The Marrow of Tradition by Charles Waddell Chesnutt
"The Marrow of Tradition" by Charles Waddell Chesnutt is a poignant exploration of race relations in late 19th-century America, particularly focusing on the events surrounding the Wilmington, North Carolina, race riots of 1898. The narrative centers on Dr. Miller, a skilled black surgeon, and Major Carteret, a white supremacist, whose lives become intertwined through tragedy and irony. The plot delves into the social dynamics of the time, illustrating the stark contrasts and connections between characters of different races, including the militant Josh Green and the moderate Miller, who embodies a desire for a peaceful resolution to racial tensions. The story highlights themes of racial pride, resistance, and the moral complexities faced by individuals in a racially divided society. Chesnutt's portrayal of the brutal realities of racism and his nuanced characters challenge prevailing notions of the time while advocating for a more progressive dialogue on race. Recognized as one of Chesnutt's most significant works, the novel is considered a landmark in the evolution of African American literature towards social realism. Through its intricate character relationships and social commentary, "The Marrow of Tradition" encourages readers to reflect on the enduring struggles for equality and justice in America.
The Marrow of Tradition by Charles Waddell Chesnutt
Excerpted from an article in Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition
First published: 1901
Type of work: Novel
The Work
The main plot of The Marrow of Tradition is based on newspaper and eyewitness accounts of the lynchings that occurred during the election riots in Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1898. Chesnutt added a number of subplots that enabled him to explore a wider range of social issues more thoroughly than the short-story form had permitted. Dr. Miller, a talented black surgeon, and Major Carteret, an aristocratic white supremacist, are somewhat melodramatically brought together when Carteret, having indirectly caused the death of Miller’s child with inflammatory race-baiting editorials that incited riots, calls upon Miller at the end of the book to save the life of his own child. The connection between the two men is ironically underscored by the fact that they are married to half-sisters, one white and one of mixed race. This parallelism of characters from opposite sides of the color line is echoed within the black community by the paralleling of the middle-class, moderate Miller with Josh Green, a militant black laborer.
Miller seems to represent an effort on Chesnutt’s part to find a middle ground that will avoid the extremism of either Green or Carteret. Miller refuses to lead the black community in what he correctly perceives as a hopeless attempt at armed defense against the white lynch mob; at the end of the book, he agrees to help Carteret’s child. Dr. Evans, a youthful white physician who lacks Miller’s expertise and is himself powerless to help the child, ends the book with a cautious optimism about the Carteret child’s condition that the reader is invited to apply as a prognosis for America’s condition with respect to the problems of race relations: “Come on up, Dr. Miller. . . . There’s time enough, but none to spare.”
Despite his evident intent to promote the moderate line, Chesnutt’s involuntary admiration for Green’s courage is unmistakable, and Green’s heroic insistence that “I’d ruther be a dead nigger any day than a live dog” is never convincingly discredited. Even the moderate Miller is acutely aware that Green exemplifies not savagery but love of liberty. While Miller’s wife urges him to help the child, she emphatically refuses to accept her white half-sister’s long-overdue offer to recognize their relationship and to offer financial restitution. Chesnutt’s realistic depiction of the brutalities that kept black citizens in their social places, and his implication that black pride and resistance were appropriate positions, could hardly fail to strike genteel white readers and critics as bitter and excessive. Chesnutt himself considered the novel his best, and later critics have generally found the novel a milestone in the movement of the African American novel toward social realism.
Bibliography
Duncan, Charles. The Absent Man: The Narrative Craft of Charles W. Chesnutt. Athens: Ohio University Press, 1998.
Kulii, Elon A. “Poetic License and Chesnutt’s Use of Folklore.” CLA Journal 38 (December, 1994): 247-253.
Lehman, Cynthia L. “The Social and Political View of Charles Chesnutt: Reflections on His Major Writings.” Journal of Black Studies 26 (January, 1996).
McElrath, Joseph R., Jr., ed. Critical Essays on Charles W. Chesnutt. New York: G. K. Hall, 1999.
McFatter, Susan. “From Revenge to Resolution: The (R)evolution of Female Characters in Chesnutt’s Fiction.” CLA Journal 42 (December, 1998): 194-211.
McWilliams, Dean. Charles W. Chesnutt and the Fictions of Race. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2002.
Pickens, Ernestine Williams. Charles W. Chesnutt and the Progressive Movement. New York: Pace University Press, 1994.
Render, Sylvia Lyons. Charles W. Chesnutt. Boston: Twayne, 1980.
Wilson, Matthew. Whiteness in the Novels of Charles W. Chesnutt. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2004.
Wonham, Henry B. Charles W. Chesnutt: A Study of the Short Fiction. New York: Twayne, 1998.