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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A paper which considers the theme of negro domination in Chesnutt's The Marrow of Tradition, with reference to his treatment of moral and ethical values within the black and white communities and the socio-economic hierarchy of the South. Bibliography lists one source.
Page Count:
3 pages (~225 words per page)
File: JL5_JLmarrow.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
Marrow of Tradition is the complex dynamic which exists between white and black social culture in the South. The concept of "Negro domination", alluded to with such vehemence by the
major and others and castigated as marking the rise to power of an "inferior race" exemplifies, in fact, the fear which the dominant culture experienced at the prospect of black
people achieving social and economic parity. Whilst this attitude could
certainly be defined as racism by any modern interpretation of the term, it must be remembered that for the majority of Southern whites, the idea that black people should be
treated on an equal basis with themselves was simply not a part of their cultural ideology. Generations of slave ownership, justified by various religious and social pseudo-rationalisations, had firmly instilled
in the consciousness of whites that in the hierarchy of social domination, black people could not be allowed to progress beyond a certain level: such a thing was felt to
be against the "natural order" of things, and therefore against all their cultural precepts and beliefs.
Chestnutt skilfully exposes the irony of these attitudes through the interaction between the various family members, where the distinction between "white" and "black" is
shown to be blurred and shaky because of the concealed ancestry of various characters: it is only possible to adopt a position of superiority when one knows for sure that
there is no trace of the "inferior" in ones own make-up. In fact, much of the novel centres on the importance of race in the way that the family is
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