Massacre
Soon after they are freed, the group of former slaves, Jane included, are discovered by a group of Patrollers who kill those they have found. Ned and Jane survive because they hid under some bushed that protected them. After Jane and Ned leave their hiding place, they find everyone dead, including Big Laura, Ned’s mother, with her infant child in her arms. The image of the dead former slaves and the brutality with which they have been killed portrays the rage and hatred many young people felt towards the black slaves. This type of cruelty will continue to exist in America for a long time even though slavery will be completely abolished. The scene of the massacre also reveals another disturbing element about the way black people reacted when exposed to violence and death. Ned and Jane, while only children, were accustomed with seeing death and violence so the death of their companions wasn’t a shock for them because for them it was something normal. Thus, through this scene, the narrator offers a glimpse into the way the black slaves were treated and how the things that would normally shock a person leaves them feeling nothing.
Equal
When Ned returns home to Jane, he presents before her dressed in his soldier’s uniform and as a man who knows what he wants to do with his life. Ned dreams of building a school for the black children but his ideas combined with the way he dressed are perceived as being dangerous by those around him. Ned no longer looks like a slave, but rather like an ordinary man who is equal with a white man. During those times, that type of image projected by a black man was dangerous and many saw it as being an effort to enrage the white community. Ned desire to express his masculinity and the image he projects, of a black man equal with a white one is seen as being dangerous by those around him.
Black stallion
An image that haunts Jane is a black stallion killing her husband, Jon. Jane tries to warn him about the danger but he refuses to listen. When Jane sees a black stallion on the farm, she automatically associates with the imminent death of her husband. For her, the stallion represents death and thus the image of the black wild stallion makes her feel scared and insecure. For Joe however, the black stallion is associated with completely different things. Because of his status as a black man, Joe feels the need to prove his masculinity. Since Jane can’t have children, Joe is unable to prove himself as being a real man by impregnating Jane. The only way through which he can prove that he is a man remains by him breaking the wild Black stallion.
White trash man
Through the character Albert, the narrator creates the image of the white trash man that existed during the beginning of the 20th century. Men like Albert, poor white men without land slaves, developed a deep hatred towards black men because the white landowners would prefer hiring black men to work their lands instead of white ones. The way the white men got revenge on the black was through acts of deliberate violence that denoted hatred. The idea that the hatred the white men felt towards the black community is unjustified is accentuated through Albert’s image.
