The Goophered Grapevine Analysis

Everyone loves to hear a great story every once in a while. Sometimes when telling one story people tend to tell others stories to help aid the first one. This technique is called a frame story. Charles Chesnutt uses this technique in “The Goophered Grapevine” published in August 1887. Mr. Chesnutt was a black writer who wrote stories in which he would reverse traditional roles, using black characters where prominent white characters would normally be present. Chesnutt “had great hopes for the improvement of race relations in the United Sates” (458), but after he felt like his work was not accomplishing his goal he gave up writing. Though he thought his work was not making a difference, he “remains an important and pivotal figure in the development …show more content…
It also allows Uncle Julius to relate with the men. That is why in the story that Uncle Julius tells, he describes a man by the name of Henry. The description that Julius gives about Henry would be the same description that someone could give about Julius. In the story Henry comes to visit the vineyard and eats some of the grapes that have been bewitched, but he is unaware of this. Since he was unaware about the scuppernongs being goophered he had to smear some of the sap from the scuppernong vines on his head once a year so he would not die, “Aun’ Peggy tole ‘im dat w’en Mars Dugal’ began ter orune de grapevimes, he mus’ go en take ‘n scrape off de sap whar it ooze out’n de cut een’s er de vimes, en ‘n’into his ball head wid it; en ed he do dat once’t a year de gopher would n’ wuk agin ‘im long ez he done it” (463). At the beginning of the story the white man finds Julius eating grapes, “He held on his knees a hat full of grapes, over which he was smacking his lips with great gusto, and a pile of grapeskins near him indicated that the performance was no new thing” (460). Another reason for Julius to tell a story like this is because he is benefiting from the grapes and does not want anyone to take away what little he has, “I found, when I bought the vineyard, that Uncle Julius had occupied a cabin on the place for many years, and derived a respectable revenue from the product of the neglected grapevines” (466). The comparison that Uncle Julius makes between himself and Henry allows the reader to see that Uncle Julius is not only trying to persuade the white couple not to buy the vineyard, but also to elevate his status in their