Thursday, March 27, 2008
racist poe?
Was anyone else bothered at Poe's depiction of Jupiter in "The Gold Bug"? Jupiter was very loyal to his "Massa Will" but in return, was portrayed as a superstitious, unintelligent idiot (his speech was difficult to understand and he did not know his left from right). Is this Poe's view? Before reading this story, I still questioned whether Poe was a racist or not, but now I am almost sure he was. Anyone else agree?
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7 comments:
I got a sorta sadist vibe from Jupiter. He gave a "grave chuckle" (pg 575) after tying the dogs mouth shut. The relationship between Jupiter and Legrand was an odd one. It wasn't like the usual Master/Slave concoct in few ways. When Legrand leaves without telling Jupiter, he fashions a stick to beat him with then it is Jupiter who grows compassion and decides not to go through with it (565).
Also, when told to go up the tree Jupiter refuses. He doesn't get TOLD what to do, but he can be persuaded like anyone else. To not seem like a coward he goes up.
The relationship between the two just seems odd. Jupiter could have gone free but he decided to stay and help Legrand, seeing it as his "right of attendance." I see their relationship as more of a symbiotic friendship than a master/slave thing.
To respond to Kevin,
I can see how Jupiter and Legrand had more of a "friendship" than master/slave relationship however it seems to me that Jupiter portrayed more of the friend and Legrand more of the Master as Legrand was constantly talking down to Jupiter.
I'm not sure why Poe decided to use such a vernacular for Jupiter--did he think that all slaves talked like that? Was Poe writing against to towards the sterotype of the ignorant slave? Perhaps rather than being racist, Poe was speaking out against it?
I was also wondering about the relationship of Jupiter and Legrand as well. I am not sure if this is supposed to show the thoughts of Poe as Legrand or as the narrator. The narrator wasn't as harsh on Jupiter I dont feel. It was disturbing that there were very few sentences that Jupiter didn't have one word written dialect. I feel like they also portrayed him as money hungry because he doesn't really want to climb the tree until Legrand offers money for it. I don't really know how to take it though because you could read it as Poe is portraying how they were treated and asking the reader to sympathize with them or he is jsut showing the truth the way it is and saying that it is okay. I only can conclude this because he has bother sides of the argument prestent in the story.
Hi All,
I was really bothered by the depiction of Jupiter and Legrand's relationship in "The Gold Bug" as all of you were.
What I think Poe was doing in this story was to support the myth of "the happy slave" or one that slavery in itself was so benign that even after being set free the slave would prefer to continue the master, slave,- parent child relationship than to go out on his or her own and be self- supportive.
This wrong thinking was used to defend slavery in the pre- civil war days.
I think what bothers me the most is that growing up in Church Hill, Poe would have seen the slave market at what is now know as the farmer's market. To me - this story shows Poe to be in fact a racist, in contrast to Murders in the Rue Morgue" where he seems to point a finger at the mistreatment of slaves.
So the question is, who gets the gold? Do you think Legrand divvied it up in 3 equal parts? Do you think Jupiter took his and moved north?
Critically, I don't see Poe as being a racist. First "dialect" writing was becoming very popular; so was Poe writing for the market place or trying to portray Jupiter as ignorant? Dialect writing was not invented to portray the slave as ignorant, but to give the real words of the slave tp the reader. I think we would have a problem if Poe had Jupiter speaking with perfect speech. Jupiter, to me, is not the representative of the black race nor of slavery. As people varied in the way they viewed their oppression, Jupiter was not the "happy slave", but someone who knew he was free to make the choice to stay where he was. Not all slaves migrated north when they were set free.
The relation between LeGrande and Jupiter is typical because Jupiter is the only slave of Legrande and they have been together for many years. Also, Legrande lacks the company of other slave owners to influence him in his treatment of Jupiter.
As for the "grave chuckle" that Kevin mentioned, the oppressed learn to oppress and mimick the very actions of those who mistreat them.
Slavery had many faces and I am still undecided as to whether or not Poe was a racist, a apathetic southerner or a closet abolionist.
Very interesting post Raquel.I have to say that while I agree with you on several of the points you made, such as Poe's use of dialect in this story, Jupiter's use of the grave chuckle not being evidence of Poe being a racist, I do think this story is projecting the myth of the "happy darkie." Jupiter was a free man, and this story takes place in what we would call "down the river" South Carolina was not such a great place to be African American- free or otherwise. Jupiter is depicted as childlike as he calls Legrand "Massa" as a freeman, he would not have to do this- Then there is the monkey reference - a monkey is an animal not a man.Remember how he was able to climb that tree?
Like I said before, I don't think all of his stories project racism. I too, am not ready to call him a racist from this one story, but I can't forget that Poe was a southerner and a wigg- this story is for me at least - disturbing.
Audrey, I'm not sure of your references, however, Jupiter as a free man or not would still have to call white men "Massa". It was a term of respect and knowing ones place. Simply because he was free, would not and did not entitle him to equality in any means. Again, I have to reiterate that all slaves did not migrate north. That was the exception, not the rule. Those who escaped slavery, went north and as far as Canada. Also, remeber that Poe was from the south and his choices were also limited, he could choose to depict the treatment of peole of color in the way that he has so far or he could be a truly or overt racist writer, or an abolitionist. Living in the places that he did, and writing for the different periodicals would not have allowed him to be published if he were an abolitionist. The "happy darkie" is a little bit of both truth and myth. Slaves wanted their freedom and to be treated with dignity and respect, it did not mean that they were unhappy with where they lived or how they made a living. The could very well be unsatisfied with the conditons, but with freedom, they would be a ble to change this as well. For the record, ones political affilitation does not define the entire beliefs of a person and being from the south does not make a racist.
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