Reference no: EM133310027

Assignment:

In his journal in 1880, Charles W. Chesnutt wrote the following: The object of my writings would be not so much the elevation of the colored people as the elevation of the whites--for I consider the unjust spirit of caste which is so insidious as to pervade a whole nation, and so powerful as to subject a whole race and all connected with it to scorn and social ostracism--I consider this a barrier to the moral progress of the American people; and I would be one of the first to head a determined, organized crusade against it. (quoted in Norton Anthology of American Literature: 1865 to the Present p. 481) One of the primary ways that critics and historians talk about Chesnutt's writings is in relation to his desire, as suggested in his journal entry of 1880, to resist and transform "the unjust spirit of caste" that pervaded American society after the Civil War.

For this discussion forum, please read Chesnutt's "The Goopherd Grapevine" and "The Wife of His Youth." Then identify and comment upon at least two (2) details that you feel help further our understanding of how Chesnutt's stories did--or did not--resist and transform the "unjust spirit of caste" mentioned above.