A Muddled World of Right and Wrong

            With upwards of 50 different definitions, the word right has a variety of meanings, and thus plays a number of diverse roles in The Known World.  I am going to focus on the role played by two of these forms of right – the most significant in the book in my opinion -- one adjective and one noun. The definitions are, respectively:  (1) morally or socially correct or acceptable and (2) something that a person is or should be morally or legally allowed to have, get, or do (Merriam Webster).

            Both of these definitions create an extremely ambiguous nature of the meaning of the word right. This ambiguity is central to the theme of The Known World. Jones’s characters each have a different idea of what is right and what is wrong, and yet they are all constantly commanding each other to be right (adjective form). When Moses is mistreating Alice, Delphie says to him “you know this ain’t right” (271). But does he really? Does anyone know what is or isn’t right? They all think they do, but none of them are in accordance with one another. Yet, being right is extremely important to them, which makes it all the worse that they cannot agree. When Fern is punishing Jebediah for his bad behavior, she says “I don’t want him going anywhere until he learns right from wrong, night from day” (257). However, even though it is as important as the difference between night and day, her distinction between right and wrong is so different from his that they will never figure it out. The lack of certainty surrounding what is right creates countless conflicts in the novel by fostering misunderstanding amongst the characters.

            Due to the ambiguity of what is right and what is wrong, the characters then lack a structure of what rights (noun form) they actually possess. When Augustus Townsend is reprimanded for traveling freely by Harvey Travis, he asserts “I’m only doin what I got a right to do,” referring to his legal right based on his free papers (212). However, Travis’s response is to eat Augustus’s free papers, and state “thas what I think a your right to do anything you got a right to do” (212). The same confusion is seen earlier in the story when Augustus is appalled and ashamed that his son owns slaves, and Henry responds with “Papa, I ain’t done nothing I ain’t a right to” (138). These contradictory scenarios prove that no one in this book understands his/her rights. Their rights are determined based on what is right and wrong in the world, but they don’t have a clue what is actually right or wrong in the messed up world they live in.  The role of the word “right” in The Known World is to prove the incredible uncertainty of right and wrong that existed during the antebellum, slavery-filled South.