Upon entering into marriage, females are
expected to change their role and identity. They are immediately expected to
transform from girl to wife and mother. Traditionally, husbands pass down a
family name, while the wife replaces her last lame with his, showing that the
man truly possesses his wife. In history this has not only been a case of
changing names, but relates to a larger issue of women being viewed as
property. In contrast to the role of women in marriage, men are expected to
keep their identity. One way this is shown is through maintaining the family
name.
Without a strong sense of identity a man is
stripped of his masculine role in society’s eyes. If he does not have roots to
hold down the family tree, how can he expect to support its branches? In this
story, Sandy questions the strength of his identity as both a man and a human
being by transforming himself to a plant. Sandy felt so rootless in his
role of a husband that he became a tree.
After being shipped around to different family members and losing his wife, Sandy dreamed of a life of stability. Sandy expresses his frustrations through his quote:
“…en hit’s Sandy dis en Sandy dat, en Sandy yer en Sandy dere, tel it ‘pears ter me I ain’ got no home, ner no marster, ner mistiss, ner no nuffin. I can’t eben keep a wife: my yuther ole ‘oman wuz sol’ away widout my gittin; chance fer ter tell her good by; en now I got ter go off en leab you, Tenie, en I dunno whe’r I’m eber gwine er see you ag’in er no. I wisht I wuz a ree, er a stump, er a rock, er sump’n w’at could stay on de plantation fer a w’ile.” (Chessnutt, 47)
Sandy no longer wanted to be uprooted by his
white masters, he wanted to plant his feet somewhere and make his own home and identity.
Thus, with his own home he would create his own identity as the male and head
of the household. The idea of rooting himself in one place signified the
ability to choose his own identity, a luxury Sandy did not have, as he was a
possession of his master. Due to his inability to decide his own
character, Sandy felt as rootless as the wind being blown along by Mother
Nature.
Po’ Sandy embodies the idea that a black slave is always property of his or her master, unable to create a separate identity, regardless of whether the slave thinks they have been freed from the shackles of slavery. This was proven when Sandy turns himself into a tree. Even as a tree, he was cut down and possessed by another owner. He, as the tree, assumed the identity of a one room home. He would never be Sandy; he would always be someone’s slave or someone’s home.
4 comments:
Especially in “Po’ Sandy”, the idea that slaves were seen as property or objects were not the least bit humane. You were right that slavery was inescapable. In Beloved, Sethe physically escaped slavery but the tragic memories of enslavement were still grinded into her brain. Even when she thought she and her children were safe, the thought of returning to slavery led to her killing her infant child helpless and unknowing the horror known as slavery. It is very tragic to think that about 150 years ago, ancestors of our friends had to go through this.
Your premise that Sandy could not become a man until he had a home is very interesting. You bring up the important idea that domesticity is intertwined with realization of self which Sandy was having a trouble with establishing. Because he did not feel a sense of self, he could not establish a home sphere. Without a home sphere clearly identifying Tenie as the wife, mother, and woman, he could not establish himself as a man. Very interesting. It brings up a lot of questions involving why identity and domesticity for a black man cannot be separated.
I like your idea that Sandy wanted to be a tree to root himself somewhere, because it was a decision that he wouldn't otherwise be able to make. However, I'd have to disagree that he couldn't escape slavery. True, his chances of it were slim to none, but I think the story runs deeper in showing that running from your problems won't always play out the way you want it to. Sometimes you have to face things head on, if not for you, then for the people around you-- As it wasn't Sandy who wound up dying of heartbreak, it was Tenie.
What I think is that Po' Sandy served as an animation of how the memories and difficulties of slavery stayed with you even though a former slave may have physically escaped it. It best relates to how Sethe in Beloved escaped to a free state yet she caries the physical reminder of hardship on her back (her tree-like scars). You’re right that it was possible but very difficult to escape slavery but, more specifically, the mental escape from slavery cannot be done as illustrated by Sandy and his misfortune. Also his misfortune was tied intricately with family because he had a loving wife that wanted to make him happy even though it meant turning him into a tree. Slavery and escape from it are very difficult topics to discuss because there are so many views on whether will power was enough for slaves to physically and mentally escape slavery.
Do you think there's a connection between the tree idea and slavery, as both Sandy and Sethe had ties to it? Trees are the basic foundation of life- that is, they give us oxygen and provide nutrition (based on the type, I suppose) but why would that relate to slavery? Slaves are treated like livestock, and therefor help keep the cycle flowing, if you will, but why trees? Why not something else?
As for your comment about Sandy's misfortune being tied to family, I think that's true. If he weren't tied to anyone else, he may have acted differently. In Sethe's case, her entire misfortune and the basis of the book is centered around family. Would Sethe have acted differently if she didn't have children to protect?
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