The Corpse of Emmett Till

The corpse of Emmett Till is important because it possesses a significance as an object once his murder renders him no longer a character in his own narrative. The missing and gouged out eyes, the crushed skull, and bloated body contribute to Mamie’s dramatic presentation of her son that causes outrage, horror, and tears. The body of Emmett accrues meaning in its lifelessness to become a symbol of white supremacy and an agent for political action.

Mississippi

The state of Mississippi is important because it embodies the myth of the Old South that remembered slavery as a paternal institution and white supremacist thinking that kept blacks in their place at best, and lynched them at worst. Both Carolyn and Bryant/Milam represented these viewpoints respectively. These perceptions also contributed to the murder of Emmett Till, since he allegedly was not aware of...