In a True Story, Repeated Word for Word As I Heard It, a multitude of contrasts are present between the characters. In particular, the difference between slave and master, union and confederate. Starting with slave and master. The depiction of their positions in the story, Mr. C above Aunt Rachael, can be a seen as a way of showing the class standings, one clearly above the other. The curious part of this relationship in contrast is the ability for Aunt Rachael to leave her acceptable social practices to actual move close and touch her master. This in turn can be seen as a contrast of the social norm with that of a more equal existence. Aunt Rachael is still a slave, but afforded more freedom, in truth probably because of her personality and life experiences, but still a contrast no the less.
Another contrast, easier to see in some ways, is the difference between the two sides of the civil war. Other sources term southern men with a southern gentleman behavior, but this paints a very different picture. The Union soldiers are the gentlemen in the story. Now another question I have is, how much of a contrast is this story to the real time period?
Those are good questions, Kristen, and the context issue could be a paper topic, if you wanted to look into it (as is the idea about contrasts). Aunt Rachel isn't a slave at this point (1874), but she's been a free woman for less than a decade, so the memory of slavery is still very present for her, as it would probably always be.
ReplyDeleteThe clearly different dialects also serves as a perfect point of contrast. I accidently read this story out loud which makes this contrast even more apparent haha
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