Charles Chesnutt was not only a seminal African American writer, but also “the first African American fiction writer to be taken seriously in the white press” (Norton, 699). Chesnutt’s oeuvre is notable for addressing “the psychological and historical implications of racial thinking” (698) and for “questioning the very concept of ‘race’” (699). Chesnutt himself was light-skinned enough to be white-passing, but was in no way secretive about his race. Nevertheless, his public declaration shocked many white readers. [[connecting sentence]] [[In his short story, “The Goophered Grapevine,” Chesnutt demonstrates his views of racial equality through the clever subversion of regionalist tropes in his characters.]]
The story begins with the unnamed …show more content…
When they meet, Julius is sitting on a log, but “rises respectfully” (Chesnutt, 700) at the approach of the Northern Buyer and his wife. The Northern Buyer objects to his leaving, asserting that “‘[t]here’s plenty of room for us all’” (700). He then politely asks Julian questions about his life and about the vineyard, speaking to him as though talking to an equal, and “anxious to put him at ease” (700) after making him feel obliged by his presence. He listens to his story about the “goopher” without dismissing it out of hand, even though he suspects the cause of Julius’s advice “not to buy the vineyard” (706), and that the story might be pulled from “the current of his…imagination” (701).
Finally, once the vineyard has been purchased and farmhands hired, the Northern Buyer “[has] a mild suspicion that [his] colored assistants do not suffer from want of grapes during the season” (706). However, this is the only mention of the issue – nothing more than a mild observance, whereas the slave owner in Julius’s story sought to control this issue by means of beatings and actual, mystical curses (e.g. the titular …show more content…
If the Northern Buyer had believed the story of the “goophered grapevine” and left, Julius would have been able to continue “[occupying his] cabin…and [deriving] a respectable income from the neglected grapevines” (706). On the other hand, Julius cleverly depicts himself as being essential to the operation of the vineyard and ends up with a paying job working for the Northern Buyer. In either scenario, Julius comes out, if not on top, then in a favorable
The story begins with the unnamed …show more content…
When they meet, Julius is sitting on a log, but “rises respectfully” (Chesnutt, 700) at the approach of the Northern Buyer and his wife. The Northern Buyer objects to his leaving, asserting that “‘[t]here’s plenty of room for us all’” (700). He then politely asks Julian questions about his life and about the vineyard, speaking to him as though talking to an equal, and “anxious to put him at ease” (700) after making him feel obliged by his presence. He listens to his story about the “goopher” without dismissing it out of hand, even though he suspects the cause of Julius’s advice “not to buy the vineyard” (706), and that the story might be pulled from “the current of his…imagination” (701).
Finally, once the vineyard has been purchased and farmhands hired, the Northern Buyer “[has] a mild suspicion that [his] colored assistants do not suffer from want of grapes during the season” (706). However, this is the only mention of the issue – nothing more than a mild observance, whereas the slave owner in Julius’s story sought to control this issue by means of beatings and actual, mystical curses (e.g. the titular …show more content…
If the Northern Buyer had believed the story of the “goophered grapevine” and left, Julius would have been able to continue “[occupying his] cabin…and [deriving] a respectable income from the neglected grapevines” (706). On the other hand, Julius cleverly depicts himself as being essential to the operation of the vineyard and ends up with a paying job working for the Northern Buyer. In either scenario, Julius comes out, if not on top, then in a favorable