Race and Gender Oppression in the Old South

Kayley Bitzer wrote:

The old South could be described as a time of happiness, success and hospitality it had the look of greatness too: large white houses with big yards and happy families, literate people and an established economy that was based on cotton. Looks can be deceiving though; the old South was actually a time and place of hatred. Slaves and the KKK are prime examples of this hatred. Slaves were present during most of the existence of the old South; they did industrial and agricultural work. Slave owners demoralized their slaves; they had no rights what so ever, the women were forced into having sexual relations with their masters on a regular basis, and many mulatto babies were born due to this. Resistance to the sexual advances from the master ended up in beatings. The KKK, often known as a “hate group,” was another group of people who discriminated against black people: they advocated white supremacy and nationalism. The first group originated in the early 1860’s and had 550,000 members, this “first clan” ended in the late 1870’s. Their costumes were iconic: all white robes, masks and a conical hat. Their activities included hanging or lynching of Negros, preaching about racism, anti-Catholicism, burning of the cross, burning black people’s houses and attacking them then leaving their dead bodies on the streets. Sometimes the KKK claimed to be ghosts of the Confederate soldiers to scare superstitious Negros. In some states, members of the KKK were politicians and often the KKK was used as a political force,(www.wikipedia.org). Even the women of the old South seemed to live the life of a slave also. The role of women confined by patriarchal society; even as a child a woman needed to follow the rules of her father. They must go to school every day, although the fathers cared about the sons’ education more than he cared about the daughters’. Young southern belles were supposed to be well educated in manners and etiquette: their goal in life was to find an acceptable suitor that would take care of them after it was no longer the father’s duty. Who a woman chose to marry signified who she was in society; it also has a reflection on her father and who he is in society. Once a woman was married, the husband controlled every part of her life; she was just a piece of furniture, basically, who was meant to reproduce so the man could carry on his name through an heir. Men ruled over the women just to make sure that their name in society was not frowned upon due to a woman’s actions (www.mgagnon.myweb.uga.edu).

O Brother, Where Art Thou? is a movie that takes place in the old South and portrays the trials and tribulations that took place during this time. The first scene in the movie shows a black chain gang breaking up big rocks into little rocks used to pave the railroad, and then it shows three of the men from the chain gang escaping and running through the fields to get away. After these three men escape safely, we see they are the three main characters of the movie, Ulysses, Delmar and Pete. These three men find ways to become “brothers” with black men. They receive their prophecy from a black man, they help save Tommy and they have served time in jail just like a black man. The Grand Wizard of the KKK is running in the election for governor of Mississippi. This shows that some white men obviously have no respect for the blacks just like the slave owners in the old South. Everything is connected to hatred some way or another. Ulysses has no status in society, Penny his wife has decided to divorce him and marry a man who is “bona fide” so he can take care of her and her children. Although in the end she chooses Ulysses over the “bona fide” man, love makes her decision for her.

Homer’s Odyssey and O Brother, Where Art Thou? have many similarities such as ancient Greece appeared to be a paradise when it really was not. The old South appeared to be pleasant, but it was full of hate. Everyone from the slaves in the old South to Ulysses and Odysseus all have a common goal: getting back home to their families. Odysseus is held captive by Kalypso and Kirke just like a slave, but he outsmarts them, kind of like how Ulysses, Delmar and Pete outsmart the KKK to save Tommy. Penny and Penelope both ultimately stay true to their husbands while they are gone on their journeys. Women in the old South had no choice but to stay true to their husbands because they controlled every move they made.