New Gem | No More Learning

Taylor describes the villainous Legree as an “anti-planter” and his mansion, which perverts the principles of the “good” plantation, as an “anti-home”: “What we are given in a few pages is an evocative vision of the home become a factory, where everything, finally, is weighed in the balance scale of Legree’s cotton house.

Word:

ideal

Question:

How does Taylor's description of Legree's mansion as an "anti-home" emphasize the perversion of traditional plantation values?

Answer (optional):

Taylor's description of Legree's mansion as an "anti-home" emphasizes the perversion of traditional plantation values by contrasting it with the idealized image of a "good" plantation in the Arcadian paradigm, where agrarian-patriarchal society is intact. He argues that the mansion is a perversion because it is a place where everything is driven by profit and industrialism, like a factory, rather than fostering the paternalistic values traditionally associated with Southern plantations. In doing so, the "anti-home" becomes a symbol of the corruption and distortion brought about by the slavery system.