Exercise: Write the opening scene to set up the main character.
Plot Summary: Marie is the daughter of a plantation owner and treats slaves as you'd think she would - with disdain. This all changes when she meets a young slave who teaches her about life and how the world works outside of the plantation, until desperation strikes and the impossible has to occur.
The dress may have been stuffy, but it was the normal thing to wear at the time. Covered with frills and ribbons, Marie couldn't help but grimace a little at the stifling heat as she tied it in the back. It was abominably hot, and would be even more so once she stepped outside. Stumbling down the staircase, she knew that her mother would still be in the room and the majority of the workers and slaves would be outside, toiling away in the fields. This was how things normally occured, and, according to her father, how things were going to stay. Even with dissent brewing, her father's plantation still remained relatively quiet and normal.
The heat and humidity hit her like a slap in the face as soon as she shut the door to the house. Well, that was still normal. Just as hot and sticky as always. She made her way down the steps and onto the dirt. Some days it amazed her, how anything grew in this humid environment. But cotton did most definitely grow, and she could see plenty of it from her view of the fields. This was the product that the entire South was practically built on, and there was no reason they would stop producing it now.
Approaching the fields lended her a good view of how extensive they were. Her father did own quite a bit of land, and his wasn't even the largest plantation. In fact, this was one of the smaller ones. They were constantly expanding, though, and there was always some new project. Marie moved closer to the first lines of cotton, not even sparing a glance at the slaves toiling. Overseers paced through the rows of cotton, yelling. She maneuvered around the outside of the biggest field. A few slaves glanced up at her but quickly returned their focuses to their work. Marie barely even noticed, rarely ever looking down.
They weren't anything of notice, after all. Just more of her father's property.
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