cambridge.