Ashlee Daniels
Dr. Evans
Eng. 533
Oct. 31, 2016
Annotated Bibliography: Miscegenation and Psychological Complexities of Racism
Bressler, Charles. Literary Criticism: An Introduction to Theory and Practice. Boston:
Pearson, 2011. Print.
Carl Jung’s third model of the psyche theorizes over the collective unconscious. Due to human experience, one conducts himself through day to day tasks from what he has learned throughout his lifetime. Applying this theory to Absalom! Absalom!, Thomas Supten attempts and fails to separate himself from blacks. At a young age, Supten was taught to identify blacks as an insignificance. Based off of what he was taught, he did everything in his power to disassociate himself from the mixed blood line–Charles Bon–
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“Faulkner 's Absalom, Absalom!: The Discovery of
Values.” American Literature, vol. 37, no. 3, 1965, pp. 291–306. Web.
Thomas Supten symbolizes the fundamental characteristics of the Southern society. Donald M. Kartiganer suggests that Faulkner uses Supten to describe the brutality of the Southern system of slavery. He concurs that Faulkner criticizes the values of the South and judgment of man’s fate because of their blood line and not their deeds. Kartiganer analyzes Absalom! Absalom! to prove the methods and values of the South and how they contribute to the theme of miscegenation.
Kent, George E. “The Black Woman in Faulkner 's Works, with the Exclusion of Dilsey: Part I.” Phylon (1960), vol. 35, no. 4, 1974, pp. 430–441. Web.
There is an assumption that black women–as described in Absalom! Absalom! – are a complex combination of sexuality and raw nature. George E. Kent concurs that black women serve as a barrier between the sexual desires of the white male and the metaphysical privilege of white females. This is intended to demonstrate why Henry Supten objected to his sister having relations with Charles Bon who has a mixed blooded mistress. Psychological tenants are connected to the relationship of the white male and black women. The black female keeps the white male from obtaining a piece of the “American Dream” which is having a pure White decent blood
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This was done in order to answer hidden questions and anxieties white southerners had concerning their sustaining or achieving the “American Dream”. Ladd explains that the octoroon was meant to exemplify that not only the individual was more of European decent that African but also the psychological complexities that occur to alienate the individual. The octoroon is emblematic of the political and cultural entitlements of the white male. She suggests that the octoroon is most likely to encounter his/her fate of alienation from the father, abuse from the mother and/or
Sarty, whose full name is Colonel Sartoris Snopes, shares his name with a Famous Civil War Colonel in Faulkner’s word throughout “Barn Burning”. Colonel Sartoris in Faulkner’s fictional world is a distinguished confederate Colonel most likely famous for his integrity (Faulkner, 480). The significance of Sarty being named after a man regarded so highly rest in the fact that Sarty holds himself to the same high standards. Someone even remarked to Sarty before he testified against his father “I recon anybody named for Colonel Sartoris in this country can’t help but tell the truth” (Faulkner, 480). Further subtle evidences of Sarty’s intuitive sense of justice comes from Faulkner’s brief statement about the Major de Spain manor. Sarty’s first reaction to seeing the manor is “hit’s as big as a courthouse” (Faulkner, 483). In this one phrase, this singular idea that pops into Sarty’s mind, the reader gains a quick glimpse into Sarty’s consciousness. Sarty’s almost instinctive thought is of a courthouse, and not of a bank or of a church. Courthouses are synonymous with justice, doing what is moral, and punishing what is immoral. Faulkner utilizes this thought to provide a subtle indication and further demonstration of Sarty’s sense of
...usion that race is deployed "in the construction of power relations."* Indeed a "metalanguage" of race, to use Higginbotham's term, was employed by colonial powers to define black women as separate from English women, and that process is deconstructed in Good Wives, Nasty Wenches, Anxious Patriarchs. However, Brown's analysis rests mainly on the shifting English concepts of gender and race imposed on colonial society by the white elite, becoming at times a metalanguage of colonial gender. Nonetheless, Brown's analysis of overlapping social constructions is instructive for understanding the ways gender and race can be manipulated to buttress dominant hierarchies.
“I tried to demonstrate how both the cross cultural literature and the history of African American women gave the lie to the nation that gender inequality can be attributed to biological differences” (Mullings, page xvii)
The physical nature of a person carried great weight in the South. Both John Walden and Cicero Clayton are very light mulatto men with good educations, wealth, and clear ideas about how the world should work, mostly in their favor. The South Carolina society in which they exist considers the men black, despite their outer appearance and treats them as such. This treatment is often base and degrading causing the men to feel that they have been harmed by the small amount of black blood coursing in their veins. The reader is told that as a young boy, John Walden thinks that “the mirror proved that God, the Father of all, had made him white…having made him white, He must have meant him to be white” (The House Behind the Cedars 107) . The stories reveal John and Clayton’s u...
In studying the Southern defense of slavery, it appears that southerners were defending a way of life. Many believed that the institution of slavery was the lesser of two evils in terms of providing benefits for workers, others believed that it was at the very foundation of a free society to own slaves and still others saw it merely as an expedient means to an economic end. Although one may acknowledge that the South had understandable political, social and religious reasons for supporting the institution of slavery, the fundamental moral obligation to treat all humans as equals supercedes them all.
Whereas a reader in the 1880s might have overlooked the moral absurdity of giving a man custody of another man, however, the mirroring of this situation in the granting of rights to the immoral Pap over the lovable Huck forces the reader to think more closely about the meaning of slavery. In implicitly comparing the plight of slaves to the plight of Huck at the hands of Pap, Twain demonstrates how impossible it is for a society that owns slaves to be just, no matter how "civilized" that society believes and proclaims itself to be.
The author distinguishes white people as privileged and respectful compare to mulattos and blacks. In the racial society, white people have the right to get any high-class position in job or live any places. In the story, all white characters are noble such as Judge Straight lawyer, Doctor Green, business-man George, and former slaveholder Mrs. Tryon. Moreover, the author also states the racial distinction of whites on mulattos. For example, when Dr. Green talks to Tryon, “‘The niggers,’…, ‘are getting mighty trifling since they’ve been freed. Before the war, that boy would have been around there and back before you could say Jack Robinson; now, the lazy rascal takes his time just like a white man.’ ” (73) Additionally, in the old society, most white people often disdained and looked down on mulattos. Even though there were some whites respected colored people friendly, there were no way for colored people to stand parallel with whites’ high class positions. The story has demonstrations that Judge Straight accepted John as his assistant, Mrs. Tryon honor interviewed Rena, and George finally changed and decided to marry Rena; however, the discrimination is inevitable. For example, when Mrs. Tryon heard Rena was colored, she was disappointed. “The lady, who had been studying her as closely as good manners would permit, sighed regretfully.” (161) There, Mrs. Tryon might have a good plan for Rena, but the racial society would not accept; since Rena was a mulatto, Mrs. Tryon could not do anything to help Rena in white social life. The racial circumstance does not only apply on mulattos, but it also expresses the suffering of black people.
Slavery, a very sensitive subject to many and the root of many problems still plaguing this country today. Before officially coming to an end, there was a great political controversy regarding whether or not it should remain or be abolished. During this time reforms took place and in turn different movements were created in order to eliminate slavery in the southern states. Abolitionist were stepping forward arguing against the immorality and inhumanity of it. On the other hand, supporters of proslavery argued to keep it, by making every effort to justify it legally by downplaying the slave’s mental capacity and inferiority in society
Pauline Hopkins’ novel “Of One Blood” was originally published serially in a magazine called Colored American, from 1902-03. Within this novel Hopkins discusses some of the prominent racial and gender oppressions suffered by African Americans during this time. Following the Emancipation Proclamation of 1849 which resulted in African American freedom from slavery, but unfortunately not freedom from oppression and suffering. One of the minor characters, and the only dominant female role, within the novel is Dianthe Lusk. Within the novel Dianthe has many identifiers, which limits not only the readers but Dianthe’s understanding of her identity. Some of these identifiers include: women or ghost, black or white, sister or wife, princess or slave, and African or American. However, the most prominent of these juxtapositions in the novel is the racial identity. This paper will argue that the suffrage of Dianthe through her experiences with racial identity and rape serve to locate racial identity as an agent of politics, rather than of one’s color.
In the novel, the author proposes that the African American female slave’s need to overcome three obstacles was what unavoidably separated her from the rest of society; she was black, female, and a slave, in a white male dominating society. The novel “locates black women at the intersection of racial and sexual ideologies and politics (12).” White begins by illustrating the Europeans’ two major stereotypes o...
Deborah White uses various examples of situations regarding these characterizations from other pieces of work such as “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” by Harriet Jacobs, interviews, and other historical references. Through these examples, Deborah White is able to effectively relay, through historical context, how these women struggled with the assumption that all black female slaves were “Jezebels” until proven otherwise. Regarded as highly sexual women, those who were categorized as a “Jezebel” woman initially started because of African traditions prior to their enslavement and also excused “miscegenation, the sexual exploitation of black women, and the mulatto population”. Deborah White argues that these women faced a very unique situation because their sexual behavior could result in being treated better or worse, depending on the situation and the master; because population growth was inevitable, white men seemed to believe that this proved their “lewd and licentious behavior”. Also, the conditions in which these women lived “helped imprint the Jezebel image on the white mind” even though this environment was created by these men “which ensured female slave behavior fulfilled their expectations”. In contrast to the “Jezebel” figure, white men also created the “Mammy” figure who was a loyal servant to the white family as well as a surrogate mother for the both black and white children. This position for a black female slave helped “endorse the service of black women in Southern households” (61). Therefore, both of these characterizations were to justify the treatment of black
The issue of Slavery in the South was an unresolved issue in the United States during the seventeenth and eighteenth century. During these years, the south kept having slavery, even though most states had slavery abolished. Due to the fact that slaves were treated as inferior, they did not have the same rights and their chances of becoming an educated person were almost impossible. However, some information about slavery, from the slaves’ point of view, has been saved. In this essay, we are comparing two different books that show us what being a slave actually was. This will be seen with the help of two different characters: Linda Brent in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and Frederick Douglass in The Narrative of the life of Frederick
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, brings to light many of the social injustices that colored men, women, and children all were forced to endure throughout the nineteenth century under Southern slavery laws. Douglass's life-story is presented in a way that creates a compelling argument against the justification of slavery. His argument is reinforced though a variety of anecdotes, many of which detailed strikingly bloody, horrific scenes and inhumane cruelty on the part of the slaveholders. Yet, while Douglas’s narrative describes in vivid detail his experiences of life as a slave, what Douglass intends for his readers to grasp after reading his narrative is something much more profound. Aside from all the physical burdens of slavery that he faced on a daily basis, it was the psychological effects that caused him the greatest amount of detriment during his twenty-year enslavement. In the same regard, Douglass is able to profess that it was not only the slaves who incurred the damaging effects of slavery, but also the slaveholders. Slavery, in essence, is a destructive force that collectively corrupts the minds of slaveholders and weakens slaves’ intellects.
The narrator of The Autobiography of an Ex-colored Man decided not to fight for racial equality in America for his fellow African-American, or even for himself, but rather conformed with the white majority thus selecting the uncomplicated path: the path that would lead him to security and safety in the years to come. After struggling with his identity in the white and African-American community as a “colored” man who could pass as white, he decided to discard his “colored” roots and stick with his white origin. By doing such a thing, he was able to live a simple, respectful, and safe life, but he abandoned a very significant part of his identity. He felt slight remorse towards the end of the novel, but self-interest held more importance to him than embracing the cultural heritage of the African-American community.
Friedan fails to acknowledge other classes and races such as low-class African American individuals. It was almost like these individuals did not exist to her. In addition, Hook’s highlighted the fact that African-American had to face the "double bars" for being both a women and an African American. For such an influential piece of writing, it is unfortunate that The Feminine Mystique neglects to recognize other individuals besides upper- middle- class white