Rape and wife and child abuse are common news today. Their distressing frequency makes us question the safeguards and the very nature of our society. Where have we gone wrong? Yet these crimes have always been present in civilized societies. Chocolate for the poor is a fictionalized account of an actual event from 1805. Ephraim Wheeler, an unemployed labourer, raped his 13 year old daughter in the Berkshire Mountain community of Massachusetts. His trial and the reactions of his family, friends, and the authorities to this rarely revealed violation bring out the political divisions and varying attitudes of different segments of the society. By looking back to a simpler community struggling with the issue of rape, we are able to see the crime in the round and judge the actions of the protagonists from the perspective of our experience.
