The Black American Short Story in the 20th Century

by Peter Bruck

  only half-hearte d an d incomplete and that he is finally deprive d of

  the "opportunity fo r direct expiation." 26

  As quote d above , Chesnut t ha d though t o f The Wife of His

  Youth i n term s o f a sermon. "Th e Sheriff' s Children " preache s a

  31

  sermon i n th e sens e tha t i t induce s th e enlightene d whit e reader ,

  to who m i t i s addressed, 27 t o identif y wit h th e sherif f wh o i s

  presented i n very positiv e term s as a courageous, law-abiding, con-

  scientious an d educated man. The sheriffs qualitie s make his moral

  shortcomings appear in an even cruder light,28 an d the reader, who

  had com e t o identif y himsel f wit h him, is made to share in his fall

  and to experience a purging similar to that "clarifyin g o f the moral

  faculty" (90 ) tha t th e sherif f feels . Chesnutt' s i s a fire-and-brim -

  stone sermo n whic h show s no way out of the moral dilemma. The

  attempt t o mak e amend s come s to o late . Injustic e ha s been done

  and it seems irremediable. The impact on the reader who is required

  to go to task with himself, is all the greater.

  Yet, eve n afte r th e sheriff s failing s hav e bee n revealed , th e

  sympathetic narrato r speak s out i n hi s behalf in an authorial com-

  ment: "Bu t th e bailfu l influenc e o f huma n slaver y poisone d th e

  very fountain s o f life , an d create d ne w standard s o f right . Th e

  sheriff wa s conscientious; his conscienc e ha d merel y bee n warped

  by hi s environment. " (88) . Withou t denyin g an y o f th e sheriff' s

  guilt, h e thus places it in a broader perspective, indictin g a system

  to whic h Campbel l ha s fallen prey . Again , the reade r ma y b e led

  to as k himself i f th e influenc e o f th e environmen t i s truly a valid

  attenuating circumstance for Campbell and for himself.

  By choosin g th e sheriff' s poin t o f vie w in th e las t thir d o f th e

  story, Chesnutt ha s diverted th e reader' s attentio n fro m Tom , the

  mulatto. Th e narrato r doe s not perfor m th e rol e o f advocat e fo r

  him, tryin g t o explai n hi s motive s an d solicitin g compassio n o r

  understanding, a s he ha d done in the case of the sheriff. Seen only

  from outsid e excep t i n hi s ow n utterances , Tom's stor y remain s

  untold, although th e narrative offers som e hints as to the dramatic

  potential of the theme.

  Haslam detect s on e o f th e stron g points o f th e stor y i n the ab-

  sence o f thi s theme , whic h i s indeed fraugh t wit h grav e dangers:

  "By emphasizin g th e whit e fathe r rathe r tha n the mulatto son, he

  [Chesnutt] partiall y avoide d th e melodramati c stereotype s whic h

  marred so much of his work."29

  The them e whic h Chesnut t partiall y subdue d i n thi s stor y i s

  that o f th e tragi c mulatto, which cam e ou t of anti-slavery fiction ,

  as Sterling A. Brown ha s shown. The mulattoes in fiction "ar e the

  intransigent, th e resentful , th e mentall y alert , th e proof s o f th e

  Negro's possibilities."30 Th e theme harbors the danger of presenting

  32

  the materia l i n suc h a wa y tha t th e Afro-American' s humanit y i s

  measured i n proportion t o th e "white " blood i n his veins.

  Upon th e completio n o f hi s secon d draf t o f "Rena Walden "

  only a fe w month s afte r th e publicatio n o f "Th e Sheriff s Chil -

  dren," Chesnut t wrot e t o Cabl e o n th e subjec t o f mulattoe s i n

  fiction:

  There are a great many intelligent peopl e who consider the class to which

  Rena and Wai n belon g as unnatural. .. . [a] gentleman remarked t o me in

  substance tha t h e considere d a mulatt o a n insul t t o nature , a kind o f

  monster tha t h e looke d upon with infinite distaste . ... I fear ther e is too

  much of the same sentiment for mulattoes to make good magazine charac-

  ters.31

  Chesnutt wa s doubtles s prompte d b y thes e sentiment s whe n h e

  made th e sheriff' s mora l dilemm a th e centra l concer n o f his stor y

  instead o f choosin g th e equall y availabl e them e o f th e tragi c mu -

  latto. Tom' s majo r functio n i n "Th e Sheriff' s Children " seem s t o

  be that o f th e spar k whic h set s off th e crisis .

  Yet, ther e i s more t o him . When To m firs t appear s in the story ,

  he i s ambiguousl y calle d " a strang e mulatto " (63) , a n epithe t

  which i s reminiscent o f Chesnutt's letter . To m is not only a stranger

  in hi s ow n land , unrecognize d i n al l sense s o f th e wor d an d b y

  everybody includin g hi s father, 32 h e i s als o an abominatio n i n th e

  eyes of th e whites .

  The dilemm a o f th e double-consciousnes s a s define d b y W.E.B .

  DuBois is particularly obviou s fo r th e mulatto . DuBoi s wrote :

  One ever feels his twoness, - a n American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts,

  two unreconcile d strivings ; two warrin g ideal s i n on e dar k body , whose

  dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.

  The histor y o f th e America n Negr o i s the histor y o f thi s strife , — thi s

  longing to attain self-conscious manhood , to merge this double self into a

  better an d truer self. In this merging he wishes neither of the older selves

  to b e lost . .. . H e would no t bleac h hi s Negr o sou l i n a flood of whit e

  Americanism, for he knows that Negr o blood has a message for the world.

  He simply wishes to make it possible for a man to be both a Negro and an

  American, withou t bein g curse d an d spi t upo n b y hi s fellows , withou t

  having the doors of Opportunity closed roughly in his face.33

  Tom i s obviousl y a n individua l wh o doe s no t posses s thi s dogge d

  strength an d wh o is torn asunde r b y th e magnitud e o f th e conflict .

  He i s a tortured , warpe d characte r wh o ha s com e t o tur n hi s

  33

  aggression agains t th e rac e tha t th e custo m o f th e countr y make s

  him a part of , an d thus finally agains t himself. His attitude towar d

  his mother , who , t o hi s mind, has become synonymou s wit h th e

  black race , i s highl y ambivalent . Whil e he pities her an d admire s

  her fo r havin g "ha d enoug h womanhood to call her soul her own"

  (86), he i s at th e sam e tim e ashame d o f her blackness: "You gave

  me you r ow n bloo d .. . and yo u gav e me a black mother . .. . You

  gave me a white man's spirit, and you made me a slave, and crushed

  it out." (85f.). Tom has sought to flee his blackness, as by acquiring

  an education , bu t ha s found tha t hi s blackness stay s with hi m a s

  "a badge of degradation" (87).

  Commenting o n th e inappropriatel y refine d languag e use d b y

  Tom, Hasla m ask s himself "i f Chesnutt has not, in this one respect,

  fallen agai n int o hi s habit o f trying to demonstrate that mulattoe s

  are mor e whit e tha n Negro." 34 Similarly , Bon e feel s tha t "th e

  story doe s no t wholl y escap e fro m th e stereotyp e o f th e tragi c

  mulatto" bu t i s redeeme d b y it s pervasiv e irony. 35 To m doe s

  indeed see m t o confor m t o wha t Brow n ha d calle d th e presen t

  image o f th e tragi c mulatto : "Th e mulatt o is a victim of a divided

  inheritance; fro m hi
s whit e bloo d com e hi s intellectual strivings ,

  his unwillingnes s t o b e a slave ; fro m hi s Negr o bloo d com e hi s

  baser emotiona l urges , his indolence, his savagery."36 W e should,

  however, as k ourselve s if Chesnut t did not intend to criticize Tom

  for hi s own interpretatio n o f his situation, for his inability to turn

  his talent s an d hi s educatio n t o som e goo d purpose , fo r hi s self-

  pitying despair.

  Tom, then , i s vaguel y relate d t o Tourgée's mulatto character s

  towards who m Chesnut t ha d n o charitabl e feelings . I n th e abov e

  quoted lette r t o Cabl e h e writes : "Judg e Tourgée's cultivated

  white Negroe s are alway s bewailing their fate an d cursing the drop

  of blac k bloo d whic h 'taints ' — I hate the word, it implies corrup-

  tion — thei r otherwis e pur e race." 37 Th e only difference seem s to

  be tha t Tom, distorted beyond recognition by the force of circum-

  stance, is more sordid , his fate more sordid than that of Tourgée's

  characters.

  This make s hi m ver y differen t fro m th e saintl y figure s create d

  by younger authors, figures who die a Christlike death on the cross,

  as in W.E.B . DuBois' story "Jesu s Christ i n Texas" or in Langston

  Hughes' poem "Chris t i n Alabama. " Rather , To m dies by his own

  hand, and the pattern of Crucifixion and Resurrection is thoroughly

  34

  perverted. Yet , ther e is an obvious parallel in the story. The action

  takes place a t a weekend, starting with a death on Friday morning

  (one page ) an d endin g wit h anothe r o n Sunda y mornin g (on e

  page). The bul k o f th e stor y i s devoted to the abortive attempt t o

  lynch th e prisone r an d t o the sheriffs soul-searching , which might

  be likened t o a descent int o th e "hell " o f hi s own mind where he

  has to face and overcome his own sinful self. But the parallel is not

  sustained by the characters. The whole story is pervaded by murder,

  near parricide , fratricid e and, finally , suicide . Th e fathe r canno t

  save th e son . Instea d o f a resurrection, w e witness the confirma -

  tion o f death , o f hopelessness . Th e Biblical allusion might be even

  further pursued . Th e deat h o f the old soldier might be assumed to

  represent th e sacrific e mad e b y th e natio n a s a whol e — w e are

  told tha t Branso n Count y wa s robbed o f "th e flower of its young

  manhood" (61) . Th e redemptio n o f th e nation , however , fail s

  miserably, endin g wit h th e deat h o f hi m fo r who m th e sacrific e

  has ostensibly been made.

  Tom's onl y triump h migh t b e tha t h e die s of hi s own fre e wil l

  and thu s i n a wa y assert s hi s manhood , bu t i t i s not muc h o f a

  triumph. "Th e Sheriff' s Children " i s th e firs t sig n o f a n angr y

  strain i n Chesnutt , mor e ofte n tha n not subdued by his gradualist,

  even accommodationist , philosophy . Tom , thoug h no t possessin g

  any of the greatness, vaguely foreshadows a later Chesnutt character,

  Josh Gree n i n The Marrow of Tradition, who would rather die like

  a man than live like a dog.

  The choic e o f th e titl e "Th e Sheriff' s Children " seem s to be at

  odds with th e poin t o f view used in the story, which clearly favor s

  the sherif f a s th e centra l character . However , th e relationshi p

  between th e sheriff' s childre n open s th e wa y t o a deeper , para -

  bolical readin g o f th e story. 38 I t i s important fo r thi s parabolica l

  meaning tha t the y shoul d hav e n o knowledg e o f eac h other' s

  existence, or , t o pu t i t mor e precisely , tha t Poll y shoul d hav e n o

  knowledge o f th e existence of a black half-brother. To m and Polly

  do no t com e full y aliv e i n th e stor y precisel y becaus e the y ar e

  made t o represen t mor e tha n themselve s alone . They are both th e

  heirs o f a fathe r who , b y virtu e o f hi s ambivalence — h e is torn

  between allegianc e t o th e Unio n an d th e Confederac y — , very

  much resemble s Thoma s Jefferso n wh o managed t o reconcile hi s

  authorship o f th e Declaratio n o f Independenc e wit h hi s status o f

  slaveholder an d progenito r o f mulatt o children. 39 Tom , the Afro -

  35

  American, is a s muc h a n hei r t o th e political an d cultura l heritag e

  left b y Campbell , th e Foundin g Father , a s i s Polly , th e Anglo -

  Saxon. Bu t wherea s nobod y wil l dar e questio n th e legitimac y o f

  the latter' s claim , th e former' s i s generally denied . The origina l si n

  is th e father' s failur e t o recognize his son a s his heir, his having lef t

  him ou t o f th e masterplan . Poll y act s ou t a tragi c rol e b y bein g

  instrumental i n th e destructio n o f somebod y wh o i s in reality he r

  brother.

  NOTES

  1. O n these and other stereotype s see Sterling A. Brown, "Negro Character

  as Seen by White Authors," in James A. Emanuel and Theodore L. Gross, edd.

  Dark Symphony: Negro Literature in America (New York, 1968), pp. 139-171.

  2. Rober t Bone , Down Home: A History of Afro-American Short Fiction

  from Its Beginning to the End of the Harlem Renaissance (New York, 1975),

  p. 17.

  3. Ibid.,p.xix.

  4. Fro m Dunbar's famous poem "W e Wear the Mask." Arna Bon temps, ed.,

  American Negro Poetry (New York, 1963), p. 14.

  5. Se e th e followin g interpretatio n o f th e "conjure " stories : Richar d E .

  Baldwin, "The Art of The Conjure Woman," American Literature, 43 (1971),

  385-398. See also Bone, op.cit. , pp. 80f.

  6. Rober t Farnsworth , "Testing the Color Lin e - Dunba r and Chesnutt, "

  in C.W.E. Bigsby, ed., The Black American Writer. Volume I: Fiction (Balti-

  more, 1968), p. 118. See also Bone, op.cit., pp. 1 If., 74 .

  7. Quote d in Helen M. Chesnutt, Charles Waddell Chesnutt: Pioneer of the

  Color Line (Chapel Hill, 1952), p. 13. For all biographical data I am indebted

  to Helen Chesnutt.

  8. Ibid., p. 16.

  9. Ibid.,pAl.

  10. Ibid., p. 21.

  11. Ibid., pp. 68, 69.

  12. Quote d in Sterling A.Brown et ál., edd., The Negro Caravan (New York,

  1969), p. 11. In his review of Chesnutt's stories , William Dean Howells com-

  ments o n th e recen t disclosur e o f hi s racia l identity : "Now , however, it is

  known tha t th e autho r o f thi s stor y i s of negro blood ... " "Mr . Charles W.

  Chesnutt's Stories," Atlantic Monthly, 85 (1900), 699.

  13. I n a letter dated July 15,1899 . Helen Chesnutt, op.cit., p. 112.

  36

  14. The Conjure Woman, Ann Arbor 1969 , p. 121. The Bible demands the

  death penalty fo r him "that stealet h a man and selleth him." Exodus 21;16.

  15. Th e quotation i s from "Th e Sheriffs Children. " The Wife of His Youth

  and Other Stories of the Color Line, Ann Arbor 1968, p. 88. All future page

  references to this story will be given parenthetically in the text.

  16. Hele n Chesnutt, op.cit., p. 58.

  17. Ibid., p. 129. Italics added.

  18. Nanc y Husto n Bank s in Bookman, Feb. 1900; quoted by Helen Chesnutt,

  op.cit, p . 136 . See also Chesnutťs reaction to this type of criticism: ibid.,

  p. 129.

&
nbsp; 19. Branso n Count y i s a fictional name. The scene describe d i n thi s story

  seems to be near that of the "conjure" stories . The Lumberton plank-road is

  mentioned repeatedl y i n The Conjure Woman (e.g . p. 10) and it appears in

  "The Sheriffs Children " (67).

  20. Bon e draws attention t o the "studied paralle l with the opening passages

  of Irving's legend of Sleepy Hollow.'" Op.cit. , p. 95.

  21. Willia m L. Andrews, "The Fiction of Charles W. Chesnutt," Diss., North

  Carolina, Dissertation Abstracts 34 (1974), 6622-A - 6623-A ; p. 80.

  22. Geral d W . Haslam, " The Sheriff' s Children' : Chesnutťs Tragic Racia l

  Parable," Negro American Literature Forum, 2 (Spring 1968) , 23 has justly

  drawn attention t o Chesnutťs "reliance upo n levels of speech usage as a not

  too subtle leitmotif' in this story.

  23. Cf . the reference to the sheriff's "kee n ... eyes" (68).

  24. Henr y James, The Art of the Novel: Critical Prefaces (New York, 1950),

  p. 37.

  25. Bon e holds a different view . Op.cit., p. 97.

  26. Haslam , op.cit., p. 25.

  27. Chesnut t ha d no illusions abou t who his reading public was. See Helen

  Chesnutt, op.cit., pp. 120, 127 .

  28. Cf . Haslam, op. cit. , p. 2 5.

  29. Ibid.

  30. Brown , op.cit., pp. 158f.

  31. Quote d in Helen Chesnutt, op.cit., p. 57.

  32. Bon e draw s attentio n t o the verbal ironie s centering around the words

  "stranger," "identity " an d "recognize " as applied to Tom and to the lynch

  mob. Op.cit., pp. 96f.

  33. W.E.B . DuBois, The Souls of Black Folk (Greenwich, Conn., 1961),p. 17.

  Cf. Chesnutťs remark tha t "th e problems o f mixe d bloo d ... , while in the

  main the same as those of the true Negro , are in some instances much more

  complex an d difficul t o f treatment. " Quote d i n Brown , ed. , Th e Negro

  Caravan, p. 27.

  34. Haslam , op.cit. , p. 24.

  35. Bone , op.cit., p. 97.

  37

  36. Brown , op.cit. , p. 160.

  37. Quote d in Helen Chesnutt, op.cit, p. 58.

  38. Mos t critics have not failed to detect this. Walcott in this context develops

  a paralle l t o th e stor y o f Cai n an d Abe l whic h i s no t ver y convincin g but

  which, in depicting the sheriff's childre n a s "heirs to the same fortune," con-