Thomas Stupen

While reading the novel I found it hard to decide my opinion on Thomas Stupen. As we found more and more out about him it only got harder. On one hand he is a horrible racist womanizer with manipulative tendencies and not a care for anyone but himself. But, on the other hand he is a self-made man who went from rags to riches and built a dynasty, which is admirable. He obviously was very driven and although the way he accomplished it seemed shady at first, as we learned more we found out that he had purchased the land and had earned the money from his days in Haiti. Rosa, who colored my opinion of him from the get go was obviously biased because he had hurt her, and it was a wound that she never let heal. Meanwhile we saw instances where he killed (directly or indirectly) two of his children. Not trying to justify anything, but I think he did everything he did out of insecurity and a desire to live up to a standard that he believed was the ideal (that of the white slave owner he saw) but that obviously was flawed. His inability to reach that standard (marrying a woman with black in her skin, having a child that had black blood, having trouble building his empire with the war destroying it, having two daughters and never a son heir) destroyed him and made him more and more willing to do whatever he could in order to reach his ideal. We know how that turned out......and I still can't decide what I think of him - obviously he was flawed, but the things that made him flawed explain a lot about his behavior.