Leanora Sutter And Reynard Alexander: Character Analysis
Racism has a history of tarnishing cities, towns, nations, and whole races. In a small town in Vermont, racism tears apart the people and the community. In the book Witness written about a little town in Vermont in 1924. That little town in Vermont represents some of the many towns undergoing the issue of Klan (K.K.K) domination. Two people that experience the Klan violence are Reynard Alexander and Leanora Sutter; both characters go through experiences that similar, but also experience forms of violence that are different.
In the book Leanora Sutter and Reynard Alexander undergo occurrences of violence, threats, and overall inhumane treatment. All of the hate from the Klan is predicated towards race, religion, and personal views. Both characters …show more content…
In terms of Leanora, the Klan threatens her because she was African American, and she saves a Jewish girl named Esther Hirsh; for Reynard, the Klan threatens him because he is a newspaper editor who is anti-Klansmen. Leanora is a twelve year old African American woman who witnessed Klan violence as a scary and racial thing towards herself. Reynard views the violence as a sense of ignorance and selfishness. Reynard believes the Klan took “justice” into their own hands in a bad way. “Persecution is not American. It is not American to give the power of life and death to a secret organization. It is not American to have our citizens judged by an invisible jury. It is not American to have bands of night riders apply the punishments of medieval Europe to freeborn men. The Ku Klux Klan must go.”
The overlying question of the book is “what is the meaning of the title Witness?” In the novel, both Reynard and Leanora witness racism, prejudice, and violence. The pair affirms the bloodshed, discrimination, and all the preconceptions to be true. I believe Karen Hesse titles the book Witness, because in the small town there was bloodshed and discrimination and not only the people of the town, but the whole nation had to witness or recognize all of what was happening at the
In the book Leanora Sutter and Reynard Alexander undergo occurrences of violence, threats, and overall inhumane treatment. All of the hate from the Klan is predicated towards race, religion, and personal views. Both characters …show more content…
In terms of Leanora, the Klan threatens her because she was African American, and she saves a Jewish girl named Esther Hirsh; for Reynard, the Klan threatens him because he is a newspaper editor who is anti-Klansmen. Leanora is a twelve year old African American woman who witnessed Klan violence as a scary and racial thing towards herself. Reynard views the violence as a sense of ignorance and selfishness. Reynard believes the Klan took “justice” into their own hands in a bad way. “Persecution is not American. It is not American to give the power of life and death to a secret organization. It is not American to have our citizens judged by an invisible jury. It is not American to have bands of night riders apply the punishments of medieval Europe to freeborn men. The Ku Klux Klan must go.”
The overlying question of the book is “what is the meaning of the title Witness?” In the novel, both Reynard and Leanora witness racism, prejudice, and violence. The pair affirms the bloodshed, discrimination, and all the preconceptions to be true. I believe Karen Hesse titles the book Witness, because in the small town there was bloodshed and discrimination and not only the people of the town, but the whole nation had to witness or recognize all of what was happening at the