Critique Of White Supremacy In The Known World

Edward P.Jones(1950-)is an outstanding figure of African American literature in the twentieth century.His first novel The Known World(2003)describes the unknown truth of the existence of black slave owners in the antebellum American South,and reveals the complexity and cruelty of the slavery system.Most critics pay their attention to the narrative strategy,identity construction and slavery of the novel and focus less on white supremacy in The Known World.Therefore,through a close reading of the text,the thesis makes a critique of white supremacy in the novel and reveals its harm and morbidity.The thesis consists of six parts.The introduction firstly gives a brief introduction to the author and his work.Secondly,it presents the literature review of the novel at home and abroad.Finally,it introduces relevant theories of white supremacy.As a racist ideology,white supremacy claims that white people are superior to people of other races and they should control social power and material resources.It emphasizes white domination and non-white subordination.The first chapter focuses on Clara and Robbins‘s emotional dilemmas.They are confronted with emotional dilemmas because they fail to reconcile their internalized white supremacy with their affection for African Americans.The two whites‘disparities in power and gender diversify their experience of white supremacy.As a white woman,Clara has to resist her true feeling toward Ralph to maintain her pure image and survive in the male-dominated white society.However,as the wealthiest slaveholder in Manchester County,Robbins does not worry about the exposure of his intimate relationship with Philomena because he is powerful enough to define the local law.His strong investment in white supremacy makes him self-centered and unaware of how to love other people truly,which constitutes his emotional dilemma.The second chapter explores Barnum and Skiffington‘s moral dilemmas.Barnum,an under-class white man,becomes morally anxious after he is forced to participate in selling free black Augustus illegally because his internalized white supremacy clashes with his upright moral principles.As for the sheriff Skiffington,he is accustomed to ignoring African Americans‘ humanity,which degenerates his comprehension of human complexity and moral consciousness.And eventually he is murdered by his cousin miserably.The third chapter interprets the corrupting influence of white supremacy on African Americans such as Henry,Caldonia,Fern and Moses.These characters willingly participate in the exploitation and domination of their fellow African Americans and manage to integrate into the white culture but they fail.They lose their black identity as well as love and support from the black people.The fourth chapter discusses African Americans‘ physical and mental torture under the circumstance of white supremacy.The first three sections argue that white supremacy imprisons the body of African American slaves by analyzing three African Americans‘ miserable experiences.Oden‘s ear is cut off after he fails to run away from the plantation.Moses and Bessie are traded like commodities in the market.And the free black Augustus is resold into the slavery.The other two sections propose that white supremacy enslaves the mind of African American slaves,which is shown by two African Americans‘ tragic stories.Toby and his sister are forced to separate from their mother and Victoria is forbidden to read.The conclusion summarizes various dilemmas caused by adherence to white supremacy among both white people and African American slaveholders in The Known World.The thesis argues that white supremacy is morbid and harmful,which distorts the emotion and moral consciousness of white adherents,corrupts African American slaveholders‘ view of identity and tortures African American slaves‘physical and mental health.Through portraying black slave owners in the antebellum American South,Jones exposes the complexity of white supremacy whose corrupting effect crosses the racial boundary between the black and white.The Known World,by reexamining the harm and morbidity of white supremacy profoundly and forcefully,enlightens the reflection on the race trouble in American society.