Slavery, Racism, and Social Injustice in "The Goophered Grapevine"

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Slavery, Racism, and Social Injustice in "The Goophered Grapevine"
Chesnutt is among the writers who wrote during the American Revolution or reconstruction after slavery. The primary concern in his writing was to unfold the plight of the neglected ethnic groups like African Americans in the South. "The Goophered Grapevine" is his landmark with its historical, cultural, and social significance, although it is locally colored. A few later, the scholars began to interpret its severer meaning hiding beneath the surface of the pleasurable folk tale.
The author, through various symbols, takes the reader back to the age of slavery and lets them see the extremes of inequality and social injustice in the antebellum South. Then, he presents a contrast between the past and the present to focus on the current era's problems for African Americans, representing all migrants. He also sketches a line between the South and the North in different ages through the behavior patterns of white people and how they always shadowed the black people. While writing this short story about slavery, racism, and social injustice, Chesnutt's concerns are also traceable by reviewing the works of temporary writers.
Besides, the writers like Chopin, Bierce, and Owester also provided simple stories to their audience with a more profound message through a revolutionary protagonist during the reconstruction period. Chesnutt, in "The Goophered Grapevine," denounces slavery and protests against racism and social justice by taking a subtle subject matter and using usual symbols; he unveils the suffering of the blacks in antebellum America and contrasts it with postbellum America while sketching the impact of the northern people on the southern; also, the author's concerns are verifiable by reviewing the contemporary literature.
The story introduces a couple from Ohio searching for a warmer climate for the wife's health issues. After coming to the postbellum South, the husband looked for income resources. Soon, he discovers a plantation and finds it suitable to begin cultivation. On meeting Uncle Julius, the protagonist, an ex-slave on the same plantation, the husband knows a strange story. Julius, an African American, tells the couple that the Grapevine on the plantation is cursed. On further inquiry, it comes out that the owner of this space, McAdoo was "a wealthy man" who grew scuppernong in the antebellum era (Chesnutt). The taste of this fruit was so delicious that the enslaved people who worked on the land stole and ate them when they got a chance. The angry McAdoo tried to solve the issue by asking a conjurer to spellbind the plantation. An enslaved person, Henry bore the results of this magic and asked the conjurer to revise her spell. On revising the spell, he fell victim to McAdoo's greed as he sold and purchased him because he bloomed and withered like grapes in every season.
In the end, Henry dies, parallel to the devastation of the bewitched Grapevine, when McAdoo meets a fraud by a stranger. This story frightens the northern couple. However, they reject it as a tell-tale and risk buying it and starting farming. Their farming experience never shows "any development of the gopher in the vineyard" (Chesnutt). Thus, the devastating land becomes a profitable business again.
Charles W. Chesnutt is the first well-known African American writer descending from free slaves after Civil War in the U.S. he was born in 1858 in Ohio to a couple who returned to their American hometown in Fayetteville following the war (Mason, jr. 77). Thereby, Chesnutt completed his education in his parents' hometown, became a teacher, and made his family. Living in the North, the author was moved by the inequality prevailing in the South and targeting African Americans. He settled his family in Cleveland, studying law and making a legal career. Meanwhile, he got interested in writing short stories focusing on slavery, racism, social injustice, and inequality in society as the core theme. "The Goophered Grapevine" was his historical and social landmark, which made its place in The Atlantic Monthly magazine, which had never published content from a black writer before.
Moreover, the story had so colorful content that the first audience did not interpret it ironically but enjoyed the simplicity of its folk tale. However, later, the scholars discussed the author's objective of unveiling social injustice through subtle tell-tales. After this, he wrote many other short stories and came to the top of African American authors in 1930 (Mason, jr. 78). Chesnutt died in 1932, inspiring many other writers like Baldwin, who came after him.
Chesnutt used subtle content and local colors to convey his concerns around slavery and protest against racism through "The Goophered Grapevine." The first writing work by a black artist was received and published by a well-known monthly journal, The Atlantic. Hence, the author knew that it is vital to attain the reader's attention who is accustomed to the local lifestyle without questioning the stereotypes. Consequently, he used a simple tell-tale filled with magic, greed, punishment, and fraud (Chesnutt). The story's background is ordinary for the reader of The Atlantic because the plantation of grapes, the slave labor, and the master's harsh treatment were the norms of their culture.
Also, believing in witches, magic, and curses was common in their society. The author took advantage of the reader's interest to leave an abstract outcry for equality and justice, particularly in the South. He projects his characters as simple human beings dealing with lust, greed, magic, and tricks. He introduces us to a black narrator who relates the happening of the past in the age of slavery, unfolding its cruel aspects like punishing the same enslaved people for eating grapes who worked to produce it. Likewise, he invites the reader's pity on McAdoo's business through Henry (Chesnutt). On a Meta level, he condemns the inhuman treatment of masters of enslaved Black people in the South, who considered them only products, bringing profit when purchased and sold in the right season (Hovet 86). The author introduces a mythical story to receive appreciation from the typical reader to spread its undercover meaning. He targets to condemn slavery, racism, and inequality, still penetrating American society, particularly in the South in reconstruction. He takes great care to tear the mask of reality on an audience who might not comprehend the evils of racial prejudice in the history of America.
Chesnut's story shows two different dialects, giving the tale local color and conveying a message behind the text. The author gave 11 pages of story to its audience, who were eagerly interested in folklores. The author prescribed different English dialects to its specific characters to catch their interest. The couple from Ohio speaks native English, while the nigger uses the postcolonialism version of English (Chesnutt). On the surface, Chesnutt did not use this language to break the reader's interest and give them a possible original version of the folktale packed with magic, temptation, and trickery. When three characters communicate, the northern couple speaks about how the audience is accustomed to listening to the people of the North.
On the other hand, when Julius speaks, he uses the accent the audience is used to while communicating with niggers. Thereby, they receive an expected version of the English dialect from all the characters, which keeps the story locally fitting. In prescribing different versions of the mother tongue to the characters, Chesnutt has a greater purpose than giving the story local colors. Many scholars discuss the literary idea behind the language used in this story. Following their opinion, the deliberately chosen literary theory is about "the ideology behind" the text (Mulyani 164). The author may have other purposes besides this ideology, but it is more prominent. He wants to invite the reader to comprehend it in the background of postcolonialism. An African American's English is relatable to the events of that age, when the mother language had many versions, particularly under the influence of Barthes (Mulyani 159). Summing up, the language versions used in "The Goophered Grapevine" provide its local color and give insight into the conflicts of postcolonialism. The difference in dialects of characters from different origins provides a lens to racial bias and inequality, intentionally inserted in folklore by the author. The English accent of Uncle Julius mirrors another kind of life and ideology associated with the niggers, which were considered of secondary importance in the society in the age of postcolonialism.
Chesnutt uses common representative symbols to demonstrate his protest against slavery and racism. He constructs characters that metaphorically represent the author's view through dialogues, actions, and traits. For example, McAdoo, the main character of the story, the owner of the Grapevine in the story of Uncle Julius, is an emblem of white dominance of the black race in the antebellum era. He is the master of many enslaved people working to grow grapes. The theft of those grapes by the same enslaved workers shows that they have food problems for their community. In trying to satisfy their appetite by eating fruit, they got severe punishments. The curse inflicted upon them by the conjurer is the most significant punishment for their innocent crime.
Further, the mistreatment of McAdoo with Henry when the women bewitched him indicates the owner's cruelty, selfishness, and greed. On a broader level, McAdoo represents white masters oppressing black enslaved people before the Civil War in the U.S. all he focuses on is his gain without realizing the inhumanness in his attitude toward Henry and other enslaved workers (Rees & Pereira 11). McAdoo also describes the attitude of southern masters toward enslaved Africans to gain profit. These set them on labor, provided them with poor food, and punished them severely for their minor mistakes.
Uncle Julius's protagonist is also a symbol of the suffering the African Americans underwent before and after the Civil War. The first narrator in the story portrays him so that the reader may understand him closely. When he was enjoying nature, he was absorbed in his surroundings. He was "lying under a spreading elm" on "somewhat a hard seat" and "smacking his lips with great gusto," the couples entered and disturbed his peace and fun. It shows how southerners are disturbed by the existence and presence of the northerners in the postbellum South due to prevailing inequality (Chesnutt). Likewise, when he narrates the story and talks about his fellow enslaved people and their plight, he represents all African Americans in the antebellum South who suffered because they have different biographical and geographical identities (Rees & Pereira 11). Shortly, Uncle Julius represents the century's long inequality, oppression, and injustice the black race bore due to white authority in s...