Count the Sacrifices

As reviewers have pointed out, Joyce Carol Oates has patterned The Sacrifice after the real-life case of Tawana Brawley. In November 1987, Brawley claimed to have been raped and ravaged by white cops and an assistant D.A. The crime allegedly occurred near her home in the small up-state New York town of Wappingers Falls. The case garnered national attention, particularly for its nature and the media noise created by Al Sharpton, and attorneys Alton Maddox and C. Vernon Mason. Ultimately, a grand jury found all charges groundless. The defamed assistant D.A. sued the parties for defamation, won, collected from Sharpton, and continues to collect from the others, including Brawley.

In JCO’s treatment, the action transfers to an invented town near Passaic, NJ, and Newark, probably to take dramatic advantage of the population density, history of racial animosity, and brutal police tactics (all much more muted by comparison in a small, rural town). The girl, Sybilla Frye, is 15. Her mother, Ednetta, discovers her in an abandoned fish factory in defiled condition, exactly like Brawley. And like Brawley, Sybilla refuses to cooperate with police. Her mother, Ednetta, shields her as best she can, until the Rev. Marus Mudrick and his meeker and more cautious lawyer brother Byron assume control. Near riots ensure. The racial divide widens and deepens. Discharged and trouble rookie cop Jerold Zahn has his honor and memory defamed posthumously. In the end, it’s all in service of a lie by a girl and her mother afraid of her brutal father, a man who regularly beat her, and a preacher who sought fame for himself.

JCO does an excellent job of helping us onlookers understand the hellishness of living in a segregated town, in near-destitute poverty, surrounded by constant brutally, within families, between neighbors, and imposed by the authorities. What’s sacrificed here is civility, humanity, and hope. (For a more academic appreciation of how this works, you might try On the Run, a book with methodology flaws but nonetheless enlightening for many.)

There are more sacrifices here, too. Justice gets dumped in favor of personal gain and, yes, visibility for a race relations problem people try to ignore, by the Rev. and his brother. A young officer suffering mentally over his self-perceived failure to succeed as a cop sacrifices, unknowingly, the rest of his pride and honor after death, and his family is put through emotional hell. Also sacrificed, attempts at achieving any kind of understanding and reconciliation between the police and those they are supposed to safeguard. Though brutal and the true cause of the conflicts, the father, Anis Schutt, from anger and fright, sacrifices himself by choosing a blazing and vindictive gun battle end to his life. And, of course, Ednetta and Sybilla sacrifice themselves on an altar to a cause and to greed out of fear. ( )

Count the Sacrifices

As reviewers have pointed out, Joyce Carol Oates has patterned The Sacrifice after the real-life case of Tawana Brawley. In November 1987, Brawley claimed to have been raped and ravaged by white cops and an assistant D.A. The crime allegedly occurred near her home in the small up-state New York town of Wappingers Falls. The case garnered national attention, particularly for its nature and the media noise created by Al Sharpton, and attorneys Alton Maddox and C. Vernon Mason. Ultimately, a grand jury found all charges groundless. The defamed assistant D.A. sued the parties for defamation, won, collected from Sharpton, and continues to collect from the others, including Brawley.

In JCO’s treatment, the action transfers to an invented town near Passaic, NJ, and Newark, probably to take dramatic advantage of the population density, history of racial animosity, and brutal police tactics (all much more muted by comparison in a small, rural town). The girl, Sybilla Frye, is 15. Her mother, Ednetta, discovers her in an abandoned fish factory in defiled condition, exactly like Brawley. And like Brawley, Sybilla refuses to cooperate with police. Her mother, Ednetta, shields her as best she can, until the Rev. Marus Mudrick and his meeker and more cautious lawyer brother Byron assume control. Near riots ensure. The racial divide widens and deepens. Discharged and trouble rookie cop Jerold Zahn has his honor and memory defamed posthumously. In the end, it’s all in service of a lie by a girl and her mother afraid of her brutal father, a man who regularly beat her, and a preacher who sought fame for himself.

JCO does an excellent job of helping us onlookers understand the hellishness of living in a segregated town, in near-destitute poverty, surrounded by constant brutally, within families, between neighbors, and imposed by the authorities. What’s sacrificed here is civility, humanity, and hope. (For a more academic appreciation of how this works, you might try On the Run, a book with methodology flaws but nonetheless enlightening for many.)

There are more sacrifices here, too. Justice gets dumped in favor of personal gain and, yes, visibility for a race relations problem people try to ignore, by the Rev. and his brother. A young officer suffering mentally over his self-perceived failure to succeed as a cop sacrifices, unknowingly, the rest of his pride and honor after death, and his family is put through emotional hell. Also sacrificed, attempts at achieving any kind of understanding and reconciliation between the police and those they are supposed to safeguard. Though brutal and the true cause of the conflicts, the father, Anis Schutt, from anger and fright, sacrifices himself by choosing a blazing and vindictive gun battle end to his life. And, of course, Ednetta and Sybilla sacrifice themselves on an altar to a cause and to greed out of fear. ( )

Oh wow, Joyce Carol Oates sure can write! Set in a rundown New Jersey city in the 80s, the novel begins with a missing Black teen, Sybilla, discovered in a destitute house, the apparent victim of a hideous rape/ attack, the perpetrators apparently a group of white cops.
We're never entirely convinced on this one. The sullen daughter and her slightly off-kilter mother seem reluctant to engage with the authorities to get justice. Though as theyre taken up by a self-seeking Black activist, his observation that "tellin that poor ravaged girl to go to the po-lice is like tellin Jews to appeal to the Nazi Fuhrer", gives us pause for thought.
The clever thing, for me, is that even as we fail to warm to foul mouthed Syibilla, her mother, murderous stepfather, the corrupt 'Reverend' pushing their cause...and even as we don't buy their tale and rather like the whites who come into it...we still have a sympathy for their plight after decades of police racism, and given the rotten life Sybilla is born into.
The other clever thing is that exactly WHO is the sacrifice is very much up for discussion. There are a number of potential characters, black and white...there is no easy answer to any of it, it's awash with grey areas.
One of the best authors out there. ( )

Another great book by Joyce Carol Oates. In this one, she tackles the issue of sacrificial lambs, victimhood and poverty, set in the very topical context of racism -- specifically when it comes to the justice/policing systems. Sybilla Frye is found nearly dead after being sexually assaulted by (she claims) "white cops". Her story may or may not be true...some things don't seem to add up. But she is definitely a victim of abuse, neglect, poverty and exploitation by people who have their own agendas. Sybilla's best interests are sacrificed to these agendas. And, she is not the only person sacrificed in the search for truth, or in the attempts to cover it up. Very nuanced approach to so many issues and characters....amazing. ( )

Chilling ( )