Arthur Stern is a successful business man who owns a mink farm. He was in the Korean war which I think lead to his hatred of other races. Arthur and his daughter don’t get on well as he is a very materialistic person shown in line 31 when Monica refuses the cheque and says “Well I don’t really need anything-“
“Seems to me you could use everything” replies Arthur. This shows that he things you have nothing unless you have money. Arthur is an extreme racist he thinks that everyone who isn’t white are a bunch of savages as he says “Toiling for peanuts among a bunch of savages”.
He also believes that he has the right to kill people who are not white this is shown when he decides to kill Todd just for being black. Arthur also assumes that all white people think the same way as him as he assumes that the police officers would see a typical white male a bit roughed up and a black man lying dead and just think that it was an attack on the white man.
The relationship between Monica and her father shows a contrast between their beliefs about the poor and other races. This is shown when her father appears and offers her a sum of money as a gift as he thinks she’s living in poverty. She however, disagrees with his view and thinks all she needs is a job and a home to live happily. Her father’s reaction to her response is an angry one and he believes she is wasting her life helping “savages”.
The theme of “If I Quench Thee” is racial hatred and the author explores this issue. He includes a violent scene at the end of this short story where Arthur encounters the black man that he assumes to be his daughters boyfriend. Arthur overhears Tod and his daughter talking about marriage and he is enraged and then waits for Tod to leave. He then attacks him in a menacing way: striking him in the lower body and then smashing his head off the ground beating him up severely. After this incident he twisted his tie and tore his own shirt then feigns breathlessness to give the impression he was attacked first. He did this in an attempt to show his daughter that all black people are scum and should be killed.
The author has used the technique of a turning point. When we are told that Tod was a minister, Arthur realises that his alibi will not hold up as a minister is very unlikely to have attacked a random person in such a manner. This is a turning point for Stern as this is the first time in his life he feels remorse for a killing performed by him. This is an effective technique as the timing of this turning point makes the reader start to feel sympathetic towards Stern as we can see he actually regrets committing this act.
“For the first time in his life, Arthur Stern knew fear.”
My personal response to this story was that I was shocked and disgusted that people could be so racist and how people could think that they have a right to kill others just because they aren’t the same skin colour as them. It made me think about how sick and twisted people can be and how that some people can hate something so much that they would take it too such extreme lengths as to things such as murder. I personally think racism is wrong because people of a different race aren’t any different or inferior to white people like Arthur Stern thought.
To conclude, I think that the author has expressed the view on racism in an effective way relating to the plot, characters and techniques used. Even though Stern was such an “evil” man, he can still feel regret for such a terrible act after realising that what he has done is actually wrong. This makes me believe that human society can improve on its views of racism.