Barry’s Comments (group member since Jul 15, 2016)

Barry’s comments from the Challenging Times Need a Book Club Up to the Challenge group.

"[Sheriff] Patterson liked what little authority he had and was concerned that anything else would be a usurper."

--Sheriff Gilly Patterson's thoughts after he and Sheriff John Skiffington are challenged by wealthy plantation owner, William Robbins, regarding their "vigilance" as it pertained to dealing with the perceived, yet unconfirmed, threat of abolitionists .

Here we go: this goes along with what Elizabeth mentioned in another thread regarding the precarious position of white citzenry lower on the social economic ladder.

Elizabeth wrote: "Yet in the same part they comment on lower socio economic whites as "only thing keeping him from being a slave is the color of his skin""

I believe that what makes this book exceptional: it's focus on socio-economics. It's refreshing.

Elizabeth wrote: "Alice is the embodiment of the notion that colored people needed slavery because without that structure they could not function."

Possibly.

I like what you wrote in your previous post ("The character of Alice running through the woods and not being right in the head is a common portrayal of the times.") because it made me think of Alice not just a representation of people of color, but rather the ENTIRE South. The South using its limited faculties to remain free in the "wilderness" of its oppressor. Again, I need to read on and chew on this topic.

I'm also intrigued by Alice's ability to wriggle free of social customs through overt use of sexuality and mental illness -- two things that still often shirk containment by heavy-handed policing.

Laura wrote: "I think one of the ideas that I picked up on is that everyone's "known" is rarely challenged.

While it's true that "knowns" are rarely challenged, the only time they are challenged, it's by the one person so rich, he's almost bigger than the times -- William Robbins.

There was no one else in the county who could have gotten away with putting a Negro and her two children in a house on the same block with with white people

It seems while everyone else is bound to social norms, Robbins' wealth and status gives him a vantage point no other character (at least so far) can summit.

Socio-economics supersedes racial constucts...at least in this part of the book.

Elizabeth wrote: "The character of Alice running through the woods and not being right in the head is a common portrayal of the times."

Elizabeth this is interesting: Alice, the brain-damaged slave, as a "slave-of-the-times" metaphor. Would you consider posting a bit more about this? I want to chew on this a bit more.

"The South was home, and not all the hell some in the North wanted to make it."

--Sheriff Skiffington

"Elias had never believed in a sane God and so had never questioned a world where colored people could be the owners of slaves, and if at that moment...he sprouted wings, he would not have questioned that either."

--Elias one of 33 slaves owned by former slave Henry August Townsend

The title of the book "The Known World" seems similar to the the phrase "Common Sense" -- a phrase that assumes EVERYONE interprets life the same, or has the same sensibilities at some base level.

As you read, or upon reflection of the first chapter (titled "Liaison. The Warmth of Family. Stormy Weather."):

1. What "common-sense" notions of antebellum/pre-Civil War South are UPHELD by the book?
2. What "common-sense" notions of antebellum/pre-Civil War South CHALLENGED by the book?

Please post about the first chapter only!

Today is the day!

Hopefully, you have a book ready to go. Before we start, I would like for you to consider watching the video below performed by Bill Cosby (circa 1971).

It's a 23 minute video, but worth our time prior to reading "The Known World" (Bookclub members who went to Salado Middle School and had Mr. Mars teach your science class, more than likely remember seeing this).

Video -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2gJn...

Watch and post your thoughts about the video as it relates to your initial thoughts about the book and/or being in a bookclub.

Happy reading (and posting).