In the House of the Tiger

Hello, my name is Dominique Villarreal and I am writing this blog as a research project for my Senior Seminar class. This blog will focus on presenting  In the House of the Tiger, a novel which vividly captures moments from the 20th century when Chinese girls and women were being forced into domestic and sexual slavery in the United States. Written by Jessie Juliet Knox in 1911, this piece of  work used the genre of woman’s fiction and characteristics of abolitionist writing to gain sympathy and help for these helpless Chinese slaves. Because the early 20^th century was a time where the United States was enveloped in anti-Chinese sentiments, Knox  used  literary elements from  woman’s fiction and abolitionist writing in her novel to tear down anti-Chinese outlooks and build anti-Chinese slavery attitudes. By highlighting the brutal trafficking of Chinese slaves in her work, Knox was vividly conveying a social issue that needed to be abolished. Thus, Knox was also using her novel as a tool to slowly reform anti-Chinese attitudes by making her audience of the day aware of the cruel experiences and abuse many Chinese slaves suffered. Overall, Knox’s novel is important because it acted as a catalyst to reform anti-Chinese attitudes by advocating the elimination of Chinese slavery in the United States.