Literary Analysis : Virginian Luxuries

Woody Holton. Forced Founders: Indians, Debtors, Slaves and the Making of the American Revolution in Virginia. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1999.

People are judged through their actions and characteristics, but racism can easily blur a person’s perspective. In Almost Free: A Story About Family and Race in Antebellum Virginia, Samuel Johnson, a former slave, fights for his freedom with the help of influential white friends he made throughout his life. Eventually he buys his freedom and petitions the court to stay in Virginia, where his family resides. Even after emancipated, he works hard to free his family and petitions the court in their cause. Despite his relationships, family values, and law abiding, Samuel Johnson’s skin color ultimately acts as boundary in his Virginia society.

This is proof that this terrible act was very typical within slaveholding societies. Now, just because this relationship seems usual in the south, it does not mean everyone condoned it. The wives of many slave owners proved they were not okay with a white male and a black female relationship by the way they acted with “anger and resentment” towards other slaves (McLaurin, 26). Wives chose to ignore this behavior simply because if they didn’t, not only would their lives be in danger, but so would their children’s.

The slave owner’s exploitation of the black woman’s sexuality was one of the most significant factors differentiating the experience of slavery for males and females. The white man’s claim to the slave body, male as well as female, was inherent in the concept of the Slave Trade and was tangibly realized perhaps no where more than the auction block. Captive Africans were stripped of their clothing, oiled down, and poked and prodded by potential buyers. The erotic undertones of such scenes were particularly pronounced in the case of black women. Throughout the period of slavery in America, white society believed black women to be innately lustful beings. The perception of the African woman as hyper-sexual made her both the object of white man’s abhorrence and his fantasy. Within the bonds of slavery, masters often felt it was their right to engage in sexual activity with black women. Sometimes, female slaves made advances hoping that such relationships would increase the chances that they or their children would be liberated by the master. Most of the time, slave owners took slaves by force.

The slave is compositionally arranged in front of the Mistress in a predominant position, however as noted in our text this week, most of the slaves placed in the foreground of a painting in this era were done so in humor, to tease or to make them look immature (Pohl 278). As the title suggests, this slave has been dressed up by her Mistress in her Mistress’s clothing as a way for the Mistress to make fun of the slave, teasing her with a taste of wealth and upper class. Cany Peale’s previous career in fancy-goods gave her the understanding of what was in fashion

Relationships of power that featured in “Virginian Luxuries” (Document 1) include the relation between white power and African American slaves. On the left side of the portrait, their seems to be a white male kissing an enslave women, which is very ironic during this time period. On the left side of the portrait, it seems to be a white slave

The novel, “The Queen of Water” is comparable to the other two pieces of literature because Virginia, the main character, had to make many choices such as attending school. In order to attend school, she had to flee from her bosses. “Eventually the banging stops. Niño Carlitos curses and stumbles down the metal stairs. I take a deep breath and open the door a crack, peering out. All clear. Now’s my chance. I run across the dark terrace, climb over the wall, and head toward the neighbor’s glass doors.”(pg.200). In this quote, Virginia escaped from being sexually abused. She had to leave the house immediately, so she went over to her neighbor’s residence. If she had not made this decision, then she would have gotten raped by Niño Carlitos. She wanted to escape all the abuse forever, so she made the decision of going back home. “The Doctorita is lying on the sofa. Her belly is still swollen from childbirth and her hair disheveled and her face weary without makeup. ‘Well? What took you so long?’ She doesn’t even acknowledge my family, just gives me a sour look. ’I'm leaving with my parents. Forever.’”(pg.244). Virginia’s choice to leave forever meant that she would not have to get hurt again and she can live with her parents after eight years. There were points where Virginia wanted to stay with the Doctorita because she assured her an education and a house. Virginia forgot how to speak her family’s language, and because of that, she decides to live somewhere else. ”After school, I walk straight into the hotel, pausing only to talk with Don Lucho. Before I lose my nerve, I find Don Walter. He’s sitting in a blue velvet chair in the lobby, going over an accounting notebook. He greets me warmly, as always, and when he sees my face so hopeful and nervous, he asks ‘What can I do for you, Virginia?’ I take a deep breath. ‘Don Walter, is there a little space in this hotel where I can sleep for the night?’”(pg.278). Virginia's dad did not support her education. He preferred for her to work on the field. “Papito gives me a doubtful look. ‘I don’t see why you have to go to school.’ ‘It’s my dream Papi,’ I say firmly.”(pg.248). Virginia wanted to leave the negativity, so she got a job and decided to sleep somewhere else.

The painting is about nine black students who tried to enter one of the most highly accomplished and prestigious school in Arkansas, Little Rock High School on September 23, 1997. As these students were entering the school they got assaulted with stones, rocks and rubbish by the whites. As you can see on the painting Domingo tried to capture as much of the horror on the canvas that those black

The Virginian Luxuries shown a relationships between slaves and their master. This illustrates the power in gender and race that a whites males had over African American women and man. The left of the picture have a wealthy plantation owner who used his female’s slaves as a temporary companion for his sexual pleasures, and if there is any resistance physical beating usually

In the 18th centuries, when slavery expanded to the Virginia colony, variety of tasks put enslaved Afro-Americans’ labor into white-supportive management. According to ‘Virginia Slaves’ Winter Tasks, 1786-1787’, regardless of their sex, all slaves might work over to help plantation farming through threshing wheat and rye, framing barn, filling gullies for farming, cutting firewood, and digging ditches, etc. Those were all winter tasks commanded by landowners. Though the slave’s tasks were that tough, even one mistake happened with them, caused a painful punishment. Back to the diary, it shows the story of a slave named ‘Eugene’, who got whipped by his owner because of his bedwetting. The diary describes the details that how owners abusively had slaves put the bit on, keeping him to silence. What is worse, William forced him to drink his urine as penalty. However, slaves had to tend stable. That was the command from landowners, too. Because slaves had no right to protest, even if they die from “moderate correction”, the master was not prosecuted by the state government since it was legal. It was so

White explores the master’s sexual exploitation of their female slaves, and proves this method of oppression to be the defining factor of what sets the female slaves apart from their male counterparts. Citing former slaves White writes, “Christopher Nichols, an escaped slave living in Canada, remembered how his master laid a woman on a bench, threw her clothes over her head, and whipped her. The whipping of a thirteen-year-old Georgia slave girl also had sexual overtones. The girl was put on all fours ‘sometimes her head down, and sometimes up’ and beaten until froth ran from her mouth (33).” The girl’s forced bodily position as well as her total helplessness to stop her master’s torture blatantly reveals the forced sexual trauma many African females endured.

The seventeenth century marked the start of great colonization and immigration to the New World that was North America. Mainly in on the eastern coast of what is now the United States, England established colonies on this new land to thrive socially and economically. The English government readily sent its citizens to America to exploit its abundant source of raw materials and the English people exponentially came to the colonies to start a new life for themselves and to thrive socially. In Virginia during the seventeenth century, the geographical attributes in this region allowed the establishment of the cash crop tobacco to rapidly transform the colony socially and economically. Particularly in the Chesapeake Bay, the goal of social and

In William Blake’s print “Europe Supported by Africa and Europe,” Blake depicts Europe as a white woman with Africa, a black woman, holding her up. Though Africa’s expression seems almost tender, it does not change the fact that she has a gold band around her arm, showing her enslavement like a ball and chain. Though Europe relied heavily on Africa and America, mainly for economic reasons, European treatment of slaves and Native Americans was appalling. Even before slaves were made to do hard labor, the trip to the New World was dreadful. Slaves were crowded together in the bottom of a ship, only fed soaked corn and anybody who rebelled was thrown overboard. However, life for those who survived the trip was worse. In The Life of Olaudah Equiano, Equiano, a former slave, talks about a man who “had sold 41,000 negroes, and he once cut off a negroman’s leg for running away.” Slaves were regarded as pieces of property and nothing more than that. They suffered much abuse at the hands of their masters, mostly physical, such as “[being] beaten till some of [their] bones were broken.” In The Biography of Mahommah Gardo Baquaqua, Baquaqua was “whipped… most unmercifully, and beat… about the head and face with a heacy stick, then shook… by the neck, and [had his] head struck against the door’s posts.” Slave owners did not hesitate to beat their slaves without mercy. It is not

My favorite part of the painting could possibly be a fluke. The canvas is textured using the technique called impasto. The interesting part of the canvas is where there are distinct lines running through the painting. These lines are predominately on the people in the painting and especially on the shirtless man that is unable to walk without help. I feel that these raised lines signify the whippings that the slaves received. Seeing these raised lines on the shirtless man, who was also injured, hurt my stomach. It was a compelling piece to the story. I would be very interest to know if these raised lines were supposed to be part of the story or if they were from the painting

The painting illustrates the artist’s rendering of what happened to Chief Wi-jún-jon when integrated into the white culture following a trip to Washington, DC in 1832. On this returning side you see no Indian heritage, it has been destroyed by civilization. The painting is a great view through the artist’s eyes and mind as to how he felt about the change which occurred with the Chief during his time. George Catlin truly honored and respected the Indians that he captured so elegantly in his paintings and I believe he felt saddened when Chief Wi-jún-jon returned to his native people looking and acting liking a white person.