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Southern HonorDr. Bruce Clary
Friday, January 11, 2013
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Southern Honor
quotes fromBertram Wyatt-Brown. Southern Honor; Ethics and Behavior in the Otd South. OxforduP" 1983.
At the heart of honor, then, lies the evaluation of the public.... Honor has three basiccomponents, none of which may exist wholly independent of the other. Honor is first the innerconviction of self-worth. . .. The second aspect of honor is the claim of that self-assessmentbefore the public.... The third element is the assessment of the claim by the public, a judgmentbased upon the behavior of the claimant. In other words, honor is reputatiott. Hono, resides in theindividual as his understanding of who he is and where he belongs in the ordered ranks ofsociety. (When society has pretensions that there are no ranks, honor must necessarily be setaside or drastically redefined to mean something else.) It is, at least in traditional terms, bothinternal to the claimant, so that it motivates him toward behavior socially approved, and externalto him, because only the response of observers can he ordinarily understand himself. The internaland external aspects of honor are inalienably connected because honor serves as ethical mediatorbetween the individual and the community by which he is assessed and in which he also mustlocate himself in relation to others. 141 1 5
Honor is therefore self-regarding in character. One's neighbors serve as mirrors thatreturn the image of oneself. This submission to public evaluation prevented outrageoushaughtiness and encouraged affability, for if one used the self as mirror as Narcissus did, thenself-love would become destructive. It is, for instance, the theme that Jane Austen often exploredin her novels: the incompleteness of character divorced from social convention.... the internalman and the external realities of his existence are united in such a way that he knows no othergood or evil except that which the collective group designates. He reflects society as societyreflects him. (1a-15)
Honor in the antebellum North became akin to respectability, a word that included freedom fromlicit vices that once were signals of masculinity.... The Rev. Lyman Beecher's assault on duelinsafter Alexander Hamilton's fatal encounter with Aaron Burr met a widespread popular ..rponr.lThe custom, which was based on the ethic of honor, became exceedingly rare thereafter in ttrefree states. These and other signs of social change in the relatively short span of one hundredyears indicated that honor in Yankeedom had become another word for domestic and civicvirtue. No longer did it mediate between a rude, sometimes passionate public and a belligerent,self-regarding manhood.
The older concepts continued, however, to thrive in the Old South.... It was thisdiscrepancy between once section devoted to conscience and to secular economic concerns andthe other to honor and to persistent community sanctions that eventually compelled theslaveholding states to withdraw. Pre-Civil War Southerners had to calculate the value of unionwhen their claims 2012I to respect were met in the North with skepticism, condescension, andfinally, contempt. (20-21)
tz2ft ' t rI t{-.{ton**'
2^I i b,, r t t t '
124'3u
Ctvlt-'Wnn
Southern Honor
quotes fromBertram Wyatt-Brown. Southern Honor; Ethics and Behavior in the Otd South. OxforduP" 1983.
At the heart of honor, then, lies the evaluation of the public.... Honor has three basiccomponents, none of which may exist wholly independent of the other. Honor is first the innerconviction of self-worth. . .. The second aspect of honor is the claim of that self-assessmentbefore the public.... The third element is the assessment of the claim by the public, a judgmentbased upon the behavior of the claimant. In other words, honor is reputatiott. Hono, resides in theindividual as his understanding of who he is and where he belongs in the ordered ranks ofsociety. (When society has pretensions that there are no ranks, honor must necessarily be setaside or drastically redefined to mean something else.) It is, at least in traditional terms, bothinternal to the claimant, so that it motivates him toward behavior socially approved, and externalto him, because only the response of observers can he ordinarily understand himself. The internaland external aspects of honor are inalienably connected because honor serves as ethical mediatorbetween the individual and the community by which he is assessed and in which he also mustlocate himself in relation to others. 141 1 5
Honor is therefore self-regarding in character. One's neighbors serve as mirrors thatreturn the image of oneself. This submission to public evaluation prevented outrageoushaughtiness and encouraged affability, for if one used the self as mirror as Narcissus did, thenself-love would become destructive. It is, for instance, the theme that Jane Austen often exploredin her novels: the incompleteness of character divorced from social convention.... the internalman and the external realities of his existence are united in such a way that he knows no othergood or evil except that which the collective group designates. He reflects society as societyreflects him. (1a-15)
Honor in the antebellum North became akin to respectability, a word that included freedom fromlicit vices that once were signals of masculinity.... The Rev. Lyman Beecher's assault on duelinsafter Alexander Hamilton's fatal encounter with Aaron Burr met a widespread popular ..rponr.lThe custom, which was based on the ethic of honor, became exceedingly rare thereafter in ttrefree states. These and other signs of social change in the relatively short span of one hundredyears indicated that honor in Yankeedom had become another word for domestic and civicvirtue. No longer did it mediate between a rude, sometimes passionate public and a belligerent,self-regarding manhood.
The older concepts continued, however, to thrive in the Old South.... It was thisdiscrepancy between once section devoted to conscience and to secular economic concerns andthe other to honor and to persistent community sanctions that eventually compelled theslaveholding states to withdraw. Pre-Civil War Southerners had to calculate the value of unionwhen their claims 2012I to respect were met in the North with skepticism, condescension, andfinally, contempt. (20-21)
1
tz2ft ' t rI t{-.{ton**'
2^I i b,, r t t t '
124'3u
Ctvlt-'Wnn
Southern Honor
quotes fromBertram Wyatt-Brown. Southern Honor; Ethics and Behavior in the Otd South. OxforduP" 1983.
At the heart of honor, then, lies the evaluation of the public.... Honor has three basiccomponents, none of which may exist wholly independent of the other. Honor is first the innerconviction of self-worth. . .. The second aspect of honor is the claim of that self-assessmentbefore the public.... The third element is the assessment of the claim by the public, a judgmentbased upon the behavior of the claimant. In other words, honor is reputatiott. Hono, resides in theindividual as his understanding of who he is and where he belongs in the ordered ranks ofsociety. (When society has pretensions that there are no ranks, honor must necessarily be setaside or drastically redefined to mean something else.) It is, at least in traditional terms, bothinternal to the claimant, so that it motivates him toward behavior socially approved, and externalto him, because only the response of observers can he ordinarily understand himself. The internaland external aspects of honor are inalienably connected because honor serves as ethical mediatorbetween the individual and the community by which he is assessed and in which he also mustlocate himself in relation to others. 141 1 5
Honor is therefore self-regarding in character. One's neighbors serve as mirrors thatreturn the image of oneself. This submission to public evaluation prevented outrageoushaughtiness and encouraged affability, for if one used the self as mirror as Narcissus did, thenself-love would become destructive. It is, for instance, the theme that Jane Austen often exploredin her novels: the incompleteness of character divorced from social convention.... the internalman and the external realities of his existence are united in such a way that he knows no othergood or evil except that which the collective group designates. He reflects society as societyreflects him. (1a-15)
Honor in the antebellum North became akin to respectability, a word that included freedom fromlicit vices that once were signals of masculinity.... The Rev. Lyman Beecher's assault on duelinsafter Alexander Hamilton's fatal encounter with Aaron Burr met a widespread popular ..rponr.lThe custom, which was based on the ethic of honor, became exceedingly rare thereafter in ttrefree states. These and other signs of social change in the relatively short span of one hundredyears indicated that honor in Yankeedom had become another word for domestic and civicvirtue. No longer did it mediate between a rude, sometimes passionate public and a belligerent,self-regarding manhood.
The older concepts continued, however, to thrive in the Old South.... It was thisdiscrepancy between once section devoted to conscience and to secular economic concerns andthe other to honor and to persistent community sanctions that eventually compelled theslaveholding states to withdraw. Pre-Civil War Southerners had to calculate the value of unionwhen their claims 2012I to respect were met in the North with skepticism, condescension, andfinally, contempt. (20-21)
1 2
tz2ft ' t rI t{-.{ton**'
2^I i b,, r t t t '
124'3u
Ctvlt-'Wnn
Southern Honor
quotes fromBertram Wyatt-Brown. Southern Honor; Ethics and Behavior in the Otd South. OxforduP" 1983.
At the heart of honor, then, lies the evaluation of the public.... Honor has three basiccomponents, none of which may exist wholly independent of the other. Honor is first the innerconviction of self-worth. . .. The second aspect of honor is the claim of that self-assessmentbefore the public.... The third element is the assessment of the claim by the public, a judgmentbased upon the behavior of the claimant. In other words, honor is reputatiott. Hono, resides in theindividual as his understanding of who he is and where he belongs in the ordered ranks ofsociety. (When society has pretensions that there are no ranks, honor must necessarily be setaside or drastically redefined to mean something else.) It is, at least in traditional terms, bothinternal to the claimant, so that it motivates him toward behavior socially approved, and externalto him, because only the response of observers can he ordinarily understand himself. The internaland external aspects of honor are inalienably connected because honor serves as ethical mediatorbetween the individual and the community by which he is assessed and in which he also mustlocate himself in relation to others. 141 1 5
Honor is therefore self-regarding in character. One's neighbors serve as mirrors thatreturn the image of oneself. This submission to public evaluation prevented outrageoushaughtiness and encouraged affability, for if one used the self as mirror as Narcissus did, thenself-love would become destructive. It is, for instance, the theme that Jane Austen often exploredin her novels: the incompleteness of character divorced from social convention.... the internalman and the external realities of his existence are united in such a way that he knows no othergood or evil except that which the collective group designates. He reflects society as societyreflects him. (1a-15)
Honor in the antebellum North became akin to respectability, a word that included freedom fromlicit vices that once were signals of masculinity.... The Rev. Lyman Beecher's assault on duelinsafter Alexander Hamilton's fatal encounter with Aaron Burr met a widespread popular ..rponr.lThe custom, which was based on the ethic of honor, became exceedingly rare thereafter in ttrefree states. These and other signs of social change in the relatively short span of one hundredyears indicated that honor in Yankeedom had become another word for domestic and civicvirtue. No longer did it mediate between a rude, sometimes passionate public and a belligerent,self-regarding manhood.
The older concepts continued, however, to thrive in the Old South.... It was thisdiscrepancy between once section devoted to conscience and to secular economic concerns andthe other to honor and to persistent community sanctions that eventually compelled theslaveholding states to withdraw. Pre-Civil War Southerners had to calculate the value of unionwhen their claims 2012I to respect were met in the North with skepticism, condescension, andfinally, contempt. (20-21)
13
2
tz2ft ' t rI t{-.{ton**'
2^I i b,, r t t t '
124'3u
Ctvlt-'Wnn
Southern Honor
quotes fromBertram Wyatt-Brown. Southern Honor; Ethics and Behavior in the Otd South. OxforduP" 1983.
At the heart of honor, then, lies the evaluation of the public.... Honor has three basiccomponents, none of which may exist wholly independent of the other. Honor is first the innerconviction of self-worth. . .. The second aspect of honor is the claim of that self-assessmentbefore the public.... The third element is the assessment of the claim by the public, a judgmentbased upon the behavior of the claimant. In other words, honor is reputatiott. Hono, resides in theindividual as his understanding of who he is and where he belongs in the ordered ranks ofsociety. (When society has pretensions that there are no ranks, honor must necessarily be setaside or drastically redefined to mean something else.) It is, at least in traditional terms, bothinternal to the claimant, so that it motivates him toward behavior socially approved, and externalto him, because only the response of observers can he ordinarily understand himself. The internaland external aspects of honor are inalienably connected because honor serves as ethical mediatorbetween the individual and the community by which he is assessed and in which he also mustlocate himself in relation to others. 141 1 5
Honor is therefore self-regarding in character. One's neighbors serve as mirrors thatreturn the image of oneself. This submission to public evaluation prevented outrageoushaughtiness and encouraged affability, for if one used the self as mirror as Narcissus did, thenself-love would become destructive. It is, for instance, the theme that Jane Austen often exploredin her novels: the incompleteness of character divorced from social convention.... the internalman and the external realities of his existence are united in such a way that he knows no othergood or evil except that which the collective group designates. He reflects society as societyreflects him. (1a-15)
Honor in the antebellum North became akin to respectability, a word that included freedom fromlicit vices that once were signals of masculinity.... The Rev. Lyman Beecher's assault on duelinsafter Alexander Hamilton's fatal encounter with Aaron Burr met a widespread popular ..rponr.lThe custom, which was based on the ethic of honor, became exceedingly rare thereafter in ttrefree states. These and other signs of social change in the relatively short span of one hundredyears indicated that honor in Yankeedom had become another word for domestic and civicvirtue. No longer did it mediate between a rude, sometimes passionate public and a belligerent,self-regarding manhood.
The older concepts continued, however, to thrive in the Old South.... It was thisdiscrepancy between once section devoted to conscience and to secular economic concerns andthe other to honor and to persistent community sanctions that eventually compelled theslaveholding states to withdraw. Pre-Civil War Southerners had to calculate the value of unionwhen their claims 2012I to respect were met in the North with skepticism, condescension, andfinally, contempt. (20-21)
Three dangers of the Honor Codeas practiced in the Antebellum South
•Pride and arrogance in the individual; elitism in society
•An inability to ignore insults, baseless accusations
•Dearth of creativity; an inability to think beyond “the way it’s always been done”
Pride, arrogance, and elitism•The disdain for Harrison the spy
•Buford: “[He] did not hate [Southerners].… The only one who even irritated him were the cavaliers, the high-bred, feathery, courtly ones who spoke like Englishmen and treated a man like dirt” (42, 45).
•Chamberlain: The South was transplanting “the horror of old Europe, the curse of nobility” to the New World. “They were forming a new aristocracy…” (26, 27).
•Gamble: “Arrogant people, you know that? Came right at us” (86, 89).
Inability to ignore insults, accusations
The Killer Angels, p. 133
tz2ft ' t rI t{-.{ton**'
2^I i b,, r t t t '
124'3u
Ctvlt-'Wnn
Southern Honor
quotes fromBertram Wyatt-Brown. Southern Honor; Ethics and Behavior in the Otd South. OxforduP" 1983.
At the heart of honor, then, lies the evaluation of the public.... Honor has three basiccomponents, none of which may exist wholly independent of the other. Honor is first the innerconviction of self-worth. . .. The second aspect of honor is the claim of that self-assessmentbefore the public.... The third element is the assessment of the claim by the public, a judgmentbased upon the behavior of the claimant. In other words, honor is reputatiott. Hono, resides in theindividual as his understanding of who he is and where he belongs in the ordered ranks ofsociety. (When society has pretensions that there are no ranks, honor must necessarily be setaside or drastically redefined to mean something else.) It is, at least in traditional terms, bothinternal to the claimant, so that it motivates him toward behavior socially approved, and externalto him, because only the response of observers can he ordinarily understand himself. The internaland external aspects of honor are inalienably connected because honor serves as ethical mediatorbetween the individual and the community by which he is assessed and in which he also mustlocate himself in relation to others. 141 1 5
Honor is therefore self-regarding in character. One's neighbors serve as mirrors thatreturn the image of oneself. This submission to public evaluation prevented outrageoushaughtiness and encouraged affability, for if one used the self as mirror as Narcissus did, thenself-love would become destructive. It is, for instance, the theme that Jane Austen often exploredin her novels: the incompleteness of character divorced from social convention.... the internalman and the external realities of his existence are united in such a way that he knows no othergood or evil except that which the collective group designates. He reflects society as societyreflects him. (1a-15)
Honor in the antebellum North became akin to respectability, a word that included freedom fromlicit vices that once were signals of masculinity.... The Rev. Lyman Beecher's assault on duelinsafter Alexander Hamilton's fatal encounter with Aaron Burr met a widespread popular ..rponr.lThe custom, which was based on the ethic of honor, became exceedingly rare thereafter in ttrefree states. These and other signs of social change in the relatively short span of one hundredyears indicated that honor in Yankeedom had become another word for domestic and civicvirtue. No longer did it mediate between a rude, sometimes passionate public and a belligerent,self-regarding manhood.
The older concepts continued, however, to thrive in the Old South.... It was thisdiscrepancy between once section devoted to conscience and to secular economic concerns andthe other to honor and to persistent community sanctions that eventually compelled theslaveholding states to withdraw. Pre-Civil War Southerners had to calculate the value of unionwhen their claims 2012I to respect were met in the North with skepticism, condescension, andfinally, contempt. (20-21)
The Killer Angels, p. 64
The Killer Angels, p. 64
The Killer Angels, p. 64
The Killer Angels, p. 133
The Killer Angels, p. 133
