The Reckoning

The corrupting influence of racism pervades the narrative from the outset. Though Pete and Liza are shown to be kind and even generous to the Black field hands living on their land, they act in ways that reflect the naivety that their being white affords them in the time and place that they live. On one level, Pete works to improve the lives of the Black people with whom he interacts; he insists that the children of his field hands attend a school that his father helped establish on the family’s land. Liza, who did not grow up around Black people, is shocked by the poverty in which many of them live and is compassionate to Pete’s Black employees. However, neither Pete nor Liza does anything to radically change the social systems that repress Black people, nor do they seem to realize that their own profitable farm and comfortable lifestyle are dependent on the subjugation of Black people.

Liza is free enough from racist beliefs to engage in an affair with Jupe. Only when she becomes pregnant does the racism of her time begin to manifest. Liza understands that whatever she says or does, giving birth to a mixed-race child would have serious repercussions; it is possible that her outraged neighbors might try and lynch Jupe or another Black man who they suspect is the baby’s father. Knowing this, Liza decides to accuse Jupe of rape to try to protect herself and her reputation. By saying she was raped, Liza would elicit sympathy from the townsfolk and avoid some of the ostracization that giving birth to a mixed-race baby would cause. Though Pastor Bell ultimately persuades Liza to abort the baby rather than accuse Jupe of rape, Liza’s actions reveal that she views Jupe as expendable, and their relationship is corrupted by the racist beliefs that she has unwittingly absorbed.

Pete’s own actions are, in part, driven by the trauma resulting from the maltreatment he received at the hands of the Japanese soldiers, who were motivated by ideas of racial superiority. Pete was corrupted by the horror and violence of his experiences in the Philippines—violence that was heavily influenced by the racism of the Japanese conquerors, who viewed the native inhabitants and the Americans as “lesser” and subjected them to inhuman treatment.

Joel and Stella see the injustice and immorality in Pete’s actions. They are appalled by their mother’s willingness to sacrifice Jupe. Unlike Pete, they forgive her, knowing that she believed herself to be both infertile and a widow. They were not repelled by the fact that their mother engaged in an affair with a Black man. The loss of their land—representing the corruption of the time and place—signifies that Joel and Stella are escaping the culture and corrupting racist beliefs that destroyed their parents.