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A character in The Heroic Slave

Mr. Listwell

A white farmer from Ohio who overhears Madison in a Virginia forest, becomes an abolitionist on the spot, and crosses his path twice more.

What they want

He wants to help Madison, and to make up for years of not caring about slavery.

The book

The Heroic SlaveFrederick Douglass, 1853

Frederick Douglass's only work of fiction: a novella about Madison Washington, who led nineteen enslaved men in taking over the slave ship Creole in 1841.

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At a glance

Home
A farm in Ohio, with his wife and children
First seen
A Virginia pine forest, spring 1835

Who they are in the book

Spoiler-free

Listwell is the reader's stand-in. He is well meaning and brave in private, and cautious in public. Douglass gives him a name that describes his job in the story: he listens well.

How Mr. Listwell Is Portrayed

Appearance, manner, and tone — as the book sketches them, in our words.

  • The eavesdropperHe first appears hiding behind a fallen tree in a Virginia forest. He has long wanted to know what an enslaved person really thinks, and here is his chance.
  • Converted in a morningHe decides on the spot to become an abolitionist and goes home to Ohio resolved to make up for his past indifference.
  • A generous hostWhen Madison knocks at his door five years later, Listwell refuses to let him sleep in the barn and gives him the best room in the house.
  • Willing to lose the farmOhio law punishes anyone who helps a fugitive, and a citizen has just lost all his property for it. Listwell says he will get Madison to Canada if it costs his farm.
  • Quiet among slave tradersAt the Virginia tavern he lets the bar believe he is a slave buyer. The narrator says plainly that fear, not conscience, won out.
  • The filesAt the Richmond wharf he slips three strong files into Madison's pocket, then disappears into the crowd.

Mr. Listwell quotes

Lines spoken by or about Mr. Listwell, each verified verbatim against the text and located in the book.

From this hour I am an abolitionist.
— Mr. Listwell (thought) · Frederick Douglass, The Heroic Slave (1853), Part I

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