The Wasp — 1913 — page 9: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis of "The Wasp" Page This page contains no cartoon or illustration—it's text only, appearing to be the opening of a narrative story titled "The Wasp." The passage describes Captain Sterling, a wealthy Nevis planter, transporting 200 convicts purchased from a historic English prison to his ship, the *Good Cheer*, bound for the West Indies. The narrator describes the prisoners' varied reactions to deportation, then focuses on a character named Burnham observing the scene with cold indifference—his heart compared to unmelting stone. **Context for modern readers:** This likely reflects 18th or 19th-century transportation practices, when British convicts were forcibly sent to colonial labor. The passage's sympathetic treatment of prisoners' suffering, contrasted with Burnham's cruelty, suggests satirical or moral critique of the system and its participants.