Thursday, July 23, 2009
Brothers
I am not completely sure why Cable portrays the brothers the way he does. Jean's personality of a bold adventurer starkly contrasts that of his book loving younger brother. On top of their differences in personalities comes their difference in age, as Jean has thirty years over Jacques. Having the two brothers be so different from one another allows for a perfect set up to this mysterious story. The entire time I read it I thought that Jean had actually killed his younger brother or some sort of foul play had taken place, but to find that Jacques was actually infected with leprosy and had been hidden away by his brother all those years was a nice twist at the end. It showed off the ignorance of the townspeople and had several moral messages throughout, such as the effects of spreading rumors. Overall, I enjoyed the story a lot, but it left me confused in certain aspects - like what could the mute African slave have been symbolic of?
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Joe,
ReplyDeleteI thought the same thing for the most part! Due to the way the story was written, I felt like maybe Jean had killed his younger brother or something had happened to him on their trip together. It seemed like Jean was trying to cover up his misdeed by describing his brother in such a wonderful manner, even though he had been gone for seven years. I do feel like maybe Jean and Jacques could have possibly been doubles or a doppelganger? I'm not really sure..or they could have been symbolic to a personality split in White, who plays the strong tough guy, but shows his weak side when he is eventually ignored and out run by the mob. I also thought the story had a lot of moral messages and showed the ignorance of assumption. I'm also not quite sure why the African slave was important to the story and it's plot and was wondering why they kept referring to him as the mute African slave? Maybe it was because Jean purposely only kept a mute slave in order to keep the secret of his brother and his disease?
Now, when I think about the relationship between Jean and Jacques I see it more as a Father-Son relationship. The age difference is so severe that Jean really could be his father. Jean is always bragging about Jacques just like a proud father would do. Also, Jean takes care of Jacques when he becomes a leper. But, when I was reading the story I had a similar train of thought as you. I also thought that Jean had murdered his brother and it was an interesting surprise when I found out that Jacques was being cared for by his brother, especially after the way Jean had been portrayed.
ReplyDeleteIt is uncertain what Cable really wanted to accomplish with the insertion of a mute African slave into his short story; however, cable being the civil rights sympathizer could have placed a mute black only to show how society held a deaf ear to blacks making their words mute to society and also cable could be trying to say society only at the time portrays blacks as having nothing good to say but their only good for chores or service.
ReplyDeleteGood point Shea. I agree that the african mute could symbolize how society held a deaf ear to african americans at the time. Joe, I also thought that he had killed his brother and that he was a ghost throughout the story. It was quite surprising when the author revealed that he had been infected with leprosy.
ReplyDeleteI noticed you mentioned the ignorance of the towns people and how rumors were being spread. This was the part of the story where I got a little frustrated. I was wondering why the older brother didnt just tell the towns people that his younger brother was alive but sick.
ReplyDeleteI think that the mute represented his lack of voice in the building of the roads and the goings on of teh town and the inability to stop the lies circulation about him.
ReplyDeleteGreat blog post and comments by the class. I hadn't really thought, myself, about the mute, but perhaps he represents the lack of voice in African Americans. I know that he wanted to portray the penalities of sin resulting from buying and selling slaves, so he was conscious of the A/A plight. Good job.
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