THERE IS DEATH IN THE POT - The University of Texas at Arlington

Contaminated by blood, sugar failed to provide both physical and spiritual nourishment.
Figure 3. James Gillray. “Barbarities in the West Indias,” 1791. Courtesy of British
Museum, London.
Cultural inversion, however, was most dramatically depicted by James Gillray
who made visual the idea of blood-stained sugar in his cartoon, “Barbarities in the West
Indias,” by invoking the horror of cannibalism. (See Fig. 3) An overseer stirs a steaming
vat of sugar cane juice. As he stirs, the flailing arms and legs are all that is seen of the
slave who has been tossed into the vat. Pinned to the wall are a bird, a fox, some rats,
two black cats as well as two black ears, and a black arm. As he works, the overseer
snears, “B—t your black Eyes! what you can’t work because you’re not well? — but I’ll
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