Black And White Essay -- essays research papers

Black and WhiteFollowing the Civil War, just prior to the turn of the century, manyAmerican novelist were writing more freely of the previous slave culture. Twoof these writers being Mark Twain and Charles Chesnutt. Mark Twain was apopular whiten author by this time. Charles Chesnutt, the news of free blacks,decided to pursue a dream of becoming an author in order to remove the spirit ofracism. By studying these authors in particular, the views of a white raised inthe slave h over-the-hilling south are juxtaposed with the views of free black. Both Twainand Chesnutt satirize whites in different ship canal through their literature. Twainalso displays some unfavorable preconceptions of blacks. This can be attributedto his own upbringing in the slave holding south.The main character of the Chesnutt stories is an old Negro man,previously a slave, who engages his new white employers in many tales about lifeon the plantation. Uncle Julius relays these stories with much detail. Though,at the conclusion of each, the reader is left(a) wondering whether the tale wastrue or if Uncle Julius had conceived of it merely to satisfy his own desires.Chesnutt has added to the end of each story an ulterior motive of Uncle Juliusthat seems to be met by the intercourse of his tales. By doing this, Chesnuttdiscretely satirizes whites in general.In the first story, The Goophered Grapevine, Uncle Julius tells of aconjure woman putting a goopher on the grapevines, causing all blacks that eatthe grapes to die inside one year. This story is relayed upon the first meetingof the northern white couple (John and Annie) and the native South Carolinian.After telling his tale of Henry and the others that suffered from this spell,Uncle Julius concludes that these northerners should not deal this vineyard,adding conveniently that he is not afraid to eat the grapes because he know the ole vimes fum de noo ones.John decides to buy the farm in spite of Uncle Juliuss warnings, but hedoes oblatio n him employment as a coachman. It seems as if Uncle Julius had beentrying to guarantee his usefulness on the plantation even after its sale. Waswhite man tricked into believing Julius association would be useful in therenewing of the vineyards? Chesnutt lets the reader wonder, but regardless ofhis tale being ... ... of blacks, especially her own blackheritage. When scolding her son tom turkey for refusing to challenge the twins, Roxyblames his cowardice on de nigger in him. After noting all of the predominantwhite members of his pedigree, she concludes that de nigger is his soul.Twain seems to redeem some assumptions of his own that blacks have no pridein their own heritage.Twain and Chesnutt both satirize whites, but in different ways. Twain,being a white, satirizes the slave holding south, preferably than whites in general.Chesnutt, on the other hand, uses a couple from the north in a story set in thefree south. Chesnutt also is more descrete in his satire, while Twain pokes fundirectly. Twain also displays some of his own prejudices, being a white tryingto explain the black culture. On the contrary, Chesnutt frankly portraysblacks from an inside perspective. Roxy was ashamed of the black blood in her,while Uncle Julius seemed to be a proud old man, happy to tell of his blackfriends and past. From the analysis these literary selections we can gain agreater understanding of racial views but, one may say that everything is not assimple as black and white