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Analysis of Charles Chesnutts texts
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Lecture notes on Charles Chesnutt and his link to American literature within the theme of Theories and Approaches.
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● Slave narrative- describes horrors of slavery, from bondage to freedom. Itforms the basis of what we might identify as the 1st African American novel.
● Exposes the hypocrisy of Christianity and the White Race in capturing slaves
and aspects of racism. Explores the absurdity of claiming to be one thing and
acting in another way.
● The non Southern states- affecting all regions of America rather than simply
one area.
● Becomes a way of combating White supremacy narrative of slaves being taken
care of in the plantation. Shatters the image of the plantation as a place of
domesticity and bliss of the slave.
● Politics: hypocrisy of bill of rights, not all men are truly created equal. Goes to
the heart of the founding documents and constitutions of the United States.
Exposes that myth within American culture and society, and that it is a White
supremacist society.
● Slave narrative follows a narrative structure which we may find in the novel.
Has certain points of drama, told from the Slaves perspective. When the slave
is freed they identify as a subject. A structure that moves from development to
a climax which we may associate with the novel, the difference being it is
autobiographical rather than fiction.
● The precursor to the African-American novel.
● Charles Chesnutt: Share a prominent framing device. A narrative structure.
● Framing device takes place after Civil War, but goes back to the experience of
slavery before abolition.
● Narrator as naive, as an outsider. From the North, coming to North Carolina
and speaking to Uncle Julius.
● Late 19th/early 20th century. Most of his audience will be White. Framing
device allows for connection between white audience and black audience.
Wants his audience to relate to at least some people within the story.
● How do white people perceive slavery? Slavery may be abolished but it lives
on in the interactions between people and the structures of society. The ways in
which communication between black and white culture can break down and
can be filled with misunderstandings and power dynamics.
● As an institution slavery is all about power- taking away the slaves freedom,
subjectivity and treating them as sub-human.
● Power dynamics between White narrator and Uncle Julius, the slave
submissive to the narrator.
● Narrator performs and positions himself in a way that meets their expectations
but also asserts authority and power- he has more knowledge of life as a slave.
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