"Honor and Violence is the Old South"

Paper Summary:

This paper presents a review of "Honor and Violence is the Old South", which is actually an abridged version of Bertram Wyatt-Brown's "Southern Honor: Ethics and Behavior in the Old South". The book presents an objective and highly well-researched account of life for women and slaves in the South who were considered devices with which to maintain family honor. The subject of honor is studied from a historical and anthropological perspective. The author seeks to explain why white masters treated slaves in an inhumane manner and similarly how women were expected to behave in patriarchal societies of the South.

From the Paper:

"The author explains that there were two extremely important driving forces behind South's obsession with preservation of honor. For one, it was believed that since Northerners were the enemy, they must never be allowed to ridicule South's men of honor. It was essentially a defensive tactic that helped South keep its head high against a more sophisticated, civilized and successful enemy. In the antebellum period, South was mainly an agrarian society while North had become a major industrial force. It was clear that South's economy was waning with most immigrants settling in Northern region and contributing to the development of industries there. Cotton plantations were one of the main sources of income for the rich South and with decrease in its production, South was losing to North on the economic front."

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