The Origin of Others

“Race has been a constant arbiter of difference, as has wealth, class, and gender—each of which is about power and the necessity of control.”

Morrison identifies the category of Othering that circumscribes American society while also acknowledging other categories that intersect with race to produce unequal power distribution. The point here is that the purpose of Othering is to confer power and control to certain groups while denying it to others.

“One of the ways nations would accommodate slavery’s degradation was by brute force; another was to romance it.”

Here, Morrison speaks of two strategies that white Americans have used to accept slavery, despite the ways it demeans all involved, including themselves. Thomas Thistlewood’s diaries exemplify the strategy of brute force, while Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin exemplifies the romanticization.

“A reading of his diaries reveals that, like most of his countrymen, he had a seamless commitment to the status quo. He did not wonder about slavery’s morality or his place in its scheme. He merely existed in the world as he found it and recorded it.”

The quote refers to Thomas Thistlewood’s diaries, which Morrison uses to demonstrate the casual acceptance of slavery and its attendant brutality towards enslaved people. Thistlewood’s diaries illustrate how the process of Othering requires violence towards the Other as the white person attempts to define himself by differentiating himself from the Other. The strategy goes unquestioned and becomes a part of everyday occurrences, as exemplified by Thistlewood’s diaries, where he documents the brutality alongside everyday chores and activities on the plantation.