Throughout The Known World, the word "right" is continuously used in many different forms. The sense of what is actually right or wrong is very misconstrued in the novel. Slavery is something that is seen as normal and culturally expected in the setting of the novel. Today, though we consider slavery very wrong and inhumane. To the slave owners in the story, slavery is great and of course the right thing to do is own slaves. Robbins is even able to convince a black slave that owning slaves himself is right and a good idea.
The actual treatment of the slaves is an issue of being right or wrong, also. The owners believe everything they do is right and everything they say should be followed. Robbins uses manipulation and threats to ensure his slaves stay in line. When he wants Rita to watch Henry he says, "you see things go right" (16). He did not tell her to make sure he stays, but that he acts "right." Augustus does the same thing with Henry, too. He tells him to "try harder to remember, son, to know the right way." He knows how terrible slavery is and wants Henry to be safe, so he knows the right thing for him to do is just do as Robbins says and be a good slave. Elias did not do what was right and ran away and suffered by having his ear cut off. When the slaves do something the owner sees as wrong, they are punished.
The concept of what is right and wrong in the novel is all based on what society accepts. That is how the owners and others in the county justify slavery and their treatment of the slaves. The owners base how good a slave is on how much he or she obeys and does the right thing in their eyes. When Robbins is telling an overseer about the slave Sam. He tells him, "once he learned right from wrong, he gave me good work" (93). Skiffington's judgement is also clouded by society as he is expected to uphold the law, as long as it is in the slave owners' favor. He claims, "I take no side but the right side," but the right side often is against the slaves and for the owners (158).
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