Pantaloon in Black

While reading Faulkner’s short story Pantaloon in Black I was both shocked and horrified as I read the story of Rider and how the death of his wife lead to such tragic events for him. After the death of his beloved Mannie, Rider seems to have gone insane even seeing a ghost of his dead wife in his home. Crazed by grief, Rider is led to kill a white man in a drunken rage. Because he is a black man he is lynched for his crimes without ever seeing a court room. While this story was disturbing, I found the reaction of the sheriff’s deputy and especially his wife much more disturbing. While the deputy is telling his wife the story of a man who lost his love and ultimately lost his life, she doesn’t seem to care. This is very telling of the time period they are in where a black man is seen as more an animal than a human. This also seen in their blatant lack of respect for the law when it comes to punishing Rider for his crimes first throwing both him and his Aunt in jail and then turning the other way as he is killed without trial. Because they are white, this couple couldn’t care about the fate of someone they see as lesser than them. This can be seen the very most at the end of the story where the deputy’s wife tells her husband doesn't care a bit about this story, and tells him to shut up and eat. In this instance you can see the clear disdain and callous of the wife against the black man as she goes about her day regardless of his horrible fate. I found this to be more disturbing than the story of Rider himself because it is hard to imagine people being so cold-hearted than a man’s life means nothing to them. It’s also hard to comprehend than there was a time in which people were seen as equivalent to animals just because of their race and as a society we are still dealing with the effects of this belief even today. One thing I would also like to talk about in class would be what the title means because I had a hard time understanding how it tied into the story.