Demonstrating Racism and Hypocrisy through Sex

I. Introduction
a. Thesis: In his novel, Natchez Burning, Greg Illes creates a pattern of white
men having sexual relationships with African American women in order to
exemplify the racist and hypocritical behaviors of the privileged white
men in Natchez, Mississippi.
II. Dr. Edwards
a. The irony was that Gavin Edwards was as racist as the average welder at
Triton Battery, yet he still wanted to sleep with Viola. Of course, that
particular hypocrisy had flourished in America since the seventeenth
century. White men loved having sex with black women, so long they
would never have to treat them as equals (Iles 6o).
b. When he tried to pin her in a corner of an examining room, Viola
pretended to cooperate just long enough to get a ceramic mug filled with
tongue depressors into her hand. Then she cracked him across the face
with it (Iles 60).
c. EXPLANATION/ANALYSIS: Dr. Edwards perfectly exemplifies how
backward thinking the white men in Natchez Mississippi were. He was
extremely racist yet he still sought after a sexual relationship with many
African American women he worked with, such as Viola. His desire for
such relations led him to physically assault and rape many of these
women, such as his attempt to rape Viola. This demonstrates the sheer
hypocritical and heavily racist ideals that Dr. Edwards believed
III. Double Eagles Gang Rape
a. Henry stopped, then added, Theres also some evidence that the Double
Eagles gang-raped Viola Turner back in 1986 (Iles 106).
b. EXPLANATION/ANALYSIS: As the reader learns throughout the book,
the Double Eagles were a group filled with some of the most racist, white
supremacists found in Natchez. However, all these men took part in a gang
rape of an African American woman. Rather than simply threatening
Viola or beating her up to lure out her brother, they consciously decided to
rape her. It is undeniable that this decision was partly based on the fact
that many of the men in the group desired sexual relations with Viola, and
this was an opportunity to obtain their goal. Iles creates this situation to
demonstrate how disgustingly racist and backwards minded the men in the
Double Eagles are.
IV. Fake sexual relationship praised by double eagles
a. Tom shook his head and kept working, To tell you the truth, I was
banging one of my nurses till you assholes showed up. After a moment of
stunned silence, all three men burst out laughing Which nurse you
banging? Sonny asked, breathing hard. You aint banging that colored
girl, are you? Toms face heated instantly. Why? Sonnys jealous,
Frank said, laughing, He got the hots for that one. (Iles 70).
b. EXPLANATION/ANALYSIS: This situation involving the double
eagles exemplifies similar truths as the gang rape. This group of men
 laughs about and desires sexual relations with African American women,
yet they kill African Americans due only to their race.
c. This also juxtaposes the way that white men see relationships between
white women and African American men. When a white man and an
African American women have a sexual relationship it is seen as
acceptable and a man giving into his sexual urges. However, when a white
woman has a sexual relationship with an African American man, it is seen
as an abomination and absolutely disgraceful. The white men think that by
keeping African American men away from white women, they are
protecting the women. This also emphasizes the hypocrisy in the way
the white men in Natchez think.
V. Tom and Viola
a. When Viola rode him, single-minded in her focus, he saw clearly that
guilt and shame were man made constructs that, however deeply
ingrained they had become in the Calvinist lineage of his people, had only
been lightly grafted onto the surface of Violas tribe, and had never really
taken. Tom knew such thoughts were inherently racist, but they were his
thoughts nonetheless, and could not be denied (Illes 214).
b. EXPLANATION/ANALYSIS: Tom views Viola sexually in a way that
many other white men did during that time. African American women
were sexual objects and forbidden fruit, causing them to be more
appealing. They saw them as tribal and somewhat animalistic due to
their race, rather than seeing them as just women. Tom thinks this while
having relations with Viola, regardless of the fact that he also knows these
are racist thoughts. This demonstrates the hypocrisy and racist world view
shared not only by Tom, but all other white men in Natchez that view
African American women in the same way.
VI. Conclusion
 Works Cited

Iles, Greg. Natchez Burning Series #1. Harper, 2014.