ipl-logo

Contro Tocqueville's 'Virginian Luxuries'

525 Words3 Pages

The “Virginian Luxuries” painting illustrates two types of power relationships. On the right side of the painting, a well-dressed man, a white master or the slave owner has his arm raised with a whip and is about to whip the black male slave on his bare back. The relationship of a master and his slave is portrayed as one of physical violence. On the left, the white master appears to put his arms around the black female, about to kiss the woman while looking into her eyes. This relationship is portrayed as one of sexual violence, because during that time, miscegenation was prohibited. Therefore relationships like these could only be reinforced by the master. However the female does not show any resistance to the man’s actions. This could be because her desired the white man or wanted acceptance from him. Both slaves appear docile and powerless. In both portrayals, the white man or master exerts …show more content…

He used their physical characteristics to reflect their positions in society. He mentioned that power can be perceived based on appearance. “At first glance” the white attracts attention. His superior power and intelligence is almost godlike; compared to the Negro and the Indian who occupy inferior positions. The Negro has no memories and had forgotten his religion and culture. He only knows slavery and does not know what it means to be free. He has been told from birth that he is inferior to the European. He has been reduced to less than a human by his European master, reflecting on a servant-master relationship, where the master subjects the slave and exercises supremacy. Even though the American Indian is on the same level as the Negro, they refused to submit to the tyranny of the white man. However the power exerted on them by the white man has made them more savage like than they were. But he is proud and does not submit his will to the white

Show More
Related

  • Wounded Knee Massacre Research Paper

    543 Words  | 3 Pages

    They truly wanted justice in the United States and most of the time, they were shot down. However, with this belief that the white men could soon be gone, they would do basically anything to get that. After the all, the white men were the ones holding the Indians back. In conclusion, this article has taught me that you can believe in something that may not be realistic. The Indians thought it was reasonable, but of course looking at it now from my point of view, I know that it was not.

    Read More

  • William Tecumseh Sherman Run Them Down Starve Them Out Questions And Answers

    156 Words  | 1 Pages

    The white society treated the Indians as if they were not equal to them. They were trained and were servants for the whites. The White's gave them a place to stay but for a cost of labor. The Indians were made to feel like a lesser

    Read More

  • How Did Frederick Douglass Separate In Their Work Enviroment

    1659 Words  | 7 Pages

    Many colored individuals were forced into slavery and each and everyone of the slaves had a different experience with their master. The slaves were treated as if they were nothing, a piece of property that the white people owned. They were not allowed to learn how to read or write; only needed to know how to do their chores and understand what their master was saying. They were just an extra hand in the house that had no say or existed in the white people world. The slaves’ job was to obey their master or mistress at all times, do their chores and take the beating if given one.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Staples And Just Walk On By Frederick Douglass

    95 Words  | 1 Pages

    Every individual is born with a specific culture and color. Respecting each and every person is society’s duty. Society fails in doing so by treating each individual based on their color. Society has two ways to see a person and that is black and white. Whites are given the higher position and well treatment whereas blacks are treated in an opposite way than whites.

    Read More

  • Harriet Jacobs Research Paper

    649 Words  | 3 Pages

    " The author tells how sad is the life of a slave girl and how, as soon as she is old enough, and against her will, she would learn about the malice of the world. Meanwhile, male slaves rarely suffered from such abuse, and different from women, slavery mostly affected their manliness. As Douglas says while describing one of the oversees: "It was enough to chill the blood and stiffen the hair of an ordinary man to hear him talk. " By saying so, he proved how, at a very patriarchal time, male slaves completely lost the bravery and "superiority" often used to describe white men.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Ohiyesa's The Soul Of The Indian

    1221 Words  | 5 Pages

    Ohiyesa’s The Soul of the Indian gives a nostalgic critique on the encroachment of white civilization on the Native American culture, citing the parallelisms the two societies share and explaining the reasoning behind Native American rituals. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass gives a glimpse into the life of a slave, comparing the life of the free and the enslaved, and giving reason to the actions of the slave and slave master. Throughout each book, it becomes apparent that each has a common trait: the white population’s use of religion as a means for their cruelty. To clarify, religion is used as a justification for their respective instances of oppression, both the purge of Native Americans and Native American culture for Ohiyesa, and slavery for Douglass. Although they experience different systems of oppression, Douglass and Ohiyesa see how the corruption of religion can be used by the white majority to assert themselves as masters to their respective peoples.

    Read More

  • Phillis Wheatley Thesis

    2649 Words  | 11 Pages

    This gives the reader a first hand look into what it was like to be an African American during the Revolutionary era. These people were viewed as a lesser race only because of the color of their skin, or as Wheatley states, the speaker’s “diabolic

    Read More

  • Examples Of Injustice From Birmingham Jail

    114 Words  | 1 Pages

    The Negroes were in constant suffering under the racist claws of whites who saw them as their prey. The black community suffered physical violence that made more than just their bodies hurt, violence so painful that made their hearts ache knowing that they were attacked for no other reason than their race. But even those vicious attacks seemed minor compared to the injustice that the blacks suffered. They were guilty of wanting justice so they were sentenced to misery and were tortured. Tortures by those who thought that their color made them unworthy of respect or fair treatment.

    Read More

  • The Forgotten Experience Summary

    911 Words  | 4 Pages

    Gary Nash, the author of the book, The Forgotten Experience, talks about the arbitrary lifestyle Native Americans and African American faced during the American Revolution, which occurred on April 19, 1775. Many Native American tribes in the east of the Mississippi joined the colonist to fight the war at the “home front” against the British. However, some of the Native Americans took advantage and fought against the colonists by themselves. On the other hand, African American fought the Revolution for freedom. They wanted to escape from being slaves and have equal rights as whites.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Sitting Bull's Speech

    658 Words  | 3 Pages

    He goes on to show how different white men and Native Americans are; by how they collect food by hunting, where they choose to live is not in the same place for long periods, and although white men have everything they did not have the right to take away liberty.

    Read More

  • Whiteness As Property Analysis

    715 Words  | 3 Pages

    Since the time of colonialism, Blacks and Indigenous peoples fell under the totalitarian ruling of colonists who have obviously favored their own race over others in order to expand their political, territorial and economic powers. As a result, the non-whites (notably the Blacks and Indians) were unjustly segregated and classified as inferior to the

    Read More

  • Prejudice And Discrimination In A Different Mirror By Ronald Takaki

    1236 Words  | 5 Pages

    The main difference that we see between both racial ethnic groups is that white Americans believed that they could strip Native Americans from their culture and civilize them while “nurture could not improve the nature of blacks” (67). Although some Native Americans did try to live under the laws of white Americans, they were eventually betrayed and forced to leave the

    Read More

  • Abject In Patience Agbabi's About Face

    1329 Words  | 6 Pages

    Also, the fact that the lyrical I craves the gaze of Actaeon, represents the way the black maiden actually is not seen as a full person, she is just a maiden, a slave of the white and fair goddess. Regarding to dynamics of power and gender, white men, as mentioned before, have the most power and therefore are dominant, followed by white women. This issue is also indicated by the craving and want of Actaeon’s validation, therefore a black woman remains unseen, just as a

    Read More

  • Race And Social Class In William Faulkner's A Rose For Emily

    1078 Words  | 5 Pages

    The racial division in this story between black and white people which stemmed from the master-slave relationship

    Read More

  • Social Stratification In The Movie The Help

    610 Words  | 3 Pages

    Black women are treated less than because of their ascribed traits, their gender and race, and are often dehumanized and belittled throughout the movie. They are treated like slaves and are seen as easily disposable. There are several moments throughout the film that show the racial, gender, and class inequalities. These moments also show exploitation and opportunity hoarding. The Help also explains historical context of the inequality that occurred during that time period.

    Read More

More about Contro Tocqueville's 'Virginian Luxuries'

Open Document