Knowing What is Right

While tracking the word “right” in the novel, I found that people’s opinions concerning what is right only matter when those opinions are held by people of power.  In other words, characters in positions of influence force their ideas of what is right onto those “inferior” to them. 

            For example, on page 181, Caldonia reflects on how her husband conducted himself as a slave owner:  “Yes, he had to have some slaves beaten, but those were the ones who would not do what was right and proper.”  Because Henry owns other men, his ideas of right are forced upon those deemed his property.  Another example is found on page 263, when Priscilla asks Moses after he slaps her, “Why you gotta treat me this way, Moses?  Why you can’t do right by me?”  Moses then replies, “I do all the right I can do.”  This exchange makes it clear that, because Moses sees himself as superior to his wife, what he believes is right is what goes. 

            Tracking the word “right” also made manifest to me the fact that many of the characters in the novel struggle with balancing what they believe to be right, how they feel, and what their duties are.  Despite the fact that Henry is black and knows what it is like to be a slave, as is illustrated by the quotation above, he still beats his slaves when he feels it is merited.  Another prominent example is found in Fern Elston.  Many times in the novel, Fern thinks to herself, “I have been a dutiful wife.”  Yet, it becomes clear that Fern is in love with a gambler who owes her husband money.  Fern also owns slaves, though she is part African-American.

Countless other examples of characters’ inner conflicts can be found throughout the novel.  Augustus and Mildred Townsend are torn between the love they have for their son and the loathing they have for the institution that he perpetuates.  John Skiffington vows that he will never own a slave, and when he does obtain a slave, he and his wife treat her with care and kindness.  That being said, as the sheriff of Manchester County, it is Skiffington’s job to ensure that others’ slaves know and stay in their places, even though he knows that these slaves are not treated with kindness.  Robbins owns many slaves, yet he loves his African-American mistress and children more than he does his white family; he experiences “storms,” or periods of delusion, with which he believes he is plagued for his feelings. 

Overall, I feel that the use of the word “right” in the novel largely goes to show that, amidst the institution of slavery, power is more important than morality.  It also reveals that slavery and the culture that surrounds it leaves much grey area concerning what is moral.