peace – Discipline & Punish http://blogs.elsweb.org/disciplinepunish Early American Crime Narratives Wed, 06 Jun 2007 20:30:37 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.3.2 Jubeart http://blogs.elsweb.org/disciplinepunish/jubeart/ Wed, 06 Jun 2007 20:30:37 +0000 http://blogs.elsweb.org/disciplinepunish/2007/06/06/jubeart/ Continue reading →]]> Parents  – The notion of minded your parents advice is continually used to help contextualize the criminal as well as there wicked deeds. But in this narrative we are only told of the fact that Jubeart’s parents were reputable and tried as best they could to educate their son John.  This narrative does not speak of any disobedience on Jubeart’s part but instead focuses on the deep emotional ties that he had to them.  His mother’s death sparked an unsettling feeling that led to the continually relocation jubeart went through in the rest of his life.  This destabilizing factor is the spark that led to his destructive path.

curiosity – Jubeart claims that his first attempt to counterfeit money was not in the spirit of criminality for which he would directly benefit but rather an experiment.  This shows the nature of man being drawn to the notion of easy money.  This desire to take property/money without having to work tirelessly until it falls in your lap becomes a common theme of crime narratives.   This was Jubeart’s way of testing the boundaries of societal regulations, a temptation that led to his capture and subsequent death.

peace – The notion of resting in peace is common throughout our culture and in the case of persons sentenced to death achieving this peace is all that can be attained while still on this earth.  Therefore the entire confinement period until the execution was carried out was seen as a time for people to repent and come to terms both with their lives and their internally suspected fate.  Going to the gallows with a mind in a state of unrest is the worst possible punishment.

]]> Esther http://blogs.elsweb.org/disciplinepunish/esther/ Mon, 04 Jun 2007 21:25:16 +0000 http://blogs.elsweb.org/disciplinepunish/2007/06/04/esther/ Continue reading →]]> Pollution- introduction of harmful/negative substances into the environment

 

Esther says “I fell in the horrible Pit (as before) viz. carnal Pollution with the Negro man belonging to that house.”  This implies that any children born of a negro man and servant woman are not only worthless/trash, but harmful.

 

 

Peace

 

Ministers and Christians keep marveling at Esther’s peaceful state of mind, but they also keep trying to break it.  Mr. Wise questions her faith and on the way to her death bed, one minister keeps using the word “terrible.”  It seems that they are testing her peace in Christ, but it also seems that they dislike it in some way because someone so lowly as Esther should not become a “favorite” in Heaven.  Although they are trying to ensure her salvation, it also seems that, at times, they ARE trying to “clip and load” her wings of “soaring faith”.

 

 

Wages- regular payment

 

Death is described by Rogers as “the certain wages of sin.”  In each narrative small sins such as skipping Sabbath are emphasized as integral parts and predecessors to big sins like murder; Esther’s story is no exception.  The word “death” is repeated constantly in capital letters.  She warns people not to go out at night, especially not Sabbath nights.  Death become the inevitable Godly punishment for sin.   

 

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