Boucicault's The Octoroon represents a departure from the texts we've been reading in two ways.
First, it's a different genre. In your response, please take into account the question of how race is represented on stage---that is, both how race is visualized and how it is performed (in the sense of manifested, constructed, and created on stage).
Second, as opposed to the selections we looked at last week, which seemed to echo Curtis's argument about the simianization of the Irish, I'd like your response to how Boucicault represents Irishness here. Specifically, think about how situating the 'irishman' not only in a 19th century U.S. Southern plantation but also among a variety of racial others (native americans, African Americans etc...). Perhaps more important, how does Zoe's racial identity affect how we read Irishness or even race itself in the play?
Feel free to address other issues, but I just wanted you to think about these for the post and for class.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
10 comments:
The Octoroon poses three different topics of discussion concerning race visualized, race performed, and Irishness represented in the play. The 1st act provides a vivid lingual representation of Pete’s views on race when he laments, “It’s that black trash, Mas’r George; dis’ere property wants claring---dem’s too numerous round; when I gets time, I’ll kill some on’em sure!” (135) Simply using the phrase “black trash” in the 1st act of the play sets up the idea that there are issues of racial prejudice that outline the tone of the entire play. He then goes on to imply that African American’s were incapable of being born in Terrebonne (or even at all) hypothesizing that one day they “swarmed on a sassafras tree in de swamp, and I cotched ‘em all in a sieve---dat’s how dey come on top of dis yearth—git out—you—ya, ya!” (135). When M’Closky enters in later on he is introduced as the Irish “other” to inform Mrs. Peyton that the plantation will be sold. George refers to him as a “vulgar ruffian” which incorporates the concept of race performed. Race visualized is constructed in the scene when Mrs. Peyton offers him to sit at their table and not so much “break bread” with him, but offer a hungry man a meal to sustain himself. She says that “hospitality in Europe is a courtesy; here, it is an obligation. We tender food to a stranger, not because he is a gentleman, but because he is hungry”(139). Later on a dichotomy of conflicting pasts is introduced between Mrs. Peyton and M’Closky when she cries, “oh, sir, perhaps you should be as old as I am to feel as I do when my past life is torn away from me.” Of which, M’closky replies, “I’d be darned glad if somebody would tear my past life away from me”(141). Irishness here is contrasted as an “other” that is not an attribute that anyone would purposely seek out. Lastly, throughout the play, we as readers view Zoe as an octoroon, who is 1/8 black, whose racial identity affects the way we view her. There are so many restrictions on the life of Zoe which make a “normal” life which George impossible. I found this very Romeo and Juliet-esque in that she poisoned herself in the end just when George has made everything right. Perhaps this is made into such a tragedy to underscore the fact that there will always be “otherness” in society and the world and that there can never be a collective catharsis of the people undergoing the strain of racial prejudice, only a tragic catharsis of those witnessing the tragedy.
What I see from The Octoroon is the question we've been addressing in class. Why is the Irish seen as the other when they do not look different? Do they look like simians-no. Why are the cartoons drawn to look like that? It's an obvious question, but why is Zoe treated as black when she does not look like it? I understand that things were different in the 1800s, so it is not like I was shocked, but I see the relation with the Irish question. It is not about what you look like, it is about where you come from and who you are. Because an Irishman wrote this...I say he wanted an audience to see parallels between this and how the English treated the Irish. That is interesting because he took it completely out of context. He made it about slavery and African Americans, and the U.S. But to me it is a very good "analogy", if you will. I do not have much to say, or anything scholarly, but I will say that I do not understand it all so well. I see the relation and the principle of it makes me upset. All I can ask is WHY and I don't even know how to answer.
Every non-white is this play was treated with disrespect. While M'Closky is viewed as a rough ruffian Irish, George talks about the little black children like they are swamp creatures that crawled out of the earth and are plaguing the house. Poor Zoe can't even marry the man she loves because she is 1/8th black and he is white so it's against the law for them to marry. They incorporate her into their family and don't even really make it an issue that she is partially black, but she is technically the daughter of a slave and the Judge. Once the house gets put up for sale, she gets put on the block and sold as one of the slaves to M'Closky. M'Closky tries to pin the murder of Paul of the "red-skinned" Wahnotee, because he is finally not the savage among these people, so he revels in the fact that he can buy Zoe and make her his wife.
I actually felt that racism in "The Octoroon" pales in comparison to many works I have read about plantation life. Racial prejudice was blatant throughout the play, but for the most part the whites and the blacks wanted only to save each other. I read Pete's remarks about the slave children almost as endearing, like me calling my little brother a stupid head. He obviously loved them like they were his family. Mrs. Peyton was also willing to sacrifice whatever she could merely to save them from being sold. The one prejudice that was extreme was against the Irishman, McClosky, he was made to look like a heartless, savage, and lustful foriegner with complete disregard for humanity. The Indian was also stereotyped as a wild drunk, but even he maintained some virtue. I think the author was showing that race becomes a pretty small issue when it is up against love, loyalty, respect for life, family, and the home.
The Octoroon does a number of things, in regards to representations of race.
Boucicault does not shy away from identifying race and the reader is immediately made aware of non-white a character's race based on his/her being named as such or by their job descriptions. This is how race is constructed in the play. However, despite this obvious dichotomy between black and white, there is a feeling of, if not equality, than some sort of comfort found by each race in the other. However, this does not embrace the possibility of the Irishman M'Closky becoming one of either race- he does not fit in with the rich white planters, which he acknowledges when he says, "Just because my grandfather wasn't some
broken-down Virginia transplant or a stingy old Creole, I ain't fit to sit down to the same meat with them". Nor does he fit in with the black people, in part because he looks down on them but also because they do not want him- this is also made obvious when Zoe refuses to marry him and he points out that the same proposal would be welcomed from George Peyton.
This isolation, combined with M'Closky's own malicious acts serves to lower him even below the level of the black people in the story, the traditional bottom of the totem pole for the South. No one in the play likes him.
What's also interesting is that the stereotypical prejudices, as well as other less than flattering character traits are introduced in reference to each character's race, but though these are disparaging, they aren't overly so. Rather, they seem to set up a contrast to M'Closky- as bad as the other races can be, it is the Irishman who is the villain of the story.
The Octaroon represents a certain genre of racial discourse. The play itself brings up the question of what is race but also inter-racial relations.
Zoe is the product of an inter-racial relationship; who then becomes involved in one herself. But, Zoe is only 1/8 black and it is this "one drop" of black blood that overshadows all other attributes. In relation to "Irishness" I see this story being comparable to English fears of the Irish intertwining themselves with the English. One drop of "Irish" blood could make you seem wild and unenlightened.
This concept of a tainted union seems in the past now. You would find it hard to find anyone today who is purely anything; yet at the same time the overly obvious couplings are still taboo.
Boucicault’s The Octaroon, a play in five acts, creates race through verbal descriptions that occur in conversation between characters. For example, of the races involved and explicitly stated on the cast page—M’Closky, Yellow Boy, Indian Chief, Octoroon Girl—the dialogue used allows for connotations to be added to color. In these examples, (1) M’Closky is described by Judge Schudder with color imagery when Schudder says, “I always said you were the darndest thief that ever escaped a white jail…” (143). This points at both M’Closky’s white coloring and adds to the characterization of this Irishman as a thief and a former criminal. Also (2) “Darn his yellow skin,” the description given to Paul by M’Closky, shows the physical characteristic of Paul as a result of being the son of the late judge and a slave woman (148). M’Closky places a derogatory spin on his description of Paul, but in context of this story that negativity does not imply much coming from M’Closky. In fact, earlier in the story the judge’s wife said she could never imagine Paul working (in response to Sunnyside—whose name alone implies white skin due to dark v light imagery—who comments on “that young cub,” which implies sub-human characteristics (139)), and George asks Paul if he will hunt with him. These two examples show Paul’s skin color does not affect their relationships. Additionally (3) the Indian Chief Wahnotee is referenced by M’Closky when he says, “Darn you, red-skin” and by Sunnyside who uses a nationality to describe him, “That Indian” (139). These instances show Wahnotee as separate from the white person. However, he is in a close relationship with Paul, which implies little to no otherness occurs between Indians and slaves. Most importantly (4) Zoe is the octoroon girl. The men call her many things to refer to her physical characteristics. Wahnotee calls Zoe “Ninemoosha, the sweetheart”—and correct me if I’m wrong, but who was ever called a sweet-heart who does not have a pleasant expression on her face? (140) M’Closky, perhaps with more derogatory tone claims, “That one drop of black blood burns in her veins, and lights up her heart like a foggy sun” (148) . This shows both the limit and the extreme of Zoe’s coloring: she is limited to one drop of black in her otherwise light complexion, but this results in a cloudiness in her heart preventing her from being a full brightness, as M’Closky pictures.
Regarding Irishness in the descriptions above, I’d like to take each character and tone that person down to the Irish, as though each character in some way represented the distance the English placed on the Irish during the 19th century. M’Closky, Yellow Boy, Indian Chief, and the Octoroon Girl all in some way are presented as “other” from the general cast of characters. M’Closky clearly is actually Irish and referred to negatively by the other white planters. However, this is not completely unfounded, as he does kill Paul and he ignores man-law by pursuing Zoe through greedy purchasing. Additionally, Paul, while arguably an “other” due to his skin color and his surface and legal classification as a slave, actually is kin to the white family. Does this say anything about the English’s relationship to the Irish? How many were really related? Was the end of The Wild Irish Girl something to be expected but overshadowed by popular culture of the time? Also the Indian Chief, who proves to be a very intelligent character though perceived by those around him as a brute due to the fact that he does not speak clear English nor does he have white skin, may resemble the Irish in the surface view compared to the human that actually exists. Finally, the Octaroon Girl (who would agree for Halle Barry to play this role in a modern production?) could resemble the English mental distance from the Irish under the idea that Zoe has most characteristics the whites have, but she is nominally different. In this way, the Irish and the English look extremely similar, but they are different because they say they are. Zoe’s sweet tendency shows, like the Indian, that she does have human essence to her and cannot be viewed as a slave to be traded and sold.
In The Octoroon, we once again see the impact of Irish stereotypes. The villainous McClosky is the picture of a murderous, lustful, wealthy in a way where the money is used only for his immoral gain. McClosky he kills Paul, he tries to set the steamboat with the slaves on fire. He is in every way detestable. I just find it very interesting that in a play with such emphasis on race, that an Irish character is the lowest regarded character. I really identified with Zoe on some level because my family has been in Louisiana for centuries and the history of our family is built around plantations, plantation owners, and mixed marriages. I have been called an octoroon because Louisiana is still so connected with its slave and plantation history. When I heard the title of the play. it immediately registered to me and I knew what to expect. I understand what it is like to be seen as a different race that I am and experience peoples reactions when I talk about my race or family history. I was just really intrigued by the entire play. The black characters were represented with affected speach and using racial colloquialism. However, the were in a way vindicated and seen in a almost respected way in the play's community. It is the same Irish prejudice that is presented as the driving force of evil.
The Louisiana environment proves to be an interesting and odd setting for this play, but I find it works for the author’s intended message. The Irishman is far below all other characters on the social totem pole. M’Closky’s whiteness, in fact, does anything but help him in his situation. As the judge points out, M’Closky is the “darndest thief that ever escaped a white jail” (143).
His Irishness places him into a completely different category besides white and black; more importantly, this third category is below white and black. It is possible to see that his whiteness does not really matter, and it is his ethnicity/nationality alone that affects how he is viewed.
Post a Comment