The Women of The Known World

After lecture yesterday, I realized that I had no idea about the power of the women in Jones’ novel, The Known World. Because Jones had never really discussed their thoughts, motivations, and emotions on a deeper level like he does with the men, I just assumed that they were all minor, unimportant characters. Boy, was I wrong!

I was just thinking about the most powerful women in the novel as I wrote my journal entry for Jones (I finished the book early, so I wrote out my journal already) , and I thought I would put some of my thoughts down on my blog.  The four most powerful women, in my opinon, are Caldonia, Philomena, Fern, and Alice.

Mostly, I feel that Caldonia, Philomena, and Fern all gained their power from their connections to powerful men, Caldonia especially. Here are their connections:

Caldonia Townsend: Henry Townsend, William Robbins, Louis Robbins, Moses the Overseer.

Fern Elston: Ramsay Elston, William Robbins

Philomena Cartwright: William Robbins, Henry Townsend

Alice: ……… no connections!

With the exception of Alice, all of the women have one main connection in common: William Robbins. Robbins is the wealthiest, most powerful man in Manchester County, and when people have a problem, they go to him as opposed to sheriff John Skiffington. I found that to be very interesting. The three women all gain their power positions from their connection to William Robbins. Nobody wants to mess with Robbins, so in turn they don’t mess with his women, giving them power over the men in the novel.

When reading about Caldonia, I first thought she was a really weak, pathetic character. I felt like she was thrown in this position of power and was letting everything fall apart. However, when Moses tried to move in and take some of her power by assuming the role of Mr. Townsend, I gained more respect for Caldonia because she quickly put an end to Moses’ run for power and remained in control of her plantation.

Philomena is one of the more powerful women in this novel as well, because she has power over William Robbins. She is the only person in the novel that can do whatever she wants. Robbins is tormented by his confusion over choosing his plantation and position of power or being with the woman he loves. This is where Philomena gains all her power, with her control over Robbins.

Fern is powerful because she also  has favor in Robbin’s eyes, because she educated his children and Henry. She is an educator, which gives her the power of knowledge to bestow only on the people in her favor or the people she chooses. This is a valuable gift to have. Knowledge is power. She also has more power because she is extremely light skinned, and even the pamphlet guy from Canada thought she was a white woman. In Manchester County during this time, this gave you more power in the novel.

Alice is a very interesting character, and I feel that she is the most powerful character in the entire book. I feel this way because she has no connections whatsoever, and thus the most freedom because nothing is there to hold her back or cause her to hesistate. She is also extremely clever by faking her insanity, which gave her freedom even before she escaped, because no one would worry about her wandering off the plantation. This gave her a chance to explore the world outside the plantation, and gave her a better opportunity to chart out the area and plan her escape.

From all the reasons I stated above, women rule The Known World! The reader just has to look a lot closer to see it!

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