The term “right”
appears in many different contexts throughout The Known World, and often it is used to unite the two dominant institutions
described in the novel: writing and
slavery. In Jones’s story, there is a
strong connection between these two conventions, for both are portrayed as
weak, vulnerable institutions, but slavery and freedom both cannot exist
without the written word.
When “right” is
seen in a directional context, Jones often uses it to refer to the correctness
of right-handedness, undeniably the most prominent type of handedness. For
instance, when Henry first meets Caldonia at a dinner hosted by their mutual
teacher, Fern Elston, he lectures Caldonia on her poor riding technique by
demonstrating with a pepper shaker the right and wrong way to go about the
motion. He first uses his right hand to gracefully move the shaker in a right
to left motion. He says of this, “Thas how everybody else rides. Me and everybody else” (242). Then he switches hands and clumsily drags the
shaker from left to right with his left hand, and says, “I’m sorry to say this,
but thas how you ride” (242).
Literacy is
largely responsible for setting the class of blacks under Fern’s tutelage apart
from the slaves they oversee. Once Robbins caught Henry roughhousing with his first
slave and future overseer, Moses, he becomes adamant about Henry receiving an
education in order to further divide the two men.
However, while
literacy serves to separate master from slave, this division is fragile, as is
the written word itself. One of the most
disturbing scenes in the novel follows Augustus as Travis eats his freedom
papers and sells him back into slavery (212-216). The fact that Travis is able
to so quickly destroy Augustus’s papers and, in doing so, take away his
freedom, showcases the fragility of both institutions.
The before
mentioned example involving Henry and Caldonia is significant for more than
just its reference to the dominance of right-handedness. This example can be considered a metaphor for
how Henry and Caldonia behave as masters of their slaves. Henry adheres to the dominant method, the
“right-handed” method, of maintaining a distance from his slaves and treating
them as his property, despite how backward, “right to left,” this may
seem. Caldonia, on the other hand, took
the unusual left-handed approach and treated her slaves like people. Though
this left to right motion, (the traditional motion of text), feels natural, it
leads to chaos on the Townsend plantation. Slavery was an unnatural, backward
institution, but it was also the dominant way of life in the South. Therefore, unconventional methods were
necessary to keep such an unconventional institution alive.
I would agree that throughout The Known World, the written word is essential in drawing a line between slavery and freedom. Slaves that have been freed must have the paperwork to prove so. Without the paperwork, their explanation, their spoken word, is completely disregarded. Before the sheriffs knew that Fern was a free black, the narrator explains, “… she would produce papers showing she was a free woman and that would be followed by a bill of sale for the slave” (130). Fern has to have her papers at all times in case she is stopped and questioned, and simply explaining that she is free is not enough for the sheriffs to believe her. The papers are her freedom. The written word is her freedom.
ReplyDeleteThe written word is also essential in defining oneself and one’s accomplishments. When Fern is speaking to Anderson Frazier, she tells him, “’I have told my children and my husband to put on my grave marker ‘Mother’ and ‘Teacher’. That before all else even my own name’” (141). It is most important to Fern that people remember her for what she does as a mother and teacher, not for her name or status in life. Fern believes that what is written on her grave is just as important as people’s memories of her because the written word has a power that the spoken word does not.