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Sanders Junior
Sanders Senior was the overseer at Mr. Whitechapel’s plantation before Sanders Junior, his son, took over. After the death of his wife, Caroline, Sanders Senior feels lonely and generally depressed about his position and his life. These feelings of emptiness—coupled with his tendency for brutality—lead him to repeatedly rape a young, pretty slave named Cook, who works in the Sanders household. Cook then gives birth to Chapel, who is Sanders Senior’s biological child, but whom Whitechapel claims as his own son. Despite admiring Whitechapel’s skills—which he refuses to consider evidence of intelligence—Sanders Senior is a deeply racist character who rejects slaves’ humanity and advocates violent punishment, taking pleasure in whipping slaves. He shuns all demonstrations of kindness or empathy and mocks people’s efforts at moral or spiritual elevation, including his own son’s interrogations about race and desire to be a scientist or a philosopher.
Sanders Senior Quotes in The Longest Memory
The The Longest Memory quotes below are all either spoken by Sanders Senior or refer to Sanders Senior. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 3: Sanders Senior
Quotes
I told my son that we are different from slaves in intelligence and human standing before God. He asked why Whitechapel could do a knot that I couldn’t do. His first joke. Not a bad one. I said doing things like that was not a proper measure of intelligence. Then he asked why they were dark and we were bright. His word “bright.”
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Chapter 4: Cook
Quotes
Whitechapel saved me. The second time I had to tell someone or surely die. There was no one to tell but my husband. Whitechapel saved my life. A child not his. A pure wife no longer pure. Any other man would have thrown me away. He is no ordinary man. His master respects him.
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Chapter 11: The Virginian
Quotes
Young, nubile female slaves are a temptation to us all, but one that should be religiously avoided. […] If these female slaves are used in this way they engender bitterness in a house between the overseer and his wife or the master and his wife. The slave may even become aware of this influence and exploit it to her own advantage. I therefore argue for restraint.
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Sanders Senior Quotes in The Longest Memory
The The Longest Memory quotes below are all either spoken by Sanders Senior or refer to Sanders Senior. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 3: Sanders Senior
Quotes
I told my son that we are different from slaves in intelligence and human standing before God. He asked why Whitechapel could do a knot that I couldn’t do. His first joke. Not a bad one. I said doing things like that was not a proper measure of intelligence. Then he asked why they were dark and we were bright. His word “bright.”
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Chapter 4: Cook
Quotes
Whitechapel saved me. The second time I had to tell someone or surely die. There was no one to tell but my husband. Whitechapel saved my life. A child not his. A pure wife no longer pure. Any other man would have thrown me away. He is no ordinary man. His master respects him.
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11: The Virginian
Quotes
Young, nubile female slaves are a temptation to us all, but one that should be religiously avoided. […] If these female slaves are used in this way they engender bitterness in a house between the overseer and his wife or the master and his wife. The slave may even become aware of this influence and exploit it to her own advantage. I therefore argue for restraint.
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