The fact that he is black in no way detracts from Faulkner's message about racism and social control. For example, Faulkner hints that Nancy may have been raped by a white man; her skin color renders her subhuman in the eyes of many white southerners. To Jubah, his masculinity is called into question on two accounts: he must assert himself not only as a man, but as a black man whose wife had been violated by whites. Jubah's violent and aggressive persona corresponds with Dave's. Dave, like Jubah, are powerhouses of male potency, pushed to the boiling point out of a sense of powerlessness and anger. Wright directly alludes to the potential of male aggression because the mule Dave shoots is named Jenny. When Jenny bleeds from the gunshot wound, Wright describes the "hole" and the "blood" using overtly female symbols. Dave never alludes to having sex with women, however....
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