Preview

The Goophered Grapevine

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1509 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Goophered Grapevine
Tremayne Edwards
Dr. Matthew Towles
ENGL 341
11 October 2012 2012
Opposites Attract 2.0 (Extended Version)
During the turn of the latter portion of the nineteenth century, many authors wrote literature with an American Realism approach. An approach that gave others an in depth look at conditions happening in the country. Charles W. Chesnutt was one of them. Chesnutt, author of “The Goophered Grapevine”, writes a story that represents the sentiments of that time: the north was in the south, yet the south was resistant. The reason for this invasion was to reconstruct after the Civil War. This story shows the symbolic relationship, through characters, and even with dialect, of the North and the South during the aftermath of the civil war—the power struggle.
Taking this story apart, literary wise, you cannot help but notice how there is many distinctions between the two parties—thus a part of realism: presenting somewhat realistic views or the conditions. These two characters are used as very interesting representatives of their time. Not only were both sides represented, but they were also represented in a stereotypical way, which sometimes help enlighten the message—the Northerner as an educated man, a fair man who was coming down to start business in the south. Not only was he bringing his business to the south, but also he was buying—taking over—a former business and making the grounds into his own. This was symbolic to the North coming down to the South after the war to help rebuild what was destroyed—just like the former plantation was destroyed, in a sense, and now being reconstructed by someone from the North. While helpful, the North was never really welcomed—which brings me back to the southerner. Julius, a very uneducated man (academically), was a former slave of the same plantation the Northerner was trying to inhabit. Once keen to their intentions, Julius presents an elaborate story to—allegedly—coax the possible future proprietors from buying his

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Charles Chesnut's work, "The Goophered Grapevine" deeply resonates with me, not only for its literary values, but also because it shows deep insight into the complexities of race, identity, and power dynamics in South America. Chesnut's own life experience as a mixed-race man navigating the harsh terrain of racism and discrimination undoubtedly informed his description of these subjects. As a reader, I was impressed by Chesnut's ability to create thought-provoking stories by combining elements of folklore and realism. Chesnut skillfully explores African-American culture and the ways it was used as a means of resistance and survival in the face of oppression through Uncle Julius's characteristics. Chesnut's exploration of the relationship between…

    • 233 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In 1958, a historical narrator by the name of Shelby Foote of Greenville, Mississippi published his first volume of a trilogy series of the history of the American Civil War. Some one thousand pages later, Foote shows his brilliance and quality of vision through the history of a nation in pure shambles, and on the break of certain destruction, and elimination from the face of the earth. Written in Memphis, Tennessee, Foote a native southerner like any other published author faced criticism and critique of his work, especially for focusing on the history of the war by discussing the decisions and actions of conflicts that boiled over into large blood pools on the battle field. Douglass Mitchell, Stuart Chapman, and James Cox developed complex…

    • 1576 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    My annotation examines the traditional social order of southern white men as well as the principles of white supremacy. In chapter 7, Chesnutt examines these elements through the conservations between Dr. Price, Dr. Burns, and Major Carteret concerning Dr. Miller’s assistance in the operation. In this argument, the reader is able to see and contrast the perspectives of a northern liberal white man and the perspective of southern white supremacist. Because I have studied in the past the origin of race and because I currently study the functions of race in present day, I found this portion of the novel to be very interesting. The passage highlights several situations that I had not yet had the time to delve into before reading the novel, such…

    • 176 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Although this book is a novel about the Civil War, it is written through the eyes of the soldiers and generals on both sides, the North and the South. That is the factor that makes it so unique and engaging. It is not a textbook account of the battle, nor does it show the Union troops in a better light than the Confederate troops. Every viewpoint from the great General Lee, to a Union colonel, to a spy, to a British adversary is shown, among others.…

    • 1410 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the story, Faulkner cleverly exposes the problems in the South after the Civil War through the story of the life of Emily Grierson. Faulkner deliberately reverses the order of timeline so that readers easily leave out details of the story; however, this “complicatedly disjunctive time scheme” makes the story more interesting by making the readers string all incidents in the story which seem almost unrelated to each other to find out the content of the story (Dilworth 252). Revolving around the life of Emily, Faulkner’s story reveals the isolation of Emily, her desire to be happy, and the decline of the South. Living in the period of switching from the old to the new, Emily has become a typical victim of that society. Through the tragedy of Emily’s life, Faulkner also highlights the importance of the interaction between the old and the new so that one does not completely brush off the values of the past nor is lost in the new, modern…

    • 1072 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    As the Civil War came to an end, the South experienced an era of changes. One of the most popular speeches, explaining how the post-war South had grown out of its old customs and made progress, was Henry Grady’s The New South. This document is an important historical speech when comparing examinations of how life was for Southerners in the years following the Reconstruction and the Compromise of 1877. Although this speech is very motivational, it differs from the reality of how the South was managing during this time period. Grady’s vision seemed almost too good to be true when covering the stance of the economy, the termination of slavery, and the attitudes of Confederate soldiers after the war.…

    • 705 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck took an interesting point of view to America’s Dust Bowl and Westward movement. It is extremely hard to differentiate from condemning America and telling it like it is. When it becomes hard to tell that’s when I look at who eyes he wrote the story through, the poor. With this thought alone the tone was set instantly that Steinbeck was condemning America, however he showed the glimpses of light that celebrated the people of America.…

    • 565 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    According to Arlin Turner, many Southern texts before Faulkner’s time were ripe with “the thoroughgoing idealization of the planter society”, especially after the Civil War as Southern writers were quick “to defend their way of life which had been destroyed. As they looked with nostalgia to a society which had been swept away” (Turner 126). While these aspects are played with in Faulkner’s novel, it is played with more in the characterizations he makes, particularly with the Compson matriarch, Mrs. Compson. Mrs. Compson is one of the most prominent non-narrating characters in the novel, she plays a large role in setting up the Southern themes that underlie the novel—this is particularly true because she is of an older generation than those narrating the story (each chapter is individually narrated by each of her three sons). Her prominence in the novel is important because, while she does not have a narrative voice within the novel, her presence within it have a strong effect on the actions and mental processes of the characters that do have narrative voice. This…

    • 809 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The novel, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, is a classic American novel about the Great Depression. The novel is written in incalerarly chapters and is about the struggles that migrant workers faced during this time. When Steinbeck was writing his novel, he did lots of research and the struggles he writes about are from real stories. As we look closely at the chapters individually, from the syntax and diction, we are able to conclude the overall purpose of the novel. Steinbeck’s use of parallelism and diction, in chapter 5, supports his message that the farmers were against something they could not take down alone.…

    • 1275 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mark Twain’s The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn is an American masterpiece. Contrary to The Algerine Captive Mark Twain‘s satire and irony is emphasized through the style and the use of the American “vernacular” dialect for the first time as well as the use of the African-American dialect. Therefore Huckleberry Finn remains the work that elevates this onetime rustic humorist into the ranks of literary genius. It is considered by Satirist Dick Gregory once said that Twain “was so far ahead of his time that he shouldn’t even be talked about on the same day as other people Huckleberry Finn is considered as the first American Novel and aimed at forging an American identity independent from the European one. The Novel, hence, satirize the paradoxical issues of slavery and the hypocrisy of the society as well as the deep intuitions of America.…

    • 1160 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Current events spur an author’s imagination and can be the basis for their novels. In The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain and Jubilee by Margaret Walker, the ideologies in the Reconstruction Era are the foundations of their novels. Hence, major social and racial issues derived in the aftermath of the American Civil War immeasurably shaped the purpose of Mark Twain’s and Margaret Walker’s writing.…

    • 755 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The dust bowl was a tragic time in America for so many families and John Steinbeck does a great job at getting up-close and personal with one family to show these tragedies. In the novel, “The Grapes of Wrath”, John Steinbeck employed a variety of rhetorical devices, such as asyndeton, personification and simile, in order to persuade his readers to enact positive change from the turmoil of the Great Depression. Throughout the novel, Steinbeck tells the fictional narrative of Tom Joad and his family, while exploring social issues and the hardships of families who had to endure the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. Steinbeck’s purpose was to challenge readers to look at the harsh realities around them for “the purpose of improvement”. The rhetorical strategies used in the “Grapes of Wrath” elicit a deeper understanding from its readers for the hardships these migrants faced and helped them to fight for a better way. (John Steinbeck, "Banquet Speech," Nobel Foundation, http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1962/steinbeck-speech.html, Accessed 30 August 2013.)…

    • 1767 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    American is known around the world as the land of opportunity, a place where you can follow your dreams. No matter how selfish or farfetched ones dream may be, their goal will always be available. Whether it be the pursuit of the woman of your dreams, like that of Jay Gatsby, or the hunt for something pure and real, like Holden Caulfield. A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, and The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams, exhibit the various types of American lifestyles and the aspiration that surface among each character. The dreams between the characters in the two literary works differ in selfishness, and availability.…

    • 747 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    The Grape Family

    • 2445 Words
    • 10 Pages

    After Gilbert’s father committed suicide his mother went into a deep depression and could not cope with the day to day activities in her family. It was during this time that Gilbert became the head of the household and the primary caregiver not only to his younger siblings but to his mother as well. In dysfunctional families with deficient parents, the children are often robbed of their childhood and learn to ignore their own needs and feelings (Forward, 1989). A complete shift in roles took place because his mother was mentally not capable of giving her children the needed protection, support, or care. According to Minuchin, (1974), the role reversal develops when families are unable to maintain hierarchical generational boundaries in which the parents’ guide and nurture their children and the children seek comfort and advice from their parents.…

    • 2445 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Better Essays

    What They Fought Fo

    • 1443 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The Valley of the Shadow: Two Communities in the American Civil War. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2013.…

    • 1443 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays