The Function of Race, Class and Gender

The Function of Race, Class and Gender
In The Isle of Pines
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The Isle of Pines (1668) is an adventure story of a man and four women who were outcast by a shipwreck in was then a virgin island. As stated in the story, the island where abundant wild fruits and animals were found, was untouched by people at the time of its accidental discovery during the seventeenth century (Neville, 1668). A man named George Pine, the ‘king’ of the island, fathered the children of the four women who later populated the remote place (Neville, 1668). George Pine and the three of four women were white while the other woman was black. Living in the island, they developed some guiding rules and laws as the population grows and some problems and difficulties arose. The story of the beginning of the Isle of Pines and the way people lived in the place was also stated in the account. Thus, the extraordinary story of the island reveals one of the possible ways on how people, coming from civilized societies (Neville, 1668), would act upon certain situations like being isolated and outcast in a faraway place.
In the story, the play of norms and stereotyping attitudes can be observed as the people in the island create their rules and some form of decision-making in their social organization. Though we cannot absolutely say that such form of organization was formed out of political functions, the literary piece somehow reflects the kind of mindset George Pine and the four women had. In the story for instance, George Pine’s negative disposition about black women was reflected in the way he explained his affair with the Negro woman in the group (Neville, 1668). In reading the narrative, one can also observe how class structure and gender classification were formed out of the defined mindsets of the characters.
George Pine governed the island by initiating laws abiding Christian tradition as he particularly prohibited acts of adultery, incest, and promiscuity (Neville, 1668). Coming from a Christian society in Europe (Neville, 1668), the outcast people tried to incorporate their inherited traditions as reflected in the way the story tells us about the kind of community they have.
The issues regarding racial differences epitomized by the situation of the Negro woman in the island as she was accustomed with four other white people may reflect how these people think about skin-color differences. Other issues such as class and gender differences are also articulated implicitly in the description of the island and its people. Many of the implication of these issues are present in George Pine’s description of his life in the land together with his wives and children.
In George Pine’s account he narrated how he, after few months of exploration and idleness in the island, had ‘persuaded’ first the two of the four women, who were maids, ‘to lie with him’ (Neville, 1668). At first, they did the acts in private but later, realizing that they were after all alone in the island, did it more openly. He also had engaged with the other woman, the daughter of his master, who became his ‘favorite’ of all his wives. Pine also had cohabited with the Negro woman. In his accounts, he cautiously narrated in his story that he was almost asleep when it happened the first time. He also particularly noted that the woman had consented with others in order to sleep with him (Neville, 1688). George Pine also made clear that he did the act in order ‘to try the difference’ of the experience. In the particular passages, it is evident how racial preference in terms of skin color was imprinted in Pine’s mind. His careful narration of his relationship with the Negro woman somehow echoes what were his views about racial differences. The play of words and certain points of emphas...