Throughout Forbidden there were a lot of events that went on in that time period. The character I am going to focus on is Rhine Fontaine. Any black male in that time period had a hard time getting through life because of the color of their skin. At first Rhine was on that bad end before he began passing. Once he began to pass his life changed completely. He owned a saloon and many other properties and had a white woman as a fiancé. It was all looking good for him until he met Eddy.
Rhine had the life that most men would want. A successful man that was on the city council, a gorgeous fiancé, and wealth. Everyone seemed to like him even the people of color in Virginia City. Once he revealed that he was African American he got a lot of hatred. People began to vandalize his saloon, call him the N word, and even asked him to resign from the city council and republican party just because of his race. Rhine challenged the role of being white and black because he was able to pass, and get live a life without discrimination and bigotry if he chose to.
Considering most people thought that Rhine was white and handsome, I feel like it didn't really affect him on the romance side of things. Eddy seemed to be a bit more interested in the fact that he was half black. As a character Rhine was extremely brave to cross that color line and his gender performance if anything improved his romantic life because he was a kind and caring person.
Do you think some aspects of Rhine's character had more to do with gender than race? Do you think his kindness and thoughtfulness challenged norms of masculinity?
ReplyDeleteOut of the three traits you have stated for Rhine (Male, Black, Rich), which do you think contributed to the romantic struggle between him and Eddy most? I personally think it was the racial aspect that impacted Rhine throughout the story the most, as it seemed to be one of the main themes/focuses of the novel.
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