Keywords

When black characters, especially ones who had been enslaved, seem nostalgic for the institution of slavery. Simon in Flags in the Dust is probably the most obvious instance of this. SR

For instances of the patterns that became a recurring aspect of the social interactions between slaves and masters, as in the description of the young slaves approaching Sutpen's big house on Christmas morning in expectation of a gift. SR

For textual moments in which an enslaved person or group acts upon the desire to be free, as when Loosh or unnamed groups of slaves take advantage of the proximity of the Union Army to leave the Sartoris, Sutpen and other plantations where they were enslaved. Most examples of self-emancipation occur during the Civil War, but it also applies the way Thucydus earns the money to buy himself from the McCaslins. SR

For moments in the texts where owning slaves is evoked as a marker of status or wealth, as when Jason Compson connects his family pride to the fact that his ancestors owned slaves. SR

Used to note passages where enslaved blacks are described as members of an inferior species. The Indians in "Red Leaves," for example, say that their slaves "are like horses and dogs." SR