What is "right"?

The word "right" in The Known World isn't a word that, if a person was simply flipping through the pages, will be found very many times. It's the lack of the usage of the word that makes it stand out. What is right versus what is wrong is a question that is asked many times, no matter how advanced or how knowledgeable people become. The ambiguity of right versus wrong is a theme that is very central to this novel. Obviously, slavery, being the focus of the novel, is a big question to the characters, whether it is right or wrong. And along with slavery, is it more “wrong” for an African American to own his own African American slaves? It’s a big question, because it’s not a topic that’s focused on in many novels about slavery. 

It also seems that what is “right” is usually deemed right by the more powerful characters in the novel. In the case of Jebediah, in chapter 8, nobody took his word for anything he said, because he was African American. Fern realizes that her husband is probably lying about not knowing him because it says, “Fern knew he was not telling her the truth” (254) yet she does nothing about it. The white people in the novel are always defining what is “right” and the African Americans always seem to be doing what is “right.” Jebediah says, “Please tell him to let me up, I’m gonna do right. I told yall that” (257.) He says he’s going to do “right” but does he really know what “right” is in this case? What is right is so ambiguous that people say they will do it, but don’t know what that really entails. The white/ more powerful characters in the novel are the ones who define right and wrong, even though their definitions are not completely accurate. The other characters in the novel are forced to abide by what the other characters believe and are constantly trying to do what it “right” for others.

The question of whether it is more wrong for an African American to own his own slaves, like the case of Henry Townsend, is an opinion of the reader. It could be seen as a man going against his own race by owning them or it could be seen as a man trying to make a living. Slavery is something that is very wrong but because what is right and what is wrong is defined by the very people who benefit from slavery, what is right wasn’t questioned.

"Right" in The Known World

            It is rare, within the pages of Jones’s The Known World, for ten pages to pass without the appearance of the word “right.”  Often, it will occur in several passages clustered together, page after consecutive page in which the word “right” works just at the surface of the reader’s awareness.  Frequently, it occurs multiple times on a single page – two, three, four, even seven times when Caldonia Newman and Henry Townsend react with almost hyperbolic awareness to encountering one another for the first time (142).  The novel is perhaps best described as – and, at the risk of revealing something which occurs at the very end of the novel, is in many ways confirmed to be – a tapestry.  Though the novel flows from character to character, leaps from time and place to time and place, the word “right” is a thread that passes through all of them.

            This immense frequency allows “right” a kind of multiplicity denied other words the reader may notice cropping up several times over the course of Jones’s book, and each facet of its use would seem to warrant extensive study on its own.  “Right” is directional.  Jones crafts his characters and their placement in their world with much care.  Calvin stands “at the post on the right” or a map’s legend is “in the bottom right-hand corner” or John Skiffington watches a cardinal fly “from left to right” (189, 174, 162).  “Right” is also tied up in issues of accountability – slaves, free blacks, and lower-class whites are urged to “do right by” someone in their family or in a greater position of power.  It is used in expressions of promptness or spatial and temporal closeness.  People come “right up,” go “right in,” sit “right” by others, people wish for things to happen or witness them occurring “right” in the present moment of their thoughts.  “Right” is a synonym for “good” or “well” when William Robbins’s black mistress, Philomena, declares that he isn’t treating her “‘right’” or when the sheriff insists that his job is to make sure everyone can “‘sleep right’” at night (116, 39).  One of the aspects of “right” at the heart of the novel, however, is the moral sense of what is “right” and what is “wrong.”  The novel remains remarkably objective about what the author may believe is “right” or what modern readers know to be culturally or socially “right” with the added benefit of over a century of historical separation, and instead Jones allows moral “right” to spill from the mouths of a variety of characters, to be perverted by the likes of Harvey Travis when he eats Augustus Townsend’s free papers and sells him to an interstate slave dealer while at the same time Harvey’s right is fought with Barnum Kinsey’s protestations of “‘That ain’t right, Harvey.  That just ain’t right’” (217, 212).  In this way, Jones uses “right” not only to inform, locate, detail, or describe but also to ignite their emotions and their own beliefs surrounding “right” and “wrong.”

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.  

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.”

Right in The Known World

Right and wrong are often subjective, circumstantial terms. As much as some would like to paint what is right and wrong in black and white, reality often complicates the issue. This remains true in The Known World, a novel revolved around slavery. Right is a dynamic term. While society today would look back on the antebellum South and say there was no room for any right in the institution of slavery, it being pure evil, the people of the day would disagree. Robbins feels his slave ownership is contributing positively to the world and that he has a stake in "keeping this world going right" (38). A merciless owner and unscrupulous businessman, Robbins honestly believes that his actions are the right way to go about things. Right is a justification of evil in the novel; it is an ever changing word that is used by people who want to write off their lack of morals as the ends justifying the means.

A popular term in The Known World is to "do right" by someone or something, meaning that the person in question acted in a way that is viewed as the best course of action. Fern Elston, for example, tells Caldonia she always thought Caldonia "did right in marrying him [Henry]" (7). Despite a desire to do right from just about everyone in the novel, an agreed upon definition of what right is is never established. Slaves were sometimes buried in pine coffins, but only if “they had always done the right thing and their masters thought they deserved it” (72). What is the right thing? It is whatever the master decides it is. But the right thing could vary from master to master; it could mean something different to a free black man, or a slave, or an abolitionist. It meant something different from patroller to patroller, as Harvey did not find it wrong to sell Augustus Townsend back into slavery, yet Barnum protested vocally, proclaiming, “That ain’t right, Harvey. This just ain’t right” (212). Right can take on whatever meaning or role it has to when it is convenient for the person using it. 

Different justifications of slavery in "The Known World"

At the time Edward P. Jones's novel The Known World was set, slavery was the most powerful institution in the American South, stronger than even religion in its ability to determine what was morally acceptable. As it was such a lucrative business, it is no surprise that slave-holders wanted to keep it in place. However, by tracking the word "right" throughout the novel, it is evident that the white and black slave owners who appear have different motivations for maintaining this status quo.

When considering the white characters in this novel, it appears that to most of them, slavery is "right" because it keeps African American people, who are considered inferior, in their place, and allows the owners to profit. This is seen in many of the conversations involving the night patrolmen, whose job it is to make sure that slaves do not escape their plantations. For instance, when the powerful slave owner William Robbins is speaking to the patroller Sheriff Patterson, he explains that maintaining a "plantation fulla slaves" is necessary to keep "this world going right" (38). This occurs in light of two of Robbins's slaves being bought by a man Robbins believes to be an abolitionist, a "devil in disguise" (26). In fuming to Sheriff Patterson about how the supposed abolitionist has stolen his "property," Robbins reveals his belief that it is "right" for African American people to be subjugated to maintain a harmonious society.  Later when Skiffington becomes Sheriff, he speaks of the need of slave owners to keep a better eye on their slaves so that they do not run away. Explaining the inability of his patrollers to catch every slave that flees, he says that his men "are not angels, able to fly above and see wrong being committed and…turn the wrong into right" (94). The "right" Skiffington refers to is keeping slaves bound to their masters' land, and the "wrong" is the audacity of slaves in trying to escape their superior masters.

The black slave owner profiled in the novel, Henry Townsend, also wants the power that slavery brings, but does not necessarily believe that slaves are inherently inferior. In explaining to his parents why he has purchased his first slave, Henry explains that he has not done anything that a white man would not do (138). Perhaps Henry, thanks to a close upbringing with his former master Robbins, has come to see owning slaves as a necessary part of gaining respect and power in the south. Henry's wife's mother, Maude, too, repeatedly reminds her daughter Caldonia and Henry that they need to maintain their "legacy" of slaves, the "foundation of wealth (180). However, Henry does not treat his slaves like property--he even acts like a friend to Moses, his first slave, until Robbins reprimands him (123). It appears that Henry attempts to treat his slaves as humanely as possible while still despite using them to advance economically—that is, he tries to do the best he can given the constraints of society.

Rights and Religion

While reading The Known World by Edward P. Jones, I noticed that the word “right” was often portrayed with other words that were very important in the novel. Because of this, I think that “right” is important in that it advises the reader to consider the connection between these ideas and the definition of the word “right.”

“Right” is often used in the same sentence as religious ideas. For instance, after Henry dies, the narrator states “and God told him right then,” (11). When the preacher visits, he says “heaven is right over there,” (87). In a situation that is not already associated to religion, Skiffington says “I would move heaven and earth to make it right for you, Harvey,” to solve a dispute between his patrollers (159). In each of these instances the word “right” is completely connected to religion through words like “heaven” and “God.” Because of the novel’s topic, whenever coming across the word “right”, the reader initially considers the idea of right and wrong. Therefore, Jones is associating the difference between right and wrong with religion.

Often, when “right” appears in the novel, it is paired with a word that is typically associated with being content or calm. For example, Patterson is described as liking “the sound of the word peaceful right then,” (38). He later states “My job is to protect everybody, to make sure everybody can sleep right every night,” (39). “Peaceful” and “sleep” both refer to the idea of relaxation. Later in the novel, as Skiffington is reading the bible, he sees “a male cardinal as it flew from left to right,” (162). Flying is typically associated with freedom. When Stamford is thinking about his parents, he visualizes “his mother in his right hand and his father in his left hand,” (192). With this excerpt, “right” is connected to family. In each of these cases, what is “right” is associated with a luxury that slaves do not have. Through mentioning the word “right”, Jones points out that the slaves do not have any freedom, time to relax, or any guarantee that they can stay with their family.

Throughout the novel, Jones uses the word “right” to force the reader to consider other ideas. Often, the other idea that he is pointing to is religion. However, Jones also uses “right” to point out the rights that the slaves don’t have in his novel, The Known World.