tes, as a matter of fact, had same lack of freedom & no other choice but to obey the orders of the master, a planter. Once again, the credits should be given to Poe as we observe his accurate use of words.In the second place, settings in Hop-Frog are also an important element in Poe’s attempt to associate his story to the serfdom. The story takes place in a kingdom where Hop-Frog along with Trippetta were brought from an unknown region:” I am not able to say with precision, from what country Hop-Frog originally came. It was from barbarous region, however no person ever heard of- a vast distance from the court of our king…”. First, we may suppose that the image attributed to the kingdom where the story takes place is one of a small isolated political & geographical entity, since there there’s hardly any relation with outside world. This image is similar to the one of plantations in Southern States where their owner differently managed each of them & had each different rules regarding their slaves. Although all these plantations were within the borders of United States, governments (federal or state), had little control over each of these “ autonomous” entities. Therefore, according to this hypothesis, the quote( cited below in italic) matches the scenario of slaves being brought to U.S in the 19th century. In fact, they were brought from Africa, the continent located far away from United States. Also, in the middle of 19th century, the Americans had very little knowledge about the various primitive tribes residing in Africa, which causes the inability of the narrator to precisely affirm from which country Hop-Frog was originally coming. Finally, a big majority of African population was often called by the Americans to be “barbarous” due to their uncivilized way of living.As we proceed to the plot of Poe’s tale, we witness the conflict that arises between Hop-Frog & the king. Th...
