Charles Waddel Chestnutt's The Wife Of His Youth

Charles Waddel Chesnutt demonstrates the challenges that a mixed African American will come to face during the late nineteenth century in the story “The Wife of His Youth”. The story illustrates how, at the time, african americans were fighting to define their place in society and the societal hierarchy. Unfortunately, mixed children were seen as the outer edges of the African American communities and White Societies; regardless of the education they received, economic success, and their placing in the social hierarchy. Chestnut was able to portray the characters in the light of individuality instead of referring to the stereotypes that were imposed on each different race and social class. Ryder was able to show how this begun a new era; one