Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

"Dr. Samuel Adolphus Cartwright on Dissecting the White Negro, 1851" by Natasha Trethewey is a scathing critique of the pseudoscientific rationalizations used to legitimize the racism and inequality prevalent in 19th-century America. Trethewey employs the voice of Dr. Cartwright, a physician who was notorious for pathologizing blackness, to expose the fallacy and horror behind such medicalized prejudice. The poem is a confrontation with history, a dissection of a dissection, revealing the dangerous intersections between science and dogma.

The poem opens with a grotesque inversion of the clinical gaze: "To strip from the flesh / the specious skin; to weigh in the brainpan / seeds of white / pepper." Here, the act of dissection, often considered a sterile, objective method in medical science, is contaminated by racist intent. The meticulous language used to describe the dissection process is laced with an eerie meticulousness-dismantling the body as though it is an object for scrutiny rather than a vessel of human life. The "seeds of white pepper" can be read as both a description of perceived racial inferiority and as a nod to the spice trade, thus tying the themes of colonialism and scientific racism.

The language used in the poem blurs the line between faith and science, showing how religious text is conveniently employed to affirm scientific claims, thus making "the work of faith / the work of science." The reference to Canaan, cursed to be the "servant of servants" in biblical text, attempts to root racist practices in divine law. However, by including these elements in the poem, Trethewey highlights the irrationality and ethical violations inherent in these forms of knowledge production.

Cartwright's voice goes on to describe the body as a "derelict / corpus, a dark compendium," implying a body of knowledge, a text to be read, as much as it implies the physical body being dissected. The dehumanizing terminology like "flatter feet, bowed legs, a shorter neck," purportedly reveal the 'otherness' of the subject, but they really underscore the speaker's fallacious conclusions. The language becomes almost liturgical towards the end, affirming the 'truth' in a distorted benediction: "thus / to know the truth / of this."

The poem ends with the chilling line: "we still know white from not." This line is loaded with historical and present significance. It speaks to the ongoing influence of historical discourses of race on modern perceptions. Despite social advancements, the line suggests, outdated and debunked conceptions of racial difference continue to influence societal attitudes. It also serves as an indictment of the persistence of systemic racism, often veiled in intellectual or institutional legitimacy.

Trethewey's poem is a haunting exploration of the ethical abyss that opens up when science is co-opted by ideology. It serves as a reminder of the atrocious history of scientific racism and compels us to reckon with its lingering echoes. Far from being a mere historical artifact, the poem reflects upon the dynamics of power and prejudice that continue to shape our world today.

Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!

Other Poems of Interest...