Blog Post #2 Topic 1.

Blog Post #2 

  

1.      Compare and contrast the influence (you might think of it as a power dynamic) of Southern whites in “A Rose for Emily” and that of Englishmen in “Shooting an Elephant,” USING THE TEXT to support a historical analysis  

  

The theme of white supremacy and racism is quite prevalent in both William Faulkner’s ‘A Rose for Emily’ and George Orwell’s ‘Shooting an Elephant’ although it is quite undervalued through the novels. ‘A rose for Emily’ is a southern gothic story that was published in nineteen-thirty that deals with the life of an old woman who has not left her house for a decade. Emily, the protagonist, comes from a respectable family located in a small fictional town called Jefferson, Mississippi. Due to the story taking place in a southern state right after the civil war, Faulkner uses diction and visual imagery to illustrate the state of racism at the time. On the other hand, ‘Shooting an Elephant’ is a narrative essay which follows a white police officer working in colonial Burma. The essay is presumably about Orwell and his experiences while he was working in Burma. The narrator explains to the readers that there is a segregation of race between the British and the Burmese and how the British are basically using Burma for resources and travel routes. Both texts offer distinctive views on the same theme of racial discrimination and prejudice despite having distinct settings.  

  

            ‘A Rose for Emily’ includes various elements of prejudice and racism that were seen as normal at the time. Faulkner makes the reader aware of the treatment of blacks and other minorities straight away by mentioning a law set forth by the mayor saying, “he who fathered the edict that no Negro woman should appear on the streets without an apron”. We see another instance of racism when the narrator describes some tax-collectors arriving at Emily’s house “They were admitted by the old Negro …The Negro led them into the parlor.”  We see the racial discrimination taking place so trivially in this southern town even post-civil-war. Black people were treated as subhuman being addressed as “the” or “it. Tobe, Emily’s slave, is stripped of his individuality and is seen as property by the whites. A similar situation was taking place in Burma in Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant”. Orwell seemingly tells the readers that he hates oppressing the Burmese and is on their side yet he himself mentions some subtle racist comments that might tell us that he in fact not as genuine as he tries to explain. “I served and my rage against the evil-spirited little beasts” says Orwell referring to the Burmese when he tries to justify why he doesn’t help them when they were oppressed. Moreover, the younger officers even go on to say, “an elephant was worth more than any damn Coringhee coolie" when Orwell tries to justify his reason for killing the elephant.  

  

            Although both texts show very different type of racism - Faulkner emphasizing on the subhuman treatment of black people and struggle for rights even after the civil war. Meanwhile, Orwell tries to mask his lust for power by “supporting” the Burmese. Both works utilize white supremacy to increase labor and other material resources.