Entry 51

Through the use of multiple literary devices within this passage, Valerie Martin’s Property successfully portrayed the hopeless state that followed everyone, especially women, involved in the slave process, or the ‘great lie.’ A major theme that was explored throughout her entire novel was the discouraging life many plantation owners’ wives faced and the emotional damages and pain slavery caused them to struggle with internally. This specific passage dealing with Manon’s encounter with Joel confirmed Martin’s opinions and arguments that all women suffered from the slave industry. Regardless of their social status or rank, all women were property of another and lacked the freedom of being in self-control of their own futures.

During her encounter with Joel, who symbolized money and injustice, Manon incorporates hyperboles to illustrate how far society would go to hide the cruelty they inflicted not only on their slaves, yet on their women as well. Valerie Martin wants to express how all of society was hiding from the realities of slavery in attempt to justify their actions and numb their pain. The lie became so extreme that plantation owners never talked about it and their wives were too petrified to speak up and rebel against their husbands. Manon addresses how society would protect this lie “as if [their] lives depended upon it” (179). Anyone, especially a woman, who stood up against the prejudice and inequality that ruled society, would put their own lives at risk. To emphasize how people would go out of their way to hide the injustices of slavery, Manon goes on to say, “As if, should one person ever speak honestly, the world would crack open and send us all tumbling into a flaming pit” (179). Clearly, this is an exaggeration as the world cannot simply crack open and unleash the gates of hell. However, this hyperbole shows the intimidation and fear that people lived by in this society and how it forced people to be a part of ’the great lie.’ This secrecy and inability to express their feelings led many, such as Manon, to suffer from internal damages and live in a state of depression. Valerie Martin wanted to demonstrate how slaves were not the only victims of this ‘great lie’ that haunted their society; women were also casualties of society and lacked many of the same freedoms that slaves lacked.

Martin’s hyperboles helped to emphasize that the life of a male plantation owner was significantly better than the life of their wife as they enjoyed all the power and support from society. When Manon finally had the opportunity to escape her husband’s control, her life continued to turn into shambles while her male counterpart, Joel, was able to successfully marry into a profitable marriage. Men had it much easier than women. When a woman agrees to marriage, regardless of the situation, as her aunt notes in a previous chapter, “It’s the same everywhere. A woman’s property is her husband’s” (84). A woman could never obtain full freedom as their assets were handed over to their husbands. Manon, during Joel’s visit, offers a powerful analogy to reinforce how powerless women were at the time. During a moment of thought, she claims, “My future was as dark and small as Joel’s was bright and wide” (180). Through this stark comparison, Martin illustrates how Manon, without money or beauty, was destined for failure while Joel, who married into money, was destined for success. This analogy signifies how society did not offer a fair advantage for men and women to prosper; it selected to prefer men. Martin effectively portrays how women had an inferior status in American society and how the slave industry severely destroyed the powerless plantation owner’s wives internally and emotionally.