Significance Of Age In Charles Chesnutt's The Marrow Of Tradition

“Age is just a number” is an old saying that has been profoundly refuted in “The Marrow of Tradition” by Charles Chesnutt. In the novel, the age of an individual heavily influenced the characters’ beliefs and behaviors. Depending on whether a character was from the newer or older generation, their views about race and the status of their interracial relationships was affected.
In situations dealing with white supremacy and black progression, older individuals, both white and black, tended to be content with keeping blacks in an inferior position. For older blacks, like Sandy and Mammy Jane, their goal was to conform to the standards of whites. They were more likely to be subordinate to whites and desire to stay in low-ranking roles to receive favor from whites. They acknowledged that they were discriminated against because of their race, but they are accustomed to the behavior and learned to accept it. A prime example of this …show more content…
The power shift that occurred at the end of the Antebellum Period was the fuel for the discriminatory attitudes from older whites. It was a sudden change for the older black people as it was for older white people. The old black generation was born in a time where the submission of blacks was common, and with the new freedom granted after the Civil War, they had difficulties adjusting. For the post-antebellum generation, they were born during a period where blacks were starting to establish themselves, although they still had to migrate the prejudice that surrounded their lives. The newer whites were more accepting because blacks began acting more like a white person as they were educated and became entrepreneurs. The latest generation of blacks understood the place society gave them, but they knew that they deserved better than the discrimination they