Summary
The next day, Candie tours Schultz and Django around his plantation, along with an escort of slaves and associates, including Butch, Leonide, and men named Hoot and Billy. Hoot insults Django with a racial slur, prompting Django to yank him off his horse. Candie eases the tension when the other men reach for their pistols, although Billy remains incredulous, and continues to taunt Django. Django either sees or imagines seeing Broomhilda in a yellow dress walking alongside the cavalcade, although he cannot approach her while posing as a slaver.
Schultz convinces Candie and Leonide to halt the cavalcade so that he can share a private word with Django. Schultz tells Django that he has confirmed after speaking with Candie that a female slave with whip marks who speaks German resides at the plantation—almost certainly Broomhilda. Schultz warns Django not to antagonize the men further, lest they are killed before they can escape. Django reminds Schultz that he was the one who convinced Django to kill a man in front of his own son, and tells him, "I'm gettin' dirty."
The men ride past a plantation outpost populated by poor white men, who look up at Django on horseback with astonishment. They encounter an escaped slave named D'Artagnan who has been found hiding in a tree, while vicious dogs bark at him from below. A farmhand named Mr. Stonesipher tells Candie that D'Artagnan was missing for two days. D'Artagnan tells Candie he doesn't want to fight anymore. Candie calls off the dogs, and convinces D'Artagnan to climb down from the tree.
Candie explains to D'Artagnan that he purchased him for $500, on the assumption that D'Artagnan would participate in at least five fights, of which D'Artagnan has only completed three. After asking if D'Artagnan can "reimburse" him, Candie's men mock D'Artagnan for not knowing the meaning of the word "reimburse." Schultz suddenly offers to reimburse Candie, who expresses surprise that Schultz would offer to pay such a large sum. Django overrides Schultz, telling Candie that they won't pay for D'Artagnan, but that they are merely tired of having to watch Candie and his men "toy" with him.
Candie apologizes to Django for Mr. Stonesipher's cold stare, and tells Django that if he has no interest in purchasing D'Artagnan, then he won't mind if Candie does what he wants with him. Candie orders the dogs to maul D'Artagnan to death, while keeping his eyes locked with Django's. As Candie's men gather around and cheer at the spectacle of D'Artagnan's death, Candie observes that Schultz looks sick at the grotesque sight, especially given his interest in Mandingo fighting. Django replies that Schultz is simply not as accustomed to Americans, and coldly urges Candie to show him the "stock" that they rode for so long to see.
Back at the house, a servant named Stephen applies an ink stamp to a check. Various servants watch as the cavalcade approaches the house, and Django once again sees the image of Broomhilda in a yellow dress, waving at him from the fields. Candie orders the group of male slaves into a line-up as Stephen gazes at Django on horseback with extreme suspicion. Hobbling forward on a cane, Stephen asks Candie who Django is, and Candie explains that Django is a freeman who will be staying in the house. Stephen is openly hostile at the idea of Django staying in the house, and only reluctantly obeys Candie's order to make up Django and Schultz's rooms.
Candie then grandly introduces the men to his widowed sister, Lara Lee Candie-Fitzwilly. Candie's men usher the line-up of enslaved men back out into the fields. Schultz asks Candie if he could send Broomhilda to his room, and Candie grants his request, assuming he'd like to sleep with her. Candie asks Stephen to fetch Broomhilda, but Stephen tells him that she has been in the "Hot Box"—a small, dark cellar used to punish slaves for attempting to escape. Candie assumes she's since been torn apart by dogs, which prompts Django to quietly cock his pistol, but Stephen reveals that the dogs were too busy chasing D'Artagnan. Over Stephen's protests, Candie's men retrieve Broomhilda from the Hot Box and carry her away, as Django looks on in silent fury.
Analysis
Even within the context of the antebellum American South, plantations in the Deep South were notorious for their extreme brutality against enslaved African Americans. Tarantino references this early on when Schultz registers his surprise that Django already knows about Candyland, and Django tells him that every slave knows about Candyland. Tarantino inserts a sly metaphor into the film by making Schultz's ostensible profession dentistry, as represented by the large, wagging tooth above his carriage. Thus, if "candy" rots one's teeth, Schultz is a character whose function is to extract the moral rot from the Southern heartland of America.
Schultz and Django's first day at Calvin Candie's plantation is a psychological endurance test for all three men. Schultz is successfully able to solicit Candie's hospitality—even toward Django—by pandering to his greed and offering him $12,000 for an African American prizefighter, but Candie's associates and field hands remain suspicious if not downright hostile to Django's presence. Tarantino exploits the tension from the fact that the white men around Django cannot fathom his freedom, leading to comic "punchlines" like Django yanking Hoot from his horse after Hoot calls Django a racial slur. Candie must simultaneously leverage his authority over his field hands, his hostility toward African Americans, and his own desire to enrich himself, creating a highly tense dynamic between the members of the cavalcade.
Schultz and Django once again perform an "act" upon arriving at the plantation, only this time they pose as a Mandingo fighting purveyor and expert, respectively. Ironically, Schultz's suggestion that Django pose as a heartless black slaver in fact winds up disturbing Schultz, who tells Django that he should temper his behavior to avoid suspicion. Django, however, more familiar with the norms and behavior of Southern slave traders, is more convincing as a slave trader than Schultz could ever hope to be. This irony reaches its climax when Candie forces the men to watch as the runaway slave D'Artagnan is torn apart by dogs. Django watches, seemingly unmoved, while Schultz turns his head away in disgust.
Django imagines seeing Broomhilda at various moments throughout the day, signifying at once his desire to be reunited with her, and also her status as a kind of mythological figure in the story—a princess that must be rescued from the clutches of a dragon, personified by Candie. Tarantino subverts the German myth of Broomhilda, in which she is trapped in a ring of fire on a mountaintop, by revealing that she is actually being held underground, in a "Hot Box" designed to punish runaway slaves. Django noticeably grips his pistol at moments where he suspects that Broomhilda has already been killed, adding a layer of simmering, barely restrained violence to an already tense sequence.
The house servant Stephen, played by Samuel L. Jackson, is one of the film's most ironic and shocking creations—an African-American man who is arguably even more violent and cold than Candie himself. Whereas Candie invites Django into the house, Stephen treats him with contempt. Whereas Candie commands that Broomhilda be removed from the Hot Box so she can meet Schultz, Stephen maintains that she deserves to serve out the rest of her punishment. Stephen is an updated version of the "Uncle Tom" archetype—an African-American man whose loyalties lie more with his white overseers than with his subjugated brethren. Jackson has stated that he chose the Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas as one of his inspirations for his performance.
