This historical analysis will define the incogent argument for the thesis of the “primal nature of honor” in the patriarchal behaviors of the antebellum South in Honor and Violence in The Old South by Bertram Wyatt-Brown. The notion of “honor” is the primary thesis for Wyatt-Brown’s (1986) argument that southern plantation culture was dominated by a patriarchal system of behaviors defined through family and sexual conduct. Wyatt-Brown actually presents the causation for southern behaviors through the patriarchal machismo of southern society by examining how male genitalia defines the symbolic power of “honor” as a foundation for slavery and a white-male-dominant culture. More so, Wyatt-Brown (1986) argues that women were taught to be experts
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The primary thesis of this argument is based on the “primal nature of honor” as a way to describe deeply imbedded sexual identity that was promoted throughout a male-dominant culture. Traditionally, the idea of a male-dominant society in southern plantation culture cannot be denied, since Wyatt-Brown (1986) defines the underlying machismo of southern behavior that was perpetuated as the sexual orientation of class hierarchy: “The genitalia were at once the most sacred and the most vulnerable aspect of the body” (Wyatt-Brown 34). In this physical aspect of sexual identity, it is apparent that popularized Biblical interpretations of southern machismo were vital in preserving the sanctity of “maleness” through descriptions of the penis and the testicles as symbols of patriarchal power. More so, this aspect of white male power is also present in the case of black lynching in relation to sexual crimes towards white …show more content…
In fact, they did not, as many northern males from all class levels accepted slavery and the subordinate role of women as being a part of a popularized value system. Therefore, Wyatt-brown’s primary error is to generalize the Old South as being horrifically racist and misogynist, yet we find many of these very same aspects of patriarchal “honor” being exhibited by northern men. Surely, the antebellum era does exhibit the massive problems of institutional racism of slavery as an outward expression of cultural values in the Old South, yet the underlying aspects of patriarchal values in the North were not as pious in terms of racism and negative attitudes towards women.
Finally, the second half of the book defines the “collective conscience” of hospitality, gambling, and duels as part of system of social justice. A poor legal system is premise of Wyatt-Brown’s argument that hospitality was a binding feature of male patriarchal values, which defined a collective identity in terms of justice in the Old South. For instance, the individual status of slave owners was perpetuated in the Master Classes, yet within the institutional bonds of collectivity that demanded hospitality from other slave owners during the time of a
The primary thesis of this argument is based on the “primal nature of honor” as a way to describe deeply imbedded sexual identity that was promoted throughout a male-dominant culture. Traditionally, the idea of a male-dominant society in southern plantation culture cannot be denied, since Wyatt-Brown (1986) defines the underlying machismo of southern behavior that was perpetuated as the sexual orientation of class hierarchy: “The genitalia were at once the most sacred and the most vulnerable aspect of the body” (Wyatt-Brown 34). In this physical aspect of sexual identity, it is apparent that popularized Biblical interpretations of southern machismo were vital in preserving the sanctity of “maleness” through descriptions of the penis and the testicles as symbols of patriarchal power. More so, this aspect of white male power is also present in the case of black lynching in relation to sexual crimes towards white …show more content…
In fact, they did not, as many northern males from all class levels accepted slavery and the subordinate role of women as being a part of a popularized value system. Therefore, Wyatt-brown’s primary error is to generalize the Old South as being horrifically racist and misogynist, yet we find many of these very same aspects of patriarchal “honor” being exhibited by northern men. Surely, the antebellum era does exhibit the massive problems of institutional racism of slavery as an outward expression of cultural values in the Old South, yet the underlying aspects of patriarchal values in the North were not as pious in terms of racism and negative attitudes towards women.
Finally, the second half of the book defines the “collective conscience” of hospitality, gambling, and duels as part of system of social justice. A poor legal system is premise of Wyatt-Brown’s argument that hospitality was a binding feature of male patriarchal values, which defined a collective identity in terms of justice in the Old South. For instance, the individual status of slave owners was perpetuated in the Master Classes, yet within the institutional bonds of collectivity that demanded hospitality from other slave owners during the time of a