The Goophered Grapevine by Charles Waddell Chesnutt
"The Goophered Grapevine" by Charles Waddell Chesnutt is a rich narrative that intertwines two stories, each narrated by different characters. Set in the post-Civil War era, the tale begins with a nameless vintner who relocates to Patesville, North Carolina, due to his wife's health issues. He purchases a plantation that once belonged to a wealthy planter named McAdoo. Upon visiting the vineyard, they meet Uncle Julius, an elderly former slave who shares a captivating tale about the vineyard being "goophered," or bewitched, during the days of slavery.
Julius recounts how the vineyard was cursed to prevent slaves from eating the grapes, leading to a series of events involving Aunt Peggy, a conjure woman known for her magical abilities. The story follows a slave named Henry, whose youth is temporarily restored through a ritual involving grapevine sap. However, this cycle of rejuvenation ultimately leads to tragic consequences for both Henry and the vineyard. Uncle Julius warns the narrator against the dangers of the goophered vines, but his advice goes unheeded, highlighting themes of greed and the complexities of folklore. This intriguing blend of storytelling and cultural commentary makes Chesnutt's work a significant piece in American literature, reflecting on the legacies of slavery and the intersection of magic and reality.
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The Goophered Grapevine by Charles Waddell Chesnutt
First published: 1888
Type of plot: Folktale
Time of work: The American Civil War era
Locale: Patesville, North Carolina
Principal Characters:
The unnamed narrator , a grape growerAnnie , his wifeUncle Julius McAdoo , a former slaveHenry , a slave
The Story
"The Goophered Grapevine" is a story within a story in which each story is told by a different narrator. The first story has a nameless narrator, a vintner who lives in the Great Lakes area during the post-Civil War era. His wife's ill health forces him to move to a warmer climate, so he selects Patesville, North Carolina, as the place to continue his career. He purchases a plantation that formerly belonged to a wealthy planter named McAdoo. One day he takes his wife to see the plantation, and it is at this point that the second story commences.
At the plantation, they encounter an old former slave, who introduces himself as Uncle Julius and informs them, in a strong dialect, that the vineyard on the plantation is "goophered," that is, bewitched. He tells them how the vineyard was goophered during the days of slavery, when old Mr. McAdoo's grapes were being eaten constantly by the slaves from miles around. Despite the best efforts of Mr. McAdoo and his overseer, no one was ever caught. In his desperation, McAdoo appealed to a free black conjure woman, Aunt Peggy, to help him out. Aunt Peggy was renowned far and wide for her ability to conjure, that is, to work magic. After she went into the grapevines and goophered them, she let all the slaves know that any slave who ate grapes from that vineyard would be dead within twelve months.
Shortly after this took place, a new slave by the name of Henry was bought to work on the plantation. No one told him about the goophered vineyard until he had eaten some of its grapes. The overseer took Henry to Aunt Peggy to see if she could do some conjuring to keep him from dying. She told Henry he would be saved if every spring, when Mr. McAdoo began to prune the grapevine, he would scrape the sap from the vine and anoint his bald head with it. Because Henry brought Aunt Peggy a ham on his visit, she told him that he could eat as many grapes as he wished without suffering ill effects as long as he anointed his head as she instructed.
When Henry rubbed the sap on his head, he became young and spry, but by the end of the summer, when the sap began to go down on the grapevines, he got old and stiff once again. This transformation took place regularly over the next few years. Each spring McAdoo sold the youthful Henry for a high price to an unsuspecting buyer and each fall he bought the old Henry back for a song. Henry never revealed the secret of his temporary youthfulness, because he knew that he would be bought back and be well taken care of by McAdoo until his next sale.
McAdoo might have been able to enjoy his game longer had his greed not won out over his good judgement. One year, he followed the advice of a quack on how to improve the productivity of his vineyards and ruined the soil in the process; the vineyard withered and died and so did Henry.
Uncle Julius concluded his story by advising the narrator against buying a goophered vineyard, suggesting that because the old vines were still goophered, death would surely come to anyone who ate from them. The narrator ignores this advice, however. After making his purchase, he learns that Uncle Julius occupied a cabin on the plantation for many years and made a good income from the products of the vineyard—a fact that he believes accounts for the tale of the goophered grapevines.
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.