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''The Clansman: An Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan'' is a novel published in 1905. It was the second work in the Ku Klux Klan trilogy by Thomas F. Dixon, Jr. that included ''The Leopard's Spots'' and ''The Traitor''. It was influential in providing the ideology that helped support the revival of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). The novel was immediately adapted by its author as a play entitled ''The Clansman'' (1905) and by D. W. Griffith as the groundbreaking 1915 silent movie ''The Birth of a Nation''. The play particularly inspired the second half of ''The Birth of a Nation'', as it was concerned with the KKK and Reconstruction rather than the American Civil War. According to Professor Russell Merritt, key differences between the play and film are said to include that Dixon was more sympathetic to Southerners' pursuing education and modern professions, whereas Griffith stressed ownership of plantations.〔Russell Merritt, "Dixon, Griffith, and the Southern Legend." ''Cinema Journal'', Vol. 12, No. 1. (Autumn, 1972)〕 Dixon wrote ''The Clansman'' as a message to Northerners to maintain racial segregation, as the work claimed that blacks when free would turn savage and violent, committing crimes such as murder, rape and robbery far out of proportion to their percentage of the population. He claimed to write for 18,000,000 southerners who supported his beliefs, though that many never joined the Klan. Dixon portrays the speaker of the house, Austin Stoneman, as a negro-loving legislator mad with power and eaten up with hate. His goal is to punish the Southern whites for their revolution against an oppressive government by turning the former slaves against the White Southerners and use the iron fist of the Union occupation troops to make them the new masters. The Klan's job is to protect the White Southerners from the carpetbaggers and their allies, Black and White. In addition to criticism that ''The Clansman'' would stir up sentiment in the South, Dixon's argument that the Klan had saved the South from negro rule was ridiculed by some as absurd. == Characters == *Austin Stoneman – Northern political leader who advocates and implements Reconstruction in the conquered Southern States. Introduces bill to impeach President Andrew Johnson. *Elsie Stoneman – daughter of the above. Defies father's wishes by falling in love with young Southern patriot Ben Cameron. *Phil Stoneman – son and brother of the above. Falls in love with Southerner Margaret Cameron. *Lydia Brown – Austin Stoneman's mulatto housekeeper *Silas Lynch – mulatto assistant to Austin Stoneman. Aids him in forcing Reconstruction on the defiant Southerners. *Marion Lenoir – Fifteen-year-old white girl who was Ben Cameron's childhood sweetheart. After being brutally raped by Gus, she commits suicide by jumping off a cliff. *Jeannie Lenoir – mother of the above. Joins her daughter in fatal cliff leap. *Gus – a former slave of the Camerons. Rapes Marion and is then captured and executed by the Ku Klux Klan, under the supervision of the "Grand Dragon" Ben Cameron. *Dr Richard Cameron – a Southern doctor, falsely charged with complicity in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. *Mrs Cameron – wife of Dr Richard Cameron. *Ben Cameron – son of the above and the hero of the novel. Falls in love with Northerner Elsie Stoneman. Fought for the South in the Civil War and later joins the Ku Klux Klan in order to resist Northern occupation forces. *Margaret Cameron – sister of the above. *Mammy *Jake *President Abraham Lincoln- Lincoln is portrayed as a sympathetic character, one who sought to restore normalcy by shipping former slaves back to Africa. *President Andrew Johnson – Lincoln's successor. Impeached in Congress for opposing Reconstruction. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Clansman: An Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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