Die ist echt super!!
Hier ist meine. Vielleicht hilft das ja auch noch jemandem =)
The Characters
Grant Wiggins
- Narrator & protagonist, who was born into a family which had in earlier generations been slaves on Henri Pichot’s plantation and raised by his aunt, Tante Lou
- He’s educated, because he went to university, but he returned. Now he’s the teacher of the school for black children
- He has an affair with the married but separated woman Vivian
- As the only educated man in the quarter, he becomes the focus of people’s hope and is therefore asked to make a man out of Jefferson
- His education cannot help him solve social problems, which leaves him frustrated and full of resentment (Verbitterung)
- He has inner conflicts: between his hate for the white community and his contempt (Verachtung) for the black community & between his desire to escape and the need to remain
- Education has made him bitter, cynical and loosing his faith
- He loses his contempt for blacks by understanding that he needs Jefferson to show him what it is to be a man --> he begins understanding the other blacks
- There are many parallels between Jefferson and Grant, as both are black men who are being crushed by the racist social problem
Jefferson
- he’s 21 years old, poor and uneducated
- it’s an elusive (schwer definierbarer) character, which resembles Jefferson’s inside, because he don’t know either who he is --> he’s been robbed of his identity
- At the beginning he acts ungrateful unresponsive (teilnahmslos) towards those who try to help him --> he’s too lost in despair (Verzweiflung) to be helped and wants others to feel his pain too
- He opens up a bit when Grant gives him the radio, because this is the first time he gets something that he wanted
- Grant appeals to Jefferson’s intellect by offering him a notebook, his emotions and his sense of responsibility to his godmother --> leads to Jefferson’s own journey into himself
- However he stays self-absorbed (in sich gekehrt) until Grant tells him that Jefferson needs to become a focal figure of hope for an oppressed community to not let the whites win this fight
--> The black community needs someone who hasn’t failed to look up and Jefferson becomes such a person in the end by walking to the electrocution with his head held high
Tante Lou
- in her mid 70s
- worked in Henri Pichot’s household for all her life
- Raised Grant after his parents left him with her to go to California
- Church-going, God-fearing --> close to Reverend Ambrose
- The relationship with her nephew is difficult. She criticizes him a lot and disapproves his loss of faith, but on the same time she really loves him and worked very hard to offer him a better life than hers and educational opportunities
- She’s afraid of loosing Grant and therefore she treats Vivian quite coldly
- She cares not only for Grant, but also for Miss Emma and Jefferson
- Like Vivian she pushes Grant to be true to himself by forcing him to visit Jefferson
Emma Glenn / Miss Emma
- selfless, strong-minded godmother of Jefferson who’s in her mid 70s too
- She has worked in Pichot’s household for all her life like Lou
- She loves Jefferson and shows that by wanting Grant (teaching him to be a man instead of a hog) and Ambrose (saving his sole) to visit him and by sending him food
- She suffers the most from the injustice, Jefferson’s pain and his sullen unresponsiveness (Teilnahmslosigkeit)
Reverend Mose Ambrose
- he’s the spiritual leader of the quarter, but a simple, uneducated and untraveled man
- he understands his congregation (Kirchengemeinde) and now that he has to lie to make their pain suffering less harmful --> religion as a method of relieving pain
- He values Jefferson’s salvation higher than him becoming a man, therefore he envies Grant for his connection to Jefferson --> he looses a bit of his feeling of self-worth as the younger man has more success than he has
- Ambrose stands by Miss Emma till the end and his faith gives him the strength to attend Jefferson’s execution, a tribute that Grant couldn’t make. He admits in the end that “the old man is much braver than I am”
Vivian Baptiste
- a beautiful light-skinned black woman that has been Grant’s girlfriend for three years
- She’s Catholic, has two children and lives separated but not divorced from her husband, who tries finding a reason to take the children from her
- Vivian works in a school as well, but in Bayonne itself and the school has better conditions
- She comes from Free LaCove, where they’ve got prejudices against dark-skinned blacks. This is why she breaks with her family, because she’s tolerant and marries a dark-skinned black man --> her family doesn’t accept that
- She identifies with the black community and accepts her responsibilities as a mother, teacher and lover
- Jefferson and Tante Lou both recognize her as a lady, admitting that she’s got “quality”
- She’s Grant’s confident (Vertraute) and accepts him the way he is, although she defies (trotzen) him from time to time --> You can see how much she loves him in her attempts to prevent that he betrays himself by fleeing from Bayonne and his responsibilities, because that would destroy him
- She becomes pregnant from Grant
- Vivian has, like Tante Lou, a strong faith in Grant’s potential to become more than he is, which is justified by his final success in reaching Jefferson
- Vivian’s love, support and pride help Grant to leave his limited self-image of a “reading, writing and arithmetic” man behind and to become what he really can be
Matthew Antoine
- The former teacher of the quarter’s school for blacks
- He’s a mulatto (one parent white, the other black) and already dead when the story starts
- He reflects Grant’s own feelings: the contempt for the black community, as he can never be a full equal member of the society; the hopelessness of teaching young blacks without future --> “Just do the best you can. But it won’t matter.” (He himself feels a bit above them because of his skin color)
- He wanted to escape for his whole life and that’s the same whish Grant has, though duty, responsibility and especially Vivian keep him from doing it
- His message to his former students was “flee or die”
Sam Guidry
- Sheriff of the town and Henri Pichot’s brother-in-law
- Racist, callous (kaltschnäuzig), arrogant suspicious of Grant an Miss Emma
- He dislikes the fact that Grant is an educated man and seems to feel a bit menaced (bedroht) of that, because he know Grant is more intelligent than he is --> He immediately thinks that it was Grant’s idea to visit Jefferson or to meet in the dayroom
- He’s worried about what others think of him. That’s why he wants Jefferson to write down that he has treated him rightly
Paul Bonin
- The white “young deputy” is decent (anständig), honest and trustworthy
- He allows Grant to call him Paul instead of “Mr. Paul” and is one of the few tolerant and positive characters in a racially discriminating society
- He’s kind of a symbol for hope and a foreshadow of the future success of the Civil Rights Movement
- With his warmth and humanity he becomes Grant’s friend
- In the end he pays tribute to Jefferson by bringing him to the execution, telling Miss Emma his last words and giving Grant the notebook
--> The black society needed such characters to make a change
Edna Guidry (Sam’s wife)
- She seems slightly foolish and very insecure and she’s often drinking bourbon
- “I’m sorry for both families” --> feels sympathy for Miss Emma because of their closeness, but also for the white storekeeper’s wife
- But she does a lot for Miss Emma and the others: She persuades her husband to allow Grant’s visits, like she is responsible for their chance to meet Jefferson in the dayroom
- She doesn’t challenge the racial structures, but she’s able to have personal attachments in them. You can see that when she invites Miss Emma and Tante Lou to sit in the living room, though they normally have to sit in the kitchen
Henri Pichot
- He’s Edna’s brother, who always seems a bit uncomfortable
- He has the duty to help Emma and Lou, because of their services in his family, but that’s and unpleasant experience for him
- He does show some compassion (Mitgefühl) for Jefferson: He speaks up for him in the trial, he doesn’t take part in a better whether Grant will fail in trying to prepare Jefferson for the execution or not… --> but it’s just his feelings of responsibility and duty leading to these actions and not an open mind
Other Characters
- Dr. Joseph Morgan: the fat, lazy, arrogant white school inspector who wants to ensure that the black schools are kept at the lowest possible level necessary to function and who’s examination of the children reminds Grant of what he has read about slave owners --> He’s an agent of segregation
- Irene Cole: Grant’s student who teaches the younger student and who will probably take over the Grant’s job, if he leaves. Irene seems to be in love with Grant and as Tante Lou she’s afraid of him leaving
- Inez Lane: The friendly housemaid of the Pichots
- Alcee Gropé: The murdered storekeeper
- Brother & Bear: The two blacks who died by robbing Mr.Gropé’s store
- Joe and Thelma Clairbone: The “good people” owning the Rainbow Club who borrow Grant money to buy Jefferson’s radio
- Louis Rougon: A white banker who started the bet
Subjects
Examples of racism:
- Segregation of the town Bayonne (in Louisiana)
- The trial (the defence lawyer calls Jefferson a “hog”)
- The behaviour of the whites
- The jail routines
- Grant’s old teacher who has been discriminated against because he’s a mulatto
-The fight with the mulattos in the bar (they are racist too --> feel superior to blacks, but aren’t accepted by them nor by whites) and other mulatto related racism, like a mulatto father who doesn’t want to watch his children on the Christmas play at school, because “he had better things to do than go to a coon gathering” (Ansammlung von Farbigen --> coon ist eine beleidigende Bezeichnung)
-Vivian’s home town
Communication:
-Many things are left unsaid and there are glances and gestures instead
-Dueing to slavery the blacks have an unwillingness and inabilitiy to communicate freely and openly at that time (like Grant and Tante Lou)
- The whole situation can’t be captured in words
Men and women:
- The women (like Tante Lou and Irene) are afraid that “an outsider” could take away their “local boy”, because he’s the only thing they have. They need a symbol of hope and someone to be proud of
- “We black men have failed to protect our women since the time of slavery”
- Men either stay and become broken or run away and leave their family behind
- Women are left behind “to look after the children and themselves” --> black woman are almost all alone, like Tante Lou, Miss Emma, Irene Cole, Inez Lane…
- Fathers are completely absent: Grant’s father went to California, Jefferson’s father isn’t mentioned…But Grant gets a chance to become a father himself and to break the vicious circle with Vivian pregnancy
- Resuming: The men’s absence is the reason for the women’s possessiveness
- Jefferson is the last chance for Miss Emma to see a black man standing for her and therefore to see a change in the black society. Grant is that for the other women.
Teaching:
- The only aim in teaching (at the beginning and the aim of Matthew Antoine) is to educate the children enough to make them escape of the harsh rural life in the South
- Grant is bitter and frustrated with his work as a teacher, because he doesn’t see a sense in that
- The terrible state of education for the segregated minority is shown by the poverty of the school, the troubled backgrounds of many students and the superintended (school inspector) --> the children aren’t expected to actually learn anything intellectual, but to learn how to work on the field
- In the end Grant accepts his role as a teacher and does his best despite of the bad teaching conditions
Justice:
- Justice in the novel is exclusively “white man’s justice” --> protecting the whites and controlled by them
- No black was allowed to help Jefferson in the trial
- The novel questions the death penalty too and Grant is opposed to it
- They just need someone to blame for a white man’s death. That’s why Jefferson is convicted
Religion:
- Neither Grant nor Jefferson has any strong religious feelings
- It’s function is to comfort the black community and lessen their pain
- They’re able to face the despair and hopelessness in the segregationist South in the promise that there’ll be a happier life after death
- Religion is too abstract for Jefferson. That’s why Reverend Ambrose isn’t successful with his opinion that Jefferson’s religiousness will come from religious activity, like praying and reading the bible.
- Jefferson needs human contact and religion can’t offer him that, because the religious system of community is outside the jail. Consequently the radio has a great effect on him
- Grant does believe in God, but he doesn’t want to lie and he wants the people to make up their own mind
- There are also some allusions to Jesus concerning for example the execution after Easter
Community & responsibility:
- Many community events, like the Christmas program and the regular church service (Gottesdienst) --> the community is really close and they know each other. This is due to segregation and religiousness
- Responsibility leads Edna to help Emma and Lou as she is unable to treat them with contempt owing all the work they’ve done for her family
- Grant’s struggle with the community is also important. Though superficially he wants to flee, he has a responsibility towards his people and he shows that he has strong bonds to Bayonne with his huge knowledge about the town
Food, family and love:
- Family is a difficult subject in the novel, because the men’s absence/role led to a decay (Verfall) of normal family structures, but also to strong bonds between the remained members
- The white families are stable and complete
- Food is a symbol of love, nurture (Pflege), care and comfort (e.g. Miss Emma) --> Jefferson’s refusal of food is a refusal of love. His compliment for her cooking of his final meal is a sign of his love for her.
- This sharing of food has a Christian undertone
- But food is also a source of pleasure, a joy that is seldom for the blacks (e.g. Jefferson’s wish for ice cream)
Escape:
- The desire to escape of the pressures and hopelessness of life for black peole in the South led to the great migration and is especially connected to Grant in the novel
- He has been taught that he has to educate himself and escape from Bayonne, but love and commitment (Bindung) to the community keeps him from doing that --> as Vivian knows, it would make him unhappy to run away from his responsibilities
- Love is stronger than hatred and that prevents escaping
- Antoine stays out of cowardice and a lack of self-confident: In the South he’s as a mulatto superior than the blacks. In the North he wouldn’t be.
- Grant’s wish to escape owes to his fear to become bitter like Antoine, but in reality his struggle with himself makes him bitter
- The vicious circle of fear and despair among black men can only be broken by someone who refuses to submit to the pressures of the racist South and this is Jefferson. Escape is not an option.
- Jefferson’s escape is death
Und hier ist noch ein ganz nützlicher Link zum Thema death penalty mit Pro und Contra Argumenten: http://www.balancedpolitics.org/death_penalty.htm
Hier ist meine. Vielleicht hilft das ja auch noch jemandem =)
The Characters
Grant Wiggins
- Narrator & protagonist, who was born into a family which had in earlier generations been slaves on Henri Pichot’s plantation and raised by his aunt, Tante Lou
- He’s educated, because he went to university, but he returned. Now he’s the teacher of the school for black children
- He has an affair with the married but separated woman Vivian
- As the only educated man in the quarter, he becomes the focus of people’s hope and is therefore asked to make a man out of Jefferson
- His education cannot help him solve social problems, which leaves him frustrated and full of resentment (Verbitterung)
- He has inner conflicts: between his hate for the white community and his contempt (Verachtung) for the black community & between his desire to escape and the need to remain
- Education has made him bitter, cynical and loosing his faith
- He loses his contempt for blacks by understanding that he needs Jefferson to show him what it is to be a man --> he begins understanding the other blacks
- There are many parallels between Jefferson and Grant, as both are black men who are being crushed by the racist social problem
Jefferson
- he’s 21 years old, poor and uneducated
- it’s an elusive (schwer definierbarer) character, which resembles Jefferson’s inside, because he don’t know either who he is --> he’s been robbed of his identity
- At the beginning he acts ungrateful unresponsive (teilnahmslos) towards those who try to help him --> he’s too lost in despair (Verzweiflung) to be helped and wants others to feel his pain too
- He opens up a bit when Grant gives him the radio, because this is the first time he gets something that he wanted
- Grant appeals to Jefferson’s intellect by offering him a notebook, his emotions and his sense of responsibility to his godmother --> leads to Jefferson’s own journey into himself
- However he stays self-absorbed (in sich gekehrt) until Grant tells him that Jefferson needs to become a focal figure of hope for an oppressed community to not let the whites win this fight
--> The black community needs someone who hasn’t failed to look up and Jefferson becomes such a person in the end by walking to the electrocution with his head held high
Tante Lou
- in her mid 70s
- worked in Henri Pichot’s household for all her life
- Raised Grant after his parents left him with her to go to California
- Church-going, God-fearing --> close to Reverend Ambrose
- The relationship with her nephew is difficult. She criticizes him a lot and disapproves his loss of faith, but on the same time she really loves him and worked very hard to offer him a better life than hers and educational opportunities
- She’s afraid of loosing Grant and therefore she treats Vivian quite coldly
- She cares not only for Grant, but also for Miss Emma and Jefferson
- Like Vivian she pushes Grant to be true to himself by forcing him to visit Jefferson
Emma Glenn / Miss Emma
- selfless, strong-minded godmother of Jefferson who’s in her mid 70s too
- She has worked in Pichot’s household for all her life like Lou
- She loves Jefferson and shows that by wanting Grant (teaching him to be a man instead of a hog) and Ambrose (saving his sole) to visit him and by sending him food
- She suffers the most from the injustice, Jefferson’s pain and his sullen unresponsiveness (Teilnahmslosigkeit)
Reverend Mose Ambrose
- he’s the spiritual leader of the quarter, but a simple, uneducated and untraveled man
- he understands his congregation (Kirchengemeinde) and now that he has to lie to make their pain suffering less harmful --> religion as a method of relieving pain
- He values Jefferson’s salvation higher than him becoming a man, therefore he envies Grant for his connection to Jefferson --> he looses a bit of his feeling of self-worth as the younger man has more success than he has
- Ambrose stands by Miss Emma till the end and his faith gives him the strength to attend Jefferson’s execution, a tribute that Grant couldn’t make. He admits in the end that “the old man is much braver than I am”
Vivian Baptiste
- a beautiful light-skinned black woman that has been Grant’s girlfriend for three years
- She’s Catholic, has two children and lives separated but not divorced from her husband, who tries finding a reason to take the children from her
- Vivian works in a school as well, but in Bayonne itself and the school has better conditions
- She comes from Free LaCove, where they’ve got prejudices against dark-skinned blacks. This is why she breaks with her family, because she’s tolerant and marries a dark-skinned black man --> her family doesn’t accept that
- She identifies with the black community and accepts her responsibilities as a mother, teacher and lover
- Jefferson and Tante Lou both recognize her as a lady, admitting that she’s got “quality”
- She’s Grant’s confident (Vertraute) and accepts him the way he is, although she defies (trotzen) him from time to time --> You can see how much she loves him in her attempts to prevent that he betrays himself by fleeing from Bayonne and his responsibilities, because that would destroy him
- She becomes pregnant from Grant
- Vivian has, like Tante Lou, a strong faith in Grant’s potential to become more than he is, which is justified by his final success in reaching Jefferson
- Vivian’s love, support and pride help Grant to leave his limited self-image of a “reading, writing and arithmetic” man behind and to become what he really can be
Matthew Antoine
- The former teacher of the quarter’s school for blacks
- He’s a mulatto (one parent white, the other black) and already dead when the story starts
- He reflects Grant’s own feelings: the contempt for the black community, as he can never be a full equal member of the society; the hopelessness of teaching young blacks without future --> “Just do the best you can. But it won’t matter.” (He himself feels a bit above them because of his skin color)
- He wanted to escape for his whole life and that’s the same whish Grant has, though duty, responsibility and especially Vivian keep him from doing it
- His message to his former students was “flee or die”
Sam Guidry
- Sheriff of the town and Henri Pichot’s brother-in-law
- Racist, callous (kaltschnäuzig), arrogant suspicious of Grant an Miss Emma
- He dislikes the fact that Grant is an educated man and seems to feel a bit menaced (bedroht) of that, because he know Grant is more intelligent than he is --> He immediately thinks that it was Grant’s idea to visit Jefferson or to meet in the dayroom
- He’s worried about what others think of him. That’s why he wants Jefferson to write down that he has treated him rightly
Paul Bonin
- The white “young deputy” is decent (anständig), honest and trustworthy
- He allows Grant to call him Paul instead of “Mr. Paul” and is one of the few tolerant and positive characters in a racially discriminating society
- He’s kind of a symbol for hope and a foreshadow of the future success of the Civil Rights Movement
- With his warmth and humanity he becomes Grant’s friend
- In the end he pays tribute to Jefferson by bringing him to the execution, telling Miss Emma his last words and giving Grant the notebook
--> The black society needed such characters to make a change
Edna Guidry (Sam’s wife)
- She seems slightly foolish and very insecure and she’s often drinking bourbon
- “I’m sorry for both families” --> feels sympathy for Miss Emma because of their closeness, but also for the white storekeeper’s wife
- But she does a lot for Miss Emma and the others: She persuades her husband to allow Grant’s visits, like she is responsible for their chance to meet Jefferson in the dayroom
- She doesn’t challenge the racial structures, but she’s able to have personal attachments in them. You can see that when she invites Miss Emma and Tante Lou to sit in the living room, though they normally have to sit in the kitchen
Henri Pichot
- He’s Edna’s brother, who always seems a bit uncomfortable
- He has the duty to help Emma and Lou, because of their services in his family, but that’s and unpleasant experience for him
- He does show some compassion (Mitgefühl) for Jefferson: He speaks up for him in the trial, he doesn’t take part in a better whether Grant will fail in trying to prepare Jefferson for the execution or not… --> but it’s just his feelings of responsibility and duty leading to these actions and not an open mind
Other Characters
- Dr. Joseph Morgan: the fat, lazy, arrogant white school inspector who wants to ensure that the black schools are kept at the lowest possible level necessary to function and who’s examination of the children reminds Grant of what he has read about slave owners --> He’s an agent of segregation
- Irene Cole: Grant’s student who teaches the younger student and who will probably take over the Grant’s job, if he leaves. Irene seems to be in love with Grant and as Tante Lou she’s afraid of him leaving
- Inez Lane: The friendly housemaid of the Pichots
- Alcee Gropé: The murdered storekeeper
- Brother & Bear: The two blacks who died by robbing Mr.Gropé’s store
- Joe and Thelma Clairbone: The “good people” owning the Rainbow Club who borrow Grant money to buy Jefferson’s radio
- Louis Rougon: A white banker who started the bet
Subjects
Examples of racism:
- Segregation of the town Bayonne (in Louisiana)
- The trial (the defence lawyer calls Jefferson a “hog”)
- The behaviour of the whites
- The jail routines
- Grant’s old teacher who has been discriminated against because he’s a mulatto
-The fight with the mulattos in the bar (they are racist too --> feel superior to blacks, but aren’t accepted by them nor by whites) and other mulatto related racism, like a mulatto father who doesn’t want to watch his children on the Christmas play at school, because “he had better things to do than go to a coon gathering” (Ansammlung von Farbigen --> coon ist eine beleidigende Bezeichnung)
-Vivian’s home town
Communication:
-Many things are left unsaid and there are glances and gestures instead
-Dueing to slavery the blacks have an unwillingness and inabilitiy to communicate freely and openly at that time (like Grant and Tante Lou)
- The whole situation can’t be captured in words
Men and women:
- The women (like Tante Lou and Irene) are afraid that “an outsider” could take away their “local boy”, because he’s the only thing they have. They need a symbol of hope and someone to be proud of
- “We black men have failed to protect our women since the time of slavery”
- Men either stay and become broken or run away and leave their family behind
- Women are left behind “to look after the children and themselves” --> black woman are almost all alone, like Tante Lou, Miss Emma, Irene Cole, Inez Lane…
- Fathers are completely absent: Grant’s father went to California, Jefferson’s father isn’t mentioned…But Grant gets a chance to become a father himself and to break the vicious circle with Vivian pregnancy
- Resuming: The men’s absence is the reason for the women’s possessiveness
- Jefferson is the last chance for Miss Emma to see a black man standing for her and therefore to see a change in the black society. Grant is that for the other women.
Teaching:
- The only aim in teaching (at the beginning and the aim of Matthew Antoine) is to educate the children enough to make them escape of the harsh rural life in the South
- Grant is bitter and frustrated with his work as a teacher, because he doesn’t see a sense in that
- The terrible state of education for the segregated minority is shown by the poverty of the school, the troubled backgrounds of many students and the superintended (school inspector) --> the children aren’t expected to actually learn anything intellectual, but to learn how to work on the field
- In the end Grant accepts his role as a teacher and does his best despite of the bad teaching conditions
Justice:
- Justice in the novel is exclusively “white man’s justice” --> protecting the whites and controlled by them
- No black was allowed to help Jefferson in the trial
- The novel questions the death penalty too and Grant is opposed to it
- They just need someone to blame for a white man’s death. That’s why Jefferson is convicted
Religion:
- Neither Grant nor Jefferson has any strong religious feelings
- It’s function is to comfort the black community and lessen their pain
- They’re able to face the despair and hopelessness in the segregationist South in the promise that there’ll be a happier life after death
- Religion is too abstract for Jefferson. That’s why Reverend Ambrose isn’t successful with his opinion that Jefferson’s religiousness will come from religious activity, like praying and reading the bible.
- Jefferson needs human contact and religion can’t offer him that, because the religious system of community is outside the jail. Consequently the radio has a great effect on him
- Grant does believe in God, but he doesn’t want to lie and he wants the people to make up their own mind
- There are also some allusions to Jesus concerning for example the execution after Easter
Community & responsibility:
- Many community events, like the Christmas program and the regular church service (Gottesdienst) --> the community is really close and they know each other. This is due to segregation and religiousness
- Responsibility leads Edna to help Emma and Lou as she is unable to treat them with contempt owing all the work they’ve done for her family
- Grant’s struggle with the community is also important. Though superficially he wants to flee, he has a responsibility towards his people and he shows that he has strong bonds to Bayonne with his huge knowledge about the town
Food, family and love:
- Family is a difficult subject in the novel, because the men’s absence/role led to a decay (Verfall) of normal family structures, but also to strong bonds between the remained members
- The white families are stable and complete
- Food is a symbol of love, nurture (Pflege), care and comfort (e.g. Miss Emma) --> Jefferson’s refusal of food is a refusal of love. His compliment for her cooking of his final meal is a sign of his love for her.
- This sharing of food has a Christian undertone
- But food is also a source of pleasure, a joy that is seldom for the blacks (e.g. Jefferson’s wish for ice cream)
Escape:
- The desire to escape of the pressures and hopelessness of life for black peole in the South led to the great migration and is especially connected to Grant in the novel
- He has been taught that he has to educate himself and escape from Bayonne, but love and commitment (Bindung) to the community keeps him from doing that --> as Vivian knows, it would make him unhappy to run away from his responsibilities
- Love is stronger than hatred and that prevents escaping
- Antoine stays out of cowardice and a lack of self-confident: In the South he’s as a mulatto superior than the blacks. In the North he wouldn’t be.
- Grant’s wish to escape owes to his fear to become bitter like Antoine, but in reality his struggle with himself makes him bitter
- The vicious circle of fear and despair among black men can only be broken by someone who refuses to submit to the pressures of the racist South and this is Jefferson. Escape is not an option.
- Jefferson’s escape is death
Und hier ist noch ein ganz nützlicher Link zum Thema death penalty mit Pro und Contra Argumenten: http://www.balancedpolitics.org/death_penalty.htm
Zuletzt bearbeitet von Merope am 06.04.2011 um 09:58 Uhr
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