In this story Hawk is a barber in a presumably small southern town. While working one day Hawk faces an inner struggle that many of us have faced at one point in our lives. A black man is going to be murdered for an attack on a local unmarried older woman, Miss Minnie Cooper. The black man, Will Mayes, is accused of these acts but something in Hawk tells him that Will Mayes is innocent. When he starts to tell the customers in his shop of this they get enraged, even going far enough to call Hawk a "niggerlover". Because of this Hawk must make an important decision. Does he speak up about what he thinks is right only to be ridiculed, or does he let them go on and murder a man who he believes is innocent, solely because the color of his skin.
There may be a few reasons why Hawk did not speak up and save the mans life. At one point everyone is put in a situation where they must choose between what is right to you, and what is right to everyone else. It is always easiest to just go along with the majority, especially in a situation where your loyalty to a certain group of people is being questioned. In speaking up he only angered his customers, which is never good in the past as being a business person in a small town. Your whole career is based on reputation and when this story was written in the south the last thing a white man wanted to be called was a "niggerlover". So Hawk goes along with everyone, all the while knowing it is wrong.
Being from a small town where politics is everything it is understandable why he didnt want to risk his job, maybe even his life if things got to serious to save another man. Of course in no way does this make it alright that he didnt speak up, because its better to speak your mind than whats on the mind of others. This story made me think of many situations where I was forced to choose. Looking back I realize that I did not always make the right decisions, and often went along with the crowd. Faulkner made me realize how much of a struggle it is, in the past and today, to speak your mind while going against a crowd.
In the end Will Mayes ends up being lynched like many black people in the south without a fair trial like one a white man would receive. Which disgusts me in the end of the story when the men responsible for his death make it obvious that they were on Hawks side as well. The story says " Shhh! Shhhh! they said, freshening the icepack, smoothing her hair, examining it for gray, 'poor girl!' Then to one another: 'Do you suppose anything really happened?' Their eyes darkly aglitter, secret, and passionate. 'Shhhhhh! Poor girl! Poor Minnie!'"Basically in the end you realize that the men killed Mayes solely for the reason that he was a black man being accused of a crime, they didn't care if he was innocent, as they all figured he was. This is just another example of the fact that not all things in life are fair.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
In this small town it is apparent that if one were to speak up against the rest than they were to be looked down upon. I can't help but feel bad for the barber in this story because he was only trying to be the better person and stand up for someone that he knew could never commit the crime. Can you imagine if the barber had to witness the lynching? I kind of got the feeling that if the barber didn't jump out before they got to their destination then maybe he too would have been lynched.
I agree with you about the small town politics. I cannot help but feel sorry for those who just sort of went along because they felt that they had to. That sort of social pressure must be unbearable and to have to live with the guilt of murdering someone because you simply were not strong enough to stand up for your own politics must be awful. Who committed the worst crime though? Those who lynched,those who lied, or those who simply did not speak up?
Post a Comment