Comparing the Role of the Black in the South in Clotelle and Absalom, Absalom!
analytical Essay
3060 words
Role of the Black in the Southern Family as Evidenced in Clotelle and Absalom, Absalom! Southern Literature, more than anything else, is a discussion of the family. And in the family, particularly the Southern family, no question is as pivotal--or causes as many disputes--as "who belongs?" Southern Literature has been, in many ways, a canon of exclusion. From a culture built upon controlling and utilizing an entire race for the express purpose of advancing another, a canon of yearning and despair is left. And in no place is this as clear as within the family, the unit by nature designed to nurture and support--and ultimately overcome. Stereotypically, the family longed for by every Southerner is one of impeccable repute, a white triumph, clean of any African blood, with a heritage predating the Revolution and a lineage reaching beyond the next millennium. Clotelle, by William Wells Brown, is an appeal to the Southern ideal that African-Americans do not and can not fit into the traditional, lily-white aristocratic familial structure which ruled the South during his time--and reigned for many years thereafter. Traditional Southern canon emphasizes the Thomas Sutpens--of William Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom! --who ejects African-Americans from his family (as he attempts to create a new one), and men like the Sheriff of Charles W. Chesnutt's "The Sheriff's Children," who sells a pregnant slave--carrying his unborn mulatto child--into slavery. The advancement and protection of one's name is also highlighted by Sutpen and by Clara Hohlfelder in another Chesnutt tale, "Her Virginia Mammy." These are ideals which Brown understands and resists, and tries--ultimately in vain--to defy. Clotelle does not adjust itself to the tr... ... middle of paper ... ...ildren are born as a result--are disposed of as quietly as possible, in order to keep the familial superstructure as maximally pure as possible. A white man does not marry a slave, or make a respectable woman of her. He keeps her and his child in a shed outside of town, he sends them to New Orleans, or sells them to the rice swamps to toil under the whip for the remainder of their lives. Southern literature excludes the African-American from its families, thus robbing her of her identity and forcing her to become a mere brick in the base below the superstructure. Works Cited Brown, William Wells. Clotelle. Miami: Mnemosyne Publishing, 1969. Chesnutt, Charles W. "Her Virginia Mammy" and "The Sheriff's Children." Collected Stories of Charles W. Chesnutt. New York: Penguin, 1992. 114-148. Faulkner, William. Absalom, Absalom! New York: Vintage, 1990.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes the role of the black in the southern family as evidenced in clotelle and absalom.
- Analyzes how southern literature is a discussion of the family. it's an appeal to the southern ideal that african-americans don't fit into the traditional, lily-white family structure which ruled the south.
- Analyzes how chesnutt scrutinizes the lines of family, race, and 'place' in society to determine if one can actually have an identity in the turn-of-the-century south.
- Analyzes how clara hohlfelder hesitates to marry dr. john winthrop because she cannot unearth her own ancestry. she would rather not marry than have her future husband refrain from mentioning his own heritage.
- Analyzes how thomas sutpen's grandiose attempt at the design is retold through quentin compson, one who comes from a disturbed family.
- Analyzes how brown's novel of a southern slave, clotelle, does not present the white majority as haunted by their offspring, rather, they are dismissed as products of uncontrollable lust.
- Explains that henry, as a southerner, cannot escape the southern code of conduct until the child is twelve years old, at which time he demands the custody of her.
- Analyzes how brown makes one of the most brave and perceptive points of sutpen's novel. the african-american family is wide, constant, and ever-growing.
- Analyzes how clotelle escapes the trap laid out for her by leaving her extended family of slaves, and enters a world in which she is treated like queen: marriage.
- Analyzes how the southern canon forms a society with the african-american at its base, and on top of this foundation, it builds it superstructure.
- Describes the stories of charles w. chesnutt, "her virginia mammy" and "the sheriff's children."
- Analyzes how tom blames the sheriff for his unfortunate position in the world, and believes that he would not be forced into robbing homes to eat and keep warm. without a family, tom becomes meaningless and inconsolable.
- Analyzes how sutpen's hundred fails when bon and judith become involved with one another.
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- Interracial Figures of the American Renaissanceanalytical essayThis essay examines Cora from The Last of the Mohicans, Frederick Douglass, and Harriet Ann Jacobs. The American Renaissance marks a period of social injustice and the fight of the minority to bring about social change. Women and African-Americans (who were freed or escaped from slavery) begin to gain a voice through literacy, and use that voice to start the movement to abolish slavery and gain women rights. The development of literacy makes it impossible to ignore women and African-Americans because their writing provides a permanent record of the horrors of slavery and injustice of oppressing the minority groups. Furthermore, the gain in literacy by these groups makes Anglo-Saxons face the realities of their world and challenges the American dream. Perhaps the most fascinating result of the destruction to the American dream is the introduction of the interracial character. During this period of history (and long after it) the myth existed that the races were pure. Judith R. Berzon in her book Neither White Nor Black: The Mulatto Character in American Fiction, attributes the emergence of interracial characters in the nineteenth and twentieth century to "(1) a widespread fear of miscegenation; (2) the tenacious view that mulattoes are a Îdegenerate, sterile and short-lived breedâ ; (3) the unresolved dilemma of the social and economic roles of the emancipated African-American; and (4) the unease with which Caucasians generally regarded those who carry traits of both racial groups" (19). The interracial characters exposed the reality in America, that the children of slaves on the plantation were a result of white slave owners having intercourse with their slaves. Co...
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how the american renaissance marks a period of social injustice and the fight of the minority to bring about social change.
- Analyzes how cora represents the intermingling of races and the complexity that occurs due to her interracial heritage in james fenimore cooper's novel, the last of the mohicans.
- Explains that it was their lot to form a connexion with one who became their wife, and the mother of cora.
- Analyzes how cooper addresses the issue of interracial relations, but maintains an element of romanticism in that cora's mother comes from a foreign land.
- Analyzes how cora's mixed heritage allows her to break from this mold and develop traits that would traditionally fit in the heroic male’s persona.
- Analyzes how fear has overcome alice, and she is helpless. she hears, but is unable to follow.
- Analyzes how alice must depend on her male companions and cora to get through the obstacles they face on their journey. her white heritage forces her into the social norms, and makes her unable to break from those restraints.
- Analyzes how cora, struggling with herself to speak with calmness, said her intention was to lead us prisoners to the woods or contemplate even greater evil.
- Analyzes how cooper provides an interesting insight into the roles of women in the romantic novel by having the sisters represent the pure white (alice) and the mixing of races (cora).
- Analyzes how cora's relationship with uncas and her death exemplify the complications of racial impurities place in the ideology of the american dream.
- Opines that a hunter would be her companion, who knew how to provide for her smallest wants, and the warrior would protect her against danger.
- Analyzes how cooper establishes that although cora and uncas do not have a place in society, they can transcend this world and be together in the afterlife.
- Describes how the father's surviving daughter had moved far into the settlements of the "pale-faces," where her tears had ceased to flow, and had been succeeded by bright smiles which were better suited to her joyous nature.
- Analyzes how alice and duncan return to where they belong in a world of comfort and where racial issues are ignored. cooper almost jabs alice when he sets off the "at last" with commas to say she finally quit whining.
- Analyzes how frederick douglass fought for the abolition of slavery and women's rights. his mother is harriet bailey, but the identity of his father remains an enigma.
- Explains that their father was a white man, and the opinion was whispered that my master was my father, but of the correctness of this opinion, they knew nothing.
- Analyzes how douglass exemplifies the nonchalance of the slave owner's attitude toward having sexual relations with his slaves.
- Explains that men and women, old and young, married and single, were ranked with horses, sheep, and swine, all holing the same rank in the scale of being.
- Analyzes how douglass suggests that society's inability to except interracial individuals comes from their view that slaves are merely property and livestock.
- Explains why we should continue to value this speech a hundred and fifty years later because its courage, moral outrage, and political intransigence are still inspirational. douglas saw, correctly, that the fourth of july belonged to white americans rather than all americans.
- Analyzes how douglass uses his experience as a slave to show the white majority that the founding principle of america's independence, is not reality for all americans. by downplaying his white heritage, he segregates himself from his audience.
- Analyzes how harriet ann jacobs' incidents in the life of a slave girl discusses the interracial relations between slaveholders and slaves, although her heritage does not come from this mixing.
- Explains that southern women marry a man knowing he is the father of many little slaves. they regard such children as property, as marketable as the pigs on the plantation.
- Analyzes how jacobs demonstrates the treatment of interracial children as mere property to be sold quickly in order to not upset society.
- Analyzes how cora, frederick douglass, and harriet ann jacobs exemplify the complications surrounding interracial figures in the american renaissance.
- Cites berzon, judith r. neither white nor black: the mulatto character in american fiction.
- Explains paul laufer, the heath anthology of american literature, vol 1, 3rd ed. boston: houghton mifflin company, 1998.
- Describes douglass, frederick, and paul laufer's the heath anthology of american literature.
- Analyzes jacobs, harriet ann, and paul laufer's the heath anthology of american literature.
- Explains kinney, james, amalgamation: race, sex, and rhetoric in the nineteenth-century american novel.
- Explains that mills, charles w., "whose fourth of july? frederick douglass and îoriginal intent." bill e. lawson and frank m. kirkland.
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- Analyzes how the second category of antebellum women contained both black women and white women, who were considered a threat to the social order.
- Analyzes how the civil war upset the boundaries of gender and race in the south. the confederacy began to try to control the enslaved and poor females rather than earn their support.
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- Analyzes how unruly women challenged the sacred beliefs that underpinned the slave order, and that slavery was not the natural condition for blacks.
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- Analyzes how nettie is a powerful character, whose letters encompass half the novel. though she is younger than celie, she acts as her protector.
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In this essay, the author
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- Analyzes how harriet jacobs' story shows the pain she suffered as a female slave, but also showed the strength she proved to have within herself.
- Explains that the slave owner's wife was his "possession", but his slaves were also his possessions. women were dependent on their husbands, so they had to be kept in their place.
- Opines that it is hard to believe that all these women, slave and white, had no voice they had to ignore and keep silence about every horrible thing that happened around them.
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In this essay, the author
- Argues that charles chestnutt cleverly wrote the allegory, the sheriff's children, using narration and diction to lay the foundation for a strong underlying theme of responsibility.
- Analyzes how chestnutt creates the sheriff's internal battles by setting up a strong third-person narration.
- Explains that sheriff campbell had three choices: sent the boy and his mother to a free state with money, kept them on plantation and kept an eye on them, or sold them. the government had several options in dealing with slavery.
- Analyzes how chestnutt shows the thoughts the sheriff used to make himself feel better for his ugly decision.
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In this essay, the author
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- Analyzes how white illustrates the europeans' two major stereotypes of african american females, jezebel and mammy, which served as slave holders’ excuse for the sexual exploitation of female slaves.
- Analyzes how white explores the master's sexual exploitation of their female slaves, and proves this method of oppression to be the defining factor of what sets the females apart from their male counterparts.
- Analyzes how white examines the differences between white and african american females, and the treatment they received from the white male dominant society.
- Analyzes white's detailed analysis of the major aspects of female slaves' lives, including their family life, marital roles, and their reliance on the slave community.
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- Explains that white employs a wide range of historical accounts to present an unbiased historical record of what took place during the years of slavery.
- Analyzes how white conveys her subject matter in a graceful manner, without the use of difficult or technical vocabulary. each chapter title is indicative of the exact information covered in that chapter.
- Analyzes how white builds strong support for the novel's theme with every chapter. she writes every proposal with the purpose of reinforcing the theme.
- Analyzes how white challenges the reader to set aside all preconceived notions of black women and to consider that society's knowledge of african american women’s history has, in many ways, been manipulated by historians.
- Opines that deborah gray white's writing has the power to transform her readers' understanding, emotions, and opinions. if it doesn't completely change your opinion of slavery and leave you with a richer appreciation for the resilience demonstrated by the female slaves, it is official.
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In this essay, the author
- Explains that african americans extol the accomplishment of granted liberties, but later consciousness of increased lack of survival in a free environment withered the souls that starvation and death overtook the black nation.
- Analyzes how the emancipation of slaves gave the former vassals independence but not exactly inside chains.
- Analyzes how the color of the skin hindered advancement in the united states — slavery transformed humanity into a world of wickedness.
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1243 wordsRead More