Caesar Wilks Character Analysis

They gonna have some more the way Caesar keep evicting people. He put out two more families yesterday. He charging by the week. They get one week behind and he put them out. He don’t ask no questions. He just gather up what little bit of stuff they got and sit it out on the street. Then he arrest them for being out there.

CAESAR: Are you a troublemaker, Citizen Barlow? You ever been in jail?

CITIZEN: I ain’t never been in jail.

CAESAR: That’s where you heading. You got to have visible means of support around here. If I see you standing around looking to steal something and you ain’t got two dollars in your pocket you going to jail. You understand? Get you a job and stay out of trouble. Stay off the streets.

It wasn’t much but it was twenty-five cents more than he had. He took and threw it away. He can’t see past his nose. He can’t see it’s all set up for him to do anything he want. See, he could have took and bought him a can of shoe polish and got him a rag. If he could see that far he’d look up and find twenty-five dollars in his pocket. Twenty-five dollars buys you an opportunity.

I’ll tell you whose fault it is. It’s Abraham Lincoln’s fault. He ain’t had no idea what he was doing. He didn’t know like I know. Some of these niggers was better off in slavery. They don’t know how to act otherwise. You try and do something nice for niggers and it’ll backfire on you every time. You try and give them an opportunity by giving them a job and they take and throw it away. Talking about they ain’t going to work.

You don’t understand I give the people hope when they ain’t got nothing else. They take that loaf of bread and make it last twice as long. They wouldn’t do that if they didn’t pay one and a half times for it. I’m helping people.

Went down to the bank to borrow some money. They told me I needed some collateral. Say you need something to borrow money against. I say all right, I’ll get me some collateral. I opened me up a gambling joint in the back of the barbershop. Sold whiskey. The police closed it down. I had to put some bullet holes in a couple of niggers and the police arrested me. Put me on the county farm.

SOLLY: […] It’s dangerous out here. People walking around hunting each other. If you ain’t careful you could lose your eye or your arm. I seen that. I seen a man grab hold to a fellow and cut off his arm. Cut it off at the shoulder. He had to work at it a while…but he cut it clean off. The man looked down saw his arm gone and started crying. After that he more dangerous with that one arm than the other man is with two. He got less to lose. There’s a lot of one-arm men walking around.

ELI: That’s what Caesar can’t understand. He can’t see the people ain’t got nothing to lose.

You see, Mr. Caesar, you can put the law on the paper but that don’t make it right. That piece of paper say I was property. Say anybody could buy or sell me. The law say I needed a piece of paper to say I was a free woman. But I didn’t need no piece of paper to tell me that. Do you need a piece of paper, Mr. Caesar?

These ain’t slavery times no more, Miss Tyler. You living in the past. All that done changed. The law done changed and I’m a custodian of the law. Now you know, Miss Tyler, you got to have rule of law otherwise there’d be chaos. Nobody wants to live in chaos.

Caesar, I gave you everything. Even when I didn’t have to give you. I made every way for you. I turned my eyes away. I figured if I didn’t see it I couldn’t hold fault. If I held fault I couldn’t hold on to my love for you. But now you standing in the light and I can’t turn away no more. I remember you when you was on the other side of the law. That’s my brother. The one who used to get out of bed to take me to school. The one who believed everybody had the same right to life…the same right to whatever there was in life they could find useful. That’s my brother. I don’t know who you are. But you not my brother. You hear me, Caesar? You not my brother.

They gonna have some more the way Caesar keep evicting people. He put out two more families yesterday. He charging by the week. They get one week behind and he put them out. He don’t ask no questions. He just gather up what little bit of stuff they got and sit it out on the street. Then he arrest them for being out there.

CAESAR: Are you a troublemaker, Citizen Barlow? You ever been in jail?

CITIZEN: I ain’t never been in jail.

CAESAR: That’s where you heading. You got to have visible means of support around here. If I see you standing around looking to steal something and you ain’t got two dollars in your pocket you going to jail. You understand? Get you a job and stay out of trouble. Stay off the streets.

It wasn’t much but it was twenty-five cents more than he had. He took and threw it away. He can’t see past his nose. He can’t see it’s all set up for him to do anything he want. See, he could have took and bought him a can of shoe polish and got him a rag. If he could see that far he’d look up and find twenty-five dollars in his pocket. Twenty-five dollars buys you an opportunity.

I’ll tell you whose fault it is. It’s Abraham Lincoln’s fault. He ain’t had no idea what he was doing. He didn’t know like I know. Some of these niggers was better off in slavery. They don’t know how to act otherwise. You try and do something nice for niggers and it’ll backfire on you every time. You try and give them an opportunity by giving them a job and they take and throw it away. Talking about they ain’t going to work.

You don’t understand I give the people hope when they ain’t got nothing else. They take that loaf of bread and make it last twice as long. They wouldn’t do that if they didn’t pay one and a half times for it. I’m helping people.

Went down to the bank to borrow some money. They told me I needed some collateral. Say you need something to borrow money against. I say all right, I’ll get me some collateral. I opened me up a gambling joint in the back of the barbershop. Sold whiskey. The police closed it down. I had to put some bullet holes in a couple of niggers and the police arrested me. Put me on the county farm.

SOLLY: […] It’s dangerous out here. People walking around hunting each other. If you ain’t careful you could lose your eye or your arm. I seen that. I seen a man grab hold to a fellow and cut off his arm. Cut it off at the shoulder. He had to work at it a while…but he cut it clean off. The man looked down saw his arm gone and started crying. After that he more dangerous with that one arm than the other man is with two. He got less to lose. There’s a lot of one-arm men walking around.

ELI: That’s what Caesar can’t understand. He can’t see the people ain’t got nothing to lose.

You see, Mr. Caesar, you can put the law on the paper but that don’t make it right. That piece of paper say I was property. Say anybody could buy or sell me. The law say I needed a piece of paper to say I was a free woman. But I didn’t need no piece of paper to tell me that. Do you need a piece of paper, Mr. Caesar?

These ain’t slavery times no more, Miss Tyler. You living in the past. All that done changed. The law done changed and I’m a custodian of the law. Now you know, Miss Tyler, you got to have rule of law otherwise there’d be chaos. Nobody wants to live in chaos.

Caesar, I gave you everything. Even when I didn’t have to give you. I made every way for you. I turned my eyes away. I figured if I didn’t see it I couldn’t hold fault. If I held fault I couldn’t hold on to my love for you. But now you standing in the light and I can’t turn away no more. I remember you when you was on the other side of the law. That’s my brother. The one who used to get out of bed to take me to school. The one who believed everybody had the same right to life…the same right to whatever there was in life they could find useful. That’s my brother. I don’t know who you are. But you not my brother. You hear me, Caesar? You not my brother.