Goophered Grapes Pre Ready 1
James Campbell
Dr. West
Afro Am Lit
7/19/12
Goophered Grapes
In the 10 years between the publication of "The Goophered Grapevine," Chesnutt's first conjure tale, and the composition of "The Dumb Witness," the development of segregation culture had even more firmly cemented the popular notions of black and white identifies in the United States. (Robison 61)
Charles Chesnutt is credited as a pro-black writer for first being an African-American writer and then presenting the African-American experience for the further humanizing of blacks in the United States. Much of Chesnutt’s work was drawn from his own experience as a fair-skinned black person as revealed by Mary Zeigler in her article, "History And Background Of The Charles W. Chesnutt Commemorative Stamp" (Zeigler). But while Chesnutt’s book, “The Conjure Woman” does address problems such as “slavery, miscegenation, and racism” as also pointed out in Zeigler’s article, what has to be considered is the actual work that the text is doing, how the actual words are placed in the text, how the characters are portrayed, and what ideals are actually being enforced or discouraged (Zeigler). In order to consider these things, what also must be considered is the social and political environment, the text’s audience and the perception of the audience. “The Goophered Grapevine” specifically, should be carefully looked at because after analyzing the text, this particular short story does not completely accomplish the pro-black “work” that it is credited for.
What does the United States look like in 1887 when “The Goophered Grapevine” was first published in “The Atlantic Monthly?” The Civil War is still causing an extreme amount of contention between the North and the South. Slavery ended just one generation prior so sharecropping persists in ex-slave states and all of the stereotypes and ideals about blacks are still completely in tact. In fact, blacks were arguably worse off than they were as slaves during this period in
Dr. West
Afro Am Lit
7/19/12
Goophered Grapes
In the 10 years between the publication of "The Goophered Grapevine," Chesnutt's first conjure tale, and the composition of "The Dumb Witness," the development of segregation culture had even more firmly cemented the popular notions of black and white identifies in the United States. (Robison 61)
Charles Chesnutt is credited as a pro-black writer for first being an African-American writer and then presenting the African-American experience for the further humanizing of blacks in the United States. Much of Chesnutt’s work was drawn from his own experience as a fair-skinned black person as revealed by Mary Zeigler in her article, "History And Background Of The Charles W. Chesnutt Commemorative Stamp" (Zeigler). But while Chesnutt’s book, “The Conjure Woman” does address problems such as “slavery, miscegenation, and racism” as also pointed out in Zeigler’s article, what has to be considered is the actual work that the text is doing, how the actual words are placed in the text, how the characters are portrayed, and what ideals are actually being enforced or discouraged (Zeigler). In order to consider these things, what also must be considered is the social and political environment, the text’s audience and the perception of the audience. “The Goophered Grapevine” specifically, should be carefully looked at because after analyzing the text, this particular short story does not completely accomplish the pro-black “work” that it is credited for.
What does the United States look like in 1887 when “The Goophered Grapevine” was first published in “The Atlantic Monthly?” The Civil War is still causing an extreme amount of contention between the North and the South. Slavery ended just one generation prior so sharecropping persists in ex-slave states and all of the stereotypes and ideals about blacks are still completely in tact. In fact, blacks were arguably worse off than they were as slaves during this period in
Cited: Bodie Jr., Edward H. "Chesnutt 's The Goophered Grapevine." Explicator 51.1 (1992): 28. Advanced Placement Source. Web. 19 July 2012. Bucher, Christina G. "He Came But He Don’t Believe: Teaching Chesnutt And Conjuring Through The Lens Of Gloria Naylor 's Mama Day." Studies In The Literary Imagination 43.2 (2010): 85. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 19 July 2012. Chesnutt, Charles W. "The Goophered Grapevine." The Atlantic. The Atlantic, Aug. 1887. Web. 18 July 2012. Filetti, Jean Smith. "Chesnutt 's THE GOOPHERED GRAPEVINE." Explicator 48.3 (1990): 201. Literary Reference Center. Web. 19 July 2012. Hovet, Theodore R. "Chesnutt 's "The Goophered Grapevine" As Social Criticism." Negro American Literature Forum 7.3 (1973): 86-88. JSTOR Arts & Sciences I. Web. 19 July 2012. Murphy, Cullen. "The Atlantic Online | A History of The Atlantic Monthly." A History of The Atlantic Monthly. The Atlantic, 1994. Web. 18 July 2012. Robison, LoriWolfe, Eric. "Charles Chesnutt 's "The Dumb Witness" And The Culture Of Segregation." African American Review 42.1 (2008): 61. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 19 July 2012. Williams, Patricia A. R., and Earl Paulus Murphy. "Charles Waddell Chesnutt." Critical Survey Of Short Fiction, Second Revised Edition (2001): 1-5. Literary Reference Center. Web. 19 July 2012. Zeigler, Mary B. "History And Background Of The Charles W. Chesnutt Commemorative Stamp." Studies In The Literary Imagination 43.2 (2010): 1-4. Literary Reference Center. Web. 18 July 2012.