he is with provincial governors, courtly splendor, harem, Vashti's insubordination, and so on--does not appear to have given the Jews as a group much thought one way or the other. Offended by Mordecai's insubordination, Haman makes a project of changing that, setting the wheels in motion that will oblige Ahasuerus to take account of the Jews province by province and dispense with them once and for all. Haman's action has the effect of making the Jews, hitherto a relatively invisible subordinate set comprising one of Ahasuerus's many subordinate peoples, more visible. Personal animus against Mordecai drives his attempt to make state policy for Ahasuerus. Ahasuerus, meanwhile, agrees to Haman's plan in a relatively casual way. When Mordecai, who after all has little to lose, takes to the streets in sackcloth and ashes as something of a protest against the death decree for the Jews, the narrative line of Esther as a story about the status of Jews in the Diaspora is firmly established. In this regard, White makes the point that the setting of the story in Persia "is of primary importance, because the book is attempting to teach its audience to lead a successful life in the Diaspora" (165; emphasis in original). White connects that teaching in Esther to similar teaching in Jeremiah; however, the fact that the text is clear that Mordecai came from the first generation of the Babylonian captivity suggests that any pedagogy to be found in Esther stands on its own. Indeed, Esther can be interpreted as a description of how the Jews first learned to function in the Diaspora.
Within the context of social subordination of the Jews is the social, cultural, personal, psychological, emotional, and familial subordination of Esther. She is an orphan, under Mordecai's care and authority and indeed under the authority of virtually everyone in Persia. Several commentators refer to the inferior position of women in ancient culture. For example, Rosen (17...