A Mercy Essay Questions

Why is the Blacksmith such a disruption on the farm?

The Blacksmith is in complete possession of himself, free to think and act and move about as he pleases, and is a talented artisan who is paid for his work. All of that is disruptive because he is a free Black man in a society rapidly trying to demarcate the boundaries between the races in order promote white supremacy. His sense of self is appealing to Florens, who desperately wants love; confounding and initially offensive to Willard and Scully, white indentured servants who are not paid for their work; and ominous to Lina, who recognizes the potential destruction that will ensue from this threat to the closed community of the Vaark farm.

Is Jacob a "good" man?

Jacob is a nuanced character who is neither "good" nor "bad." The standards contemporary readers use to judge him are certainly valid, but Morrison also complicates easy judgement. Jacob is a good husband, though privy to standard patriarchal views on women (he will not tolerate a wife who "scolds"). He works hard alongside his laborers, who he seems to value. He owns slaves but treats them well enough; he sees Florens as an actual human being rather than property, respects Lina, and gives poor Sorrow a home when she had nowhere else to go. He does not approve of D'Ortega's flashy lifestyle and finds slavery as a whole cruel and disreputable.

Yet, when the opportunity arises for him to tap into some of that wealth, he puts aside his moral qualms and justifies his behavior since he will not have to be face-to-face with the enslaved labor force on the West Indies sugar plantations. Jacob is a product of his time, a decent man who is nevertheless weak-willed and worthy of our disapprobation.

What do we learn about 17th-century America from the characters of Willard and Scully?

Willard and Scully are white Europeans in indentured servitude, meaning they are contracted to work for a landowner for a set period of time and upon the close of that time, will ostensibly receive tools and clothes and a small plot of land of their own. While this sounds like a palatable option for landless European men, indentured servitude was characterized by strict rules, a frequent lack of the rights of Englishmen, easily lengthened sentences, and poor "freedom dues" at the end of the contract. Willard's antipathy toward the Blacksmith indicates the growing sense that white laborers should not suffer from similar conditions to those of Black people, who were increasingly almost always slaves, and, combined with his delight at actually being paid by Rebekka, shows us how this labor system was becoming less and less tenable.

Why does the farm begin to fail?

Obviously, Jacob's death makes it difficult for the farm to continue as it once did, but it was clear from the beginning that Jacob was not a good farmer, so there is something else at play. Valerie Babb suggests that "the Vaark farm is laid to waste by what dooms much in Morrison's work: an adherence to egocentric individualism, isolation, and removal from community." Lina had noticed there was a selfishness and a clinging to privacy outside of clan, so when Jacob dies, Rebekka has no one to turn to and begins to retreat inward into race privilege and religious orthodoxy; this results in the farm falling into disrepair, as she has no one to help her (except for, eventually, Willard and Scully when she agrees to pay them).

Why do Florens' act of writing in the house and its potential destruction by fire matter?

Florens uses words to tell her story, to reclaim a sense of self after her mother's abandonment, the Widow's closet, and the Blacksmith's cruelty shattered her. She tells the Blacksmith her truth and wrestles with her pain, refusing to let it crush her. And with the potential of destroying the abandoned edifice and all of the words, she can further cleanse herself. Critic Jennifer Terry writes, "Florens's writing of her life on the surfaces of Jacob's empty house, and the words' potential dispersal throughout the landscape via ash from a cleansing fire, offer a lingering vision in the penultimate section of the novel. The rich imagery of 'acres of primrose and mallow' and rainbow light closely echoes Lina's tale of the traveller whose response to such beauty is '[t]his is perfect. This is mine'"(62). However, Florens's inscription constitutes a revisionary African American voicing that too 'need[s] the air that is out in the world,' is as much a part of early America as the narrative of the male explorer or migrant."