A review of the life and literary work of Charles W. Chesnutt, studying the influencing factors and stipulations that permitted his work to be published.
1,350 words (approx. 5.4 pages), 1 source, 2006, $ 53.95
Abstract This paper reviews the life and career of Charles W. Chesnutt, the first published Black author in the United States. According to the paper, this was a remarkable feat considering the time period of the late 1800s, and its close proximity to the Civil War in which Chesnutt's work was recognized. Yet, there were requirements of the period publishers that Chesnutt had to conform to in order to ensure the publication of his work. The primary character had to be the voice of a white male that readers could associate with in regard to their post war attitudes about the Civil War and reconstruction. The retelling of Black folktales could only be done under the control of this character, which gave the tales legitimacy in the social order.
Abstract The writer of this paper analyzes the character of African-American Rena in Chesnutt's novel, who is able to 'pass' herself off as white. Given the ethical circumstances of duress under which the heroine lives, the writer contends and explains why Rena's actions may be justified. This paper discusses early 20th southern society in America, which made a fetish of racial distinction. This paper details the plot and main characters of Chesnutt's novel, while focusing on the issue of 'passing' and how easy it is to misconstrue one's race. This book makes a powerful case against the practice of passing, which are detailed in this paper. The writer delves into the ethical ramifications of passing in a racist society and explains why Rena denied a fundamental part of herself by pretending to be white.
From the Paper "When Rena learns of the transience of George's affections and she falls ill. However, Rena recovers and vows goes on to work toward uplifting her race, although she dies at the end of the text, perhaps in a nod to the author's acknowledgement to the common cultural trope of the 'tragic mulatto.' But Rena is not condemned because she engages in 'passing' The House Behind the Cedars makes a powerful case against 'passing,' but not because it is unethical. Passing is not wrong ethically or morally in a racist society, and race itself is a fluid category. But by not identifying with her parentage heritage fully, Rena denies a fundamental part of herself and becomes tied to a man who is not worthy of her."
Abstract Many times in writing, writers use simple relationships between humans and the environment to show a deeper, more general theme, such as survival or equality. This paper examines how Sara Orne Jewett's "A White Heron," Stephen Crane's "Open Boat," Jack London's "To Build A Fire," and Charles W. Chesnutt's "The Goophered Grapevine," all deal with humans interacting with their environments as a tool to show their ideas or to teach a lesson. It also looks at how, although each of these stories has significant thematic differences and plots, all four have a fair share of similarities.
From the Paper "The two poems that have the most in common thematically are London's "To Build a Fire," and Crane's "Open Boat." Both stories use a relationship between humans and the environment to represent the strength of nature and survival (Prof. Rubenfeld, HLI 118, Spring 2005). In London's story, a man who is traveling in the Yukon, where the temperature is 75 degrees below zero, to go meet a group of his friends. Instead of going with a group of people and taking the main trail, which is safer and more practical, the man goes off with just a dog and takes a less traveled path (London, "To Build a Fire,"). He manages fairly well with the cold, building a few fires on the way to keep warm, until he falls into a water spring. It is so cold that if he doesn't build another fire he will face certain death, so he attempts to build one, only to build it under a snow covered tree."
Abstract The paper offers a discussion of Charles Chesnutt's stories in "The Conjure Woman" and compares them to W. E. B. Du Bois' "The Souls of Black Folk." The paper focuses on post-bellum slavery, symbolism and capitalism.
From the Paper "The collection of stories in Charles W Chesnutt's "The Conjure Woman" embody a view of the post-bellum South that depicts concepts of slave, master free, owned economics, humanity and the exploitation of capitalism versus the natural land. The truth of the matter is that the position of the freed slave in the post-bellum South was still one of bondage."
Tags: slaves, gothic, Uncle Julius, education, South
Abstract This paper discusses issues of race and oppression in the novel, "Marrow of Tradition". The author delves into the writing of Chesnutt to show that the sense of community created in this work is actually a false one. The focus of the paper is on discrimination and racism in the South, and how these topics are handled in literature.
From the Paper "Throughout the course of our voyage through Southern Literature this semester, we have seen a wide scope of novels which hinge upon the characters? relations with the community. The production of a sense of community is explored in several ways in each of the various novels of the time, but Chestnutt's work, Marrow of Tradition, focuses mainly on a sense of community as it relates to racial issues. While other works such as Light in August deal with community in a more vague form and dealing with the sense of either a black or white community instead of the whole, Chestnutt uses his novel to show how the sense of community can easily fall apart. The novel intends to reveal that the Southern sense of community leads to an unhealthy collective rationalization when issues of race and power are raised."
An analysis of the theme of mask in Charles Waddell Chesnutt's "The Sheriff's Children, Henry James' "The Beast in the Jungle" and "The Real Thing" and Theodore Dreiser's "The Lost Phoebe".
Abstract This paper examines the theme of the mask, how people are constrained to hide their true personalities and, often, their true will and identities from themselves and each other. First, the paper looks at how "The Sheriff's Children" uses the mask theme negatively: hiding one's true soul leads to tragedy. In comparison, the paper examines how "In The Beast in the Jungle", the two main characters John Marcher and May Bartram are portrayed to wear masks for their evasion of social and personal responsibility. The paper also examines how "The Real Thing" plays with the reality-illusion dichotomy and how for the painter who narrates the story, the genuine article proves all too useless for artistic purposes. Lastly, the paper discusses how in "The Lost Phoebe", the character of Henry is afraid of starting a new life with a new woman or taking the responsibility of her and consciously puts himself under the mask of internal conflict.
From the Paper "The two major figures of The Sheriff's Children, Sheriff Campbell and his mixed-blood son, are both plagued by crises of personal identity; their reactions to these crises both exploit the theme of the mask and exemplify Chesnutt's structural use of the mask concept. These achievements make a powerful story. If Chesnutt had not made the revelation of the relationship between the Sheriff and the son whom he had abandoned as a child its central point, his story would never have attained any particular significance. Chesnutt instead uses the Sheriff's parenthood as the starting point for an examination of its tragic results. "
