#turn abigail

[hewlettscute]

Sorry Benny boy and your bisexuality (that I will argue you have all the coding of for a period drama character in the 2010s ~ mini essay/meta at some point) Abigail Strong is Mon Bebe and unlike you, grossly under appreciated, for once vote the not queers (affectionate), he came back for her!! 🥹

He came back for her!!

Abigail and Akinbode propaganda!!

[hewlettscute]

Sorry for the wait on this one! College keeps me busy.

But here is the next poll!

?

Akinbode/Abigail

Simcoe/Lola

Voting ended onSep 12, 2024

[lyledebeast]

Abigale vs Abigail

Since the theme of this semester's end's procrastimeta is finishing old Turn/The Patriot metas, here's another!

The enslaved woman in the Culper ring known as 355 is given the name Abigail in Turn. History has not recorded her actual name, and "Abigail" was clearly a popular name in the 18th C. Still, I can't help wondering if her sharing the same name as Benjamin Martin's housekeeper, with one letter's difference in the spelling, is entirely a coincidence. What the two women have in common is being very emotionally connected to the families they serve. Abigail is genuinely fond of Anna, Andre, and Peggy, and devastated when she realizes that her information played a role in Andre's execution. Abigale uses her body as a human shield for the Martin children when Tavington draws his pistol on them, which is as much as their own father does. The difference is that Abigail feels like a fleshed out person with her own desires and motivations and Abigale, like everyone else in the movie who isn't a White adult man, feels like a prop. However, if we look beyond the surface, maybe these two women have more in common than initially appears.

Turn is much more deliberate than The Patriot about demonstrating the power differentials between Black and White women. While Abigail is best besties with Anna and Peggy most of the time, the White women each remind Abigale that they can do anything they want to her with impunity: Anna when she wants to manipulate Abigail into letting her into John Andre's house and Peggy when she wants in on the plot to kidnap her husband. Of course, they go right back to being friends later, which is both likely and not at all suspect . . . hmmm. And in spite of only agreeing to help Anna spy to assure that she will care for Cicero in Long Island after Abigail goes to Philadelphia, Abigail and Cicero continue to risk their lives sending information to the ring after they are reunited. Akinbode, having failed to convince her to bring Cicero and come with him to Canada, asks why she is staying to help people who care nothing for her. An excellent question, and one the show unfortunately never answers.

While Abigail is more loyal to the Patriot cause than she has any reason to be, Abigale's loyalty to the Martin family undergoes a little . . . blip. After Tavington's crime spree at the Martin farm, she is apparently taken into British custody with the other Not Slaves. But then she appears later in the sea islands with the Maroons. She has either escaped her British captors, or been set free, but she does not go to the plantation where everyone in South Carolina knows Benjamin Martin has stashed his children. Why?

First, being the only free Black person is a household full of slaves would be far too delicate a situation for this movie to handle with any care at all. In that same vein, having Abigale in the sea islands saves the writers the trouble of creating a new Black character in a speaking role. Two of those is surely plenty for a movie set in a colony where the overwhelming majority of the population was Black in the 1780s, right? While acknowledging these limitations, I'd like to offer a much more fun, unhinged possibility.

Abigale . . . is a spy for the British!

They set her free on the condition that she provide them with information about the militia's activities. Obviously, she didn't agree to that right away. She said, no thank you, I'm done with Whites of every nationality after all these shenanigans. But then those children turn up in her safe haven with their enslaver aunt and . . . well, damn. And then they have a big Maroon-themed wedding and, a few days later, a goodly number of the White guests at that wedding are burned up in their church. How does Tavington know this community has given aid to Benjamin Martin and his rebels? It's because Abigale was sitting in a dragoon tent the night before telling him and Captain Bordon all about those treacherous Howards. I hope he paid her well. She deserves it for all she's been through.

[hewlettscute]

Turn Week Day 5: Dinner Party (2/2)

Continuing with people that would be invited to my dinner party.

IV)

Anna. My love. You were always invited. She deserves this dinner party. And Richard won't be there to throw attacks at her. I just want her to be happy.

V)

Caleb, please come in! Enjoy the meal. He would liven up the party. He really just needs to be there. He'd bring me out of my shell.

VI)

Since Caleb is coming, Ben is coming. Plus, I like Ben. So he gets an invite.

VII)

Mary gets to come. She is another girlboss. Any girlboss gets invited. Also she deserves better.

VIII)

While I'm a sucker for Annlett, Selah can come. He is underrated. Needs to be talked about more.

IX)

Abigail. Instant yes. She did so much! I want her at my party.

X)

Cicero deserves to be with his mother. He is of course invited.

Have to invite Akinbode. He deserved to be with Abigail and Cicero again.

And...

Thats it!

[aira-l]

Abigail, sweet girl

[abe-woodhull]

So I spent way too much time making these. I wanted to make SOMETHING for the finale and this is what I came up with! Each of these have quotes from either Alexander Rose’s book or Abe Woodhull (which I got from Rose’s book so). Each quote relates to the character or the concept of that character, at least in Abigail’s case. 

So sad it’s ending but happy that my spy dudes finally get a break. 

[moon-yean]

#when a wild abe appears and you’re like 😐