There is a subtle implication of the slave labor in “2 Jobs at Sugar Factory, and a Lump in the Throat,” by Vivian Lee, which indirectly underlines the historical connotation of sugar. Even though there is a subtle reference to the slave labor, the narrative’s perspective is through Robert Shelton and his relationship with Domino Sugar Factory. The article’s principal theme is the gentrification of Williamsburg. Despite Lee ,wittingly, refraining from using the word “gentrification,” this theme is clearly evident through juxtaposition between Williamsburg now and Williamsburg Domino’s shutdown. The condition of Domino Sugar Factory is a metaphor of the Williamsburg Shelton use to know but he no longer recognizes that era, which is clearly stated in the lead paragraph. However, the reference of Shelton and Domino refinery presented in the lead is not rounded at the end of the article, instead the concluding paragraphs references the fourth paragraph that introduces the reference of the slave labor. In the fourth paragraph it introduces another subject artist Kara Walker, who sculpted a massive “sugar-coated homage to African-American Slave women and to the slave laborers who built the 19^th-century sugar trade.” In my opinion, the last five paragraphs are unrelated to the principal theme:

“A few other former Domino employees have come by, including his Yonkers supervisor and another man who called “Shelton!” and burst into tears upon seeing him. Mr. Shelton cried, too.

He said he had borrowed his step-granddaughter’s history textbook to learn about the origins of the sugar trade. When a European tourist told him that the Domino plant and all it stood for were built on the backs of slaves, he acknowledged the historical reference, but replied proudly: ‘I don’t see that we were slave labor here. We got paid well.’”

Since Lee does not go into detail about how the slave labor produced sugar this statement is entirely incongruent to the strike that lead to Domino Sugar Factory’s closure and the poverty that Shelton endured in Brooklyn. The only thing that ties those elements together is the historical connotation of the sculpture.