It´s Business

Donde Haley propone al pequeño esclavo para completar la transacción económica y para subrayar: ¿Qué es Jim Crow?

En vocabulario encontramos jocularly, quadroon, y dimple.

Pusimos dos fotos impactantes: una, de la estrella de Hollywood Vivien Leigh. Otra, de las leyes discriminatorias en los Estados Unidos: una sala de espera exclusiva para negros.

De la novela clásica de Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom´s Cabin…

 

“Here the door opened, and a small quadroon boy, between four and five years of age, entered the room. There was something…”

 

Paragraphs

"Well, I've got just as much conscience as any man in business can afford to keep,—just a little, you know, to swear by, as 't were," said the trader, jocularly; "and, then, I'm ready to do anything in reason to 'blige friends; but this yer, you see, is a leetle too hard on a fellow—a leetle too hard." The trader sighed contemplatively, and poured out some more brandy.

"Well, then, Haley, how will you trade?" said Mr. Shelby, after an uneasy interval of silence.

"Well, haven't you a boy or gal that you could throw in with Tom?"

"Hum!—none that I could well spare; to tell the truth, it's only hard necessity makes me willing to sell at all. I don't like parting with any of my hands, that's a fact."

Here the door opened, and a small quadroon boy, between four and five years of age, entered the room. There was something in his appearance remarkably beautiful and engaging. His black hair, fine as floss silk, hung in glossy curls about his round, dimpled face, while a pair of large dark eyes, full of fire and softness, looked out from beneath the rich, long lashes, as he peered curiously into the apartment. A gay robe of scarlet and yellow fabric, carefully made and neatly fitted, set off to advantage the dark and rich style of his beauty; and a certain comic air of assurance, blended with shyness, showed that he had been not unused to being petted and noticed by his master.

"Hulloa, Jim Crow!" said Mr. Shelby, whistling, and snapping a bunch of raisins towards him, "pick that up, now!"

The child jumped, with all his little strength, after the prize, while his master laughed.

"Come here, Jim Crow," said he. The child came up, and the master patted the curly head, and chucked him under the chin.

"Now, Jim, show this gentleman how you can dance and sing." The boy commenced one of those wild, grotesque songs common among the negroes, in a rich, clear voice, accompanying his singing with many comic evolutions of the hands, feet, and whole body, all in perfect time to the music.

"Bravo!" said Haley, throwing him a quarter of an orange. "Now, Jim," said his master, "show us how old Elder Robbins leads the psalm." The boy drew his chubby face down to a formidable length, and commenced toning a psalm tune through his nose, with imperturbable gravity.

"Hurrah! Bravo! What a child!" said Haley; "that chap's a case, I'll promise. Tell you what," said he, suddenly clapping his hand on Mr. Shelby's shoulder, "fling in that chap, and I'll settle the business—I will. Come, now, if that ain't doing the thing up about the rightest!"

At this moment, the door was pushed gently open, and a young quadroon woman, apparently about twenty-five, entered the room.

There needed only a glance from the child to her, to identify her as its mother. There was the same rich, full, dark eye, with its long lashes; the same undulations of silky black hair. The brown of her complexion gave way on the cheek to a perceptible flush, which deepened as she saw the gaze of the strange man fixed upon her in bold and undisguised admiration. Her dress was of the neatest possible fit, and set off to advantage her finely moulded shape;—a delicately formed hand and a trim foot and ankle were items of appearance that did not escape the quick eye of the trader, well used to run up at a glance the points of a fine female article… (Excerpts from Uncle Tom´s Cabin, by H.B. Stowe, in easier English)

Vocabulario

Jocularly: said or done as a joke, characterized by jesting.

                       

Quadroon: the offspring of a mulatto and a white. The first known use of quadroon was in 1707.

In the colonial societies of the Americas and Australia, a quadroon or quarteron was a person with one quarter African/Aboriginal and three quarters European ancestry.

Vivian Leigh, 1941

Dimple: indentation in the cheek or chin.

Authors have described dimples in their characters for centuries to show beauty, especially in women, which has been seen as part of their sex appeal. This is possibly why cheek dimples have been identified with female characters: Anne from Anne of Green Gables envied other female characters' dimples. Scarlett O'Hara exploited her cheek dimples in Gone with the Wind when she was flirting to get her own way, to the point where Rhett is implied to be aware of what she is doing.

Shakespeare often acknowledged cheek dimples, usually on children, such as "the pretty dimples of [the baby boy's] chin and cheek" in The Winter's Tale or the "pretty dimpled boys, like smiling Cupids" from Antony and Cleopatra.

Para saber

Jim Crow: (slang) negro. Llegó a significar cualquier ley en los Estados Unidos que establecía diferencias entre negros y blancos, como la prohibición de usar el mismo transporte público o tener diferentes escuelas.

Sala de espera en Carolina del Norte, 1940

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