Faulkner and slavery

After reviewing Faulkner’s ideas about slavery I couldn’t help thinking about a TV series I watched last year called “American Horror Story”, in which a character named Madame LaLaurie was portrayed. I found this Madame interesting, so I did a little research in that time and I discovered an awful lot of information about her.

First of all, Madame Marie Delphine LaLaurie was born in 1775, she lived in New Orleans and was an aristocratic woman, high born, who was deeply influential in New Orleans’ social circles maintaining an important position throughout the years. One important detail we need to bear in mind is that as a rich woman belonging to the upper class, she was the owner of several black slaves. If you think about it, as a rich Southern family, there’s nothing strange about having black servants, the thing is that LaLaurie tortured, mutilated and killed most of her own staff. She even built a special room to fit her mad purposes. 

 

Not only is this situation outrageous, but also denigrating in every possible way. If Faulkner stated that the original sin was slavery, what would torturing slaves be? Is there a worst concept or faith than the utmost of sins? Furthermore, by analyzing the ideologies and lifestyle of the conservative people in the South of USA in that time, I started wondering what happened with slavery in Chile, if there happened anything like this in our own country.

The answer is yes. One example I encountered is about a woman that most Chileans have heard of, someone as mad as LaLaurie, Catalina de los Ríos y Lisperguer, also known as “La Quintrala”. She was born in 1604, over a century before Madame Delphine, descendant of a rich Spaniard -German family that came to Chile in the time of the conquer,   along with Pedro de Valdivia. Catalina had abundant red hair, which originated her nickname that refers to a tree named “Quintral/Quitral” commonly known as “Mistletoe”, which produces a red fruit. She was the owner of several indigenous slaves, as well as black slaves, which proves that they were indeed brought to Chile. 

 

La Quintrala was known for being an extremely evil woman since her childhood, who enjoyed torturing not only slaves and servants, but also family members, priests, and lovers. She is believed to be the responsible for countless murders in her property.  In addition, the resemblance with Faulkner’s description of the South of USA is that although she possessed slaves she was a religious and pious person who attended church and had strong biblical beliefs.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6oRUfmigXg

Finally, what I find most ironic is the paradox between the religious and conservative view of this people and the fact that they fall into barbaric actions and contradictions by owning other people, restricting their rights and freedom, even going to the extreme of torturing them. Up to what point power corrupts people?