Thursday, October 16, 2008
Colors
Colors obviously play a major role in people's perception of Frado. She is treated as a slave just because of the color of her skin. So I really liked the symbolism in the scene with James' burial. People were whispering about Frado and how she was not dressed appropriately. She mourned no less than anyone else at the burial and had no less right to be there, but the others failed to see that because of the color of her ribbon. This time, though, she ignored the remarks because "she had a sorrow with which such were small in comparison" (Wilson, 55). She realized that there are things much more important than people's opinions, and that nobody had the right to tell her anything just because they didn't like the color she was wearing.
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2 comments:
I think the color issue is very telling of the times as well. The "white heart in a black man" issue with Frado's father was particularly disruptive. Knowing how skewed the 1800s culture was towards color, it is no wonder that she wears what she wants, when she wants to.
If we really think about it, the term Black and White to distinguish race is misleading. African Americans are not black, like the real black night sky. Similarly, White people are not white, like milk. There are Blacks who are lighter in skin color than some Whites, and there are Whites darker than some Blacks. Even in our everyday language, we can see how people categorize themselves in terms of color, while the reality is different.
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