The Law is Right

The law is a national standard determining what is right and what is wrong in the government’s eyes.  In practice, it essentially is a country’s ethics.  In Edward Jones’s novel, The Known World, every character has his or her set of morals.  By his usage of the word “right,” Jones compares people’s beliefs and actions to the law, thereby demonstrating the subjectivity of supposedly common values.

The laws and customs of the United States are set-up as the basis for comparison by Jones’s use of the word “right.”  It is made apparent early into the novel that people are aware of how they are expected to behave.  For example, a slave woman who had become worse at her job after her children were sold received whippings meant for her to start doing, “what was right and proper” (27).  Right in this sense conveys the feeling that the woman behaved inappropriately in this situation, implying that she should have been doing something else instead of slacking off at her job.  Having a correct procedure for everything means that there is a clear distinction between good and bad.  In creating this dichotomy, Jones allows the law to become the basis for determining what actions are acceptable.  Indeed, John Skiffington embodies this statement when he makes a claim:  “I take no side but the right one” (158).  Skiffington, the town’s sheriff, acts as an agent for the law of the United States to be carried out under his jurisdiction.  By saying he exclusively takes the “right” side, he suggests that the law is also considered right in the same sense.  Therefore, everything that is against the law can be considered wrong and there is no grey area in the middle of right and wrong.

Jones subsequently uses the word “right” to compare the characters’ values to the law, revealing the underlying differences in their morals.  A major example of this is when Oden, Travis, and Barnum stop Augustus at night.  Augustus claimed he was “only doing what [he] got a right to do” (212).  He uses “right” to indicate that his actions, merely passing through the road at night, were allowed under the law.  This statement is put against the actions of the keepers of the law, specifically Travis.  When Barnum objects to Travis eating the papers, Travis tells him “right ain’t got nothin to do with it” (212).  Travis, an enforcer of the law, thereby claimed that the law did not apply to his own actions by using the word “right”.  However, Augustus had earlier said that the law was what allowed the black man to go as he pleased.  This demonstrates that both characters viewed the law in separate ways.  August felt that he operated within its bounds, earlier defined as acting “good,” whereas Travis thought that he acted outside of them, in the “bad” zone.  Thus, Jones had distinguished the characters’ set of morals via his usage of the word “right.”