The speaker in this poem is a young slave; he identifies himself as such through his use of the word "Massa," referring to his master, and through his grief at hearing his sister's voice, "unmistaken," crying out as she is whipped for her slowness. There is a palpable contrast drawn between the pleasant aspect of the morning itself — the "dew-lit grass" and the "fat flowers" — and the feelings of the slave, whom we watch "weep" in his or her bed.
Note that the beauty of the morning "unfolds to whiteness." For a white person, perhaps, this would be a beautiful morning; the mistress of the house is described as being like "an ivory toothpick," suggesting something delicate, extremely expensive — and which demands the suffering of others for its very existence. Just as ivory is a product of elephants' suffering, the lifestyle the white woman leads is a product of the suffering of her slaves, but she seems to sleep easily, lying straight and unaffected.
Meanwhile, the slave in bed can only lie awake and fretful, not sleeping, unable to enjoy the beautiful morning which demands "whiteness" as a criterion for enjoyment.
In Rita Dove’s “The House Slave,” the speaker, the house slave, is lying awake in a cot while the field slaves get ready for work. It is early. Dove describes the time as “before-dawn,” and even tiny children are awakened and taken to the fields. Dove describes the mistress of the house as sleeping like an “ivory toothpick.” This is a wonderful simile, as not only is the mistress white like a shard of ivory, but she is thin and fragile as well. This creates a nice juxtaposition between the mistress’s physical weakness and the strength that the fields slaves must possess to complete their work.
The speaker goes on to comment that, like the mistress, the “Massa” is asleep too. Dove writes “Massa,” not master, to pull some realistic dialect into the poem. Also, notice that the word “Massa” is capitalized, while the word “mistress” is not. This choice shows the reader who has the true power on the plantation.
In stanza three, the speaker goes on to say, “I can't fall asleep again.” Here we see that it is not only the master and mistress who do not have to suffer through rising early, but the house slave has a physically easier life as well.
The poem continues with the speaker’s description of how, when the second horn blows, one can hear the sound of whips slashing across the backs of the slower-moving slaves. The speaker even identifies his or her own sister as one of those crying out after being whipped.
While listening to all of this, the house slave stays in the cot, “shivering in the early heat.” The verb “shivering” is very important here. Dove is using it to convey the house slave’s fear.
The poem’s final stanza is quite beautiful. When Dove describes the fields as unfolding to “whiteness,” not only is she describing the coming day, but she is also using the word “whiteness” to symbolize power. The day, and the hot, white sun, have power over the field slaves toiling beneath it. Furthermore, the white slave owners have immense power over them as well. This power is exemplified when Dove writes how the field slaves “spill like bees among the fat flowers.” In a bee colony, different bees have different roles. This analogy can be tied to the poem if one thinks of the “Massa” as the queen bee and the field slaves as the worker bees. The poem’s speaker is more like a cleaner bee, in charge of caring for the home.
Finally, the poem ends with the line “I weep. It is not yet daylight.” Here the reader knows that the speaker is weeping for the injustice and misery of it all. For, if that much pain and suffering can happen in the spare moments between dawn and day, what unhappiness will the rest of the day bring?
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