Racism experienced by the blacks and mulattoes in the late nineteenth century United States of America in Chesnutt`s The Marrow of Tradition

RACISM EXPERIENCED BY THE BLACKS AND

MULATTOES IN THE LATE NINETEENTH CENTURY

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IN CHESNUTT’S

THE

MARROW OF TRADITION

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree ofSarjana Sastrain English Letters

By

ANINDYA KOMALA DEWI

Student Number: 094214066

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA 2013

i

RACISM EXPERIENCED BY THE BLACKS AND

MULATTOES IN THE LATE NINETEENTH CENTURY

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IN CHESNUTT’S

THE

MARROW OF TRADITION

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree ofSarjana Sastrain English Letters

By

ANINDYA KOMALA DEWI

Student Number: 094214066

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA 2013

RACISM

MULATTOES

UNITED STA

P. Sarwoto, S.S., M.A Advisor

Dra. A. B. Sri Mulyani Co-Advisor

ii

ASarjana SastraUndergraduate Thesis

EXPERIENCED BY THE BLACKS

OES IN THE LATE NINETEENTH CEN

STATES OF AMERICA IN CHESNUTT’S

MARROW OF TRADITION

By

ANINDYA KOMALA DEWI

Student Number: 094214066

Approved by

M.A., Ph.D. August

ani, M. A., Ph. D. August

A

Sarjana SastraUndergraduate Thesis

S AND

CENTURY

TT’S

THE

ust 13, 2013.

RACISM EX

MULATTOES

UNITED STA

D

Name

Chairperson : Dr. FX

Secretary : Dra. A

Member : Ni Luh

Member : P. Sar

Member : Dra. A

iii

EXPERIENCED BY THE BLACKS

OES IN THE LATE NINETEENTH CEN

STATES OF AMERICA IN CHESNUTT’S

MARROW OF TRADITION

By

ANINDYA KOMALA DEWI

Student Number: 094214066

Defended before the Board of Examiners on August 30, 2013

and Declared Acceptable

BOARD OF EXAMINERS

. FX. Siswadi, M.A.

a. A. B. Sri Mulyani, M. A., Ph. D.

Luh Putu Rosiandani, S.S., M.Hum.

Sarwoto, S.S., M.A., Ph.D.

a. A. B. Sri Mulyani, M. A., Ph. D.

Yogyakarta, A Faculty Sanata Dha De

Dr. FX. Si

KS AND

CENTURY

TT’S

THE

Signature ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________

August 30, 2013 ulty of Letters

harma University Dean

iv

The future belongs to those who

believe in the beauty of their

dreams.

Roosevelt-v

This undergraduate thesis is

dedicated to

vi

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I would like to thank Allah SWT for the blessing, love, spirit,

and help so I could accomplish this undergraduate thesis. I would like to express

my gratitude to my advisor, P. Sarwoto, S.S., M.A., Ph.D. for his advices and

guidance during the work of this thesis. I would also like to express my gratitude

to my co-advisor, Dra. A. B. Sri Mulyani, M. A., Ph. D. for her guidance so I

could correct my mistakes in this thesis. My gratitude goes to my examiner Ni

Luh Putu Rosiandani, S.S., M.Hum for her suggestions to perfect this thesis.

My greatest gratitude goes to my parents who always give me love and

support. Thanks to my brother and sister for encouraging me to finish this thesis.

My special thanks go to my Exception for this unforgettable year of my life.

I would like to express my gratitude to all of the lecturers who have taught

me during my study in Sanata Dharma University. Thanks to all of 2009 English

Letters students for our togetherness during the four years of my college time.

The latest thank goes to all who have helped the writer accomplishes this

thesis. May God repay you for all your kindness.

LEMBAR PERNYA

U

Yang bertanda tangan Nama

Nomor mahasiswa

Demi pengembangan Universitas Sanata Dh

“RACISM EXPERIE LATE NINETEEN CHESN

Beserta perangkat yan kepada Perpustakaan bentuk media lain, me secara terbatas, dan kepentingan akademi royalti kepada saya se

Demikian pernyataan

Dibuat di Yogyakarta Pada tanggal: 9 Septem

Yang menyatakan,

Anindya Komala Dew

vii

YATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KA

UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS

an di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sa : Anindya Komala Dewi

: 094214066

gan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:

RIENCED BY THE BLACKS AND MULAT ENTH CENTURY UNITED STATES OF AM

SNUTT’STHE MARROW OF TRADITION

yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian sa an Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, men mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, m dan mempublikasikannya di internet atau me mis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun

selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebaga

an ini yang saya buat dengan sebenarnya.

ta

ptember 2013

ewi

ARYA ILMIAH

Sanata Dharma :

da Perpustakaan

TTOES IN THE AMERICA IN

N”

saya memberikan engalihkan dalam , mendistribusikan media lain untuk upun memberikan

STA

I honestly declared tha

other people, except t

paper should.

viii

TATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY

that the thesis which I wrote does not conta

pt those cited in this quotations and bibliograph

Yogyakarta, 9 S

Anindya Kom

ontain the work of

phy, as a scientific

9 September 2013

ix

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE... i

APPROVAL PAGE... ii

ACCEPTANCE PAGE... iii

MOTTO PAGE... iv

DEDICATION PAGE... v

AKNOWLEDGEMENTS... vi

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI... vii

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY... viii

TABLE OF CONTENTS………ix

ABSTRACT... xi

ABSTRAK... xii

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION...1

A. Background of the Study... 1

B. Problem Formulation... 5

C. Objectives of the Study ... 5

D. Definition of Terms ... 6

CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW ...7

A. Review of Related Studies ... 7

B. Review of Related Theories ... 9

1. Theory of Character ... 10

2. Theory of Characterization ... 10

3. The Relation between Literature and Society... 10

4. Theory of Racism ... 11

C. Review of Racism in the United States of America in the Late Nineteenth Century ... 11

D.Review of Mulattoes in the United States of America... 16

E.Review of Slavery in the United States of America ... 19

F. Theoretical Framework ... 20

CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY ... 23

A. Object of the Study... 23

B. Approach of the Study... 24

C. Method of the Study... 25

CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS ... 27

A. The Description of the Characters inThe Marrow of Tradition... 27

1. The Description of Sandy Campbell... 27

2. The Description of Josh Green ... 30

3. The Description of Jerry Letlow... 37

x

B. Racism Experienced by the Characters inThe Marrow of Tradition... 46

1. Racism Experienced by Sandy Campbell... 46

2. Racism Experienced by Josh Green ... 49

3. Racism Experienced by Jerry Letlow ... 51

4. Racism Experienced by Dr. Miller ... 55

C. The Reflection of Racism Experienced by The Blacks and Mulattoes in the late Nineteenth Century United States of America ... 62

CHAPTER V CONCLUSION ... 71

BIBLIOGRAPHY...75

xi ABSTRACT

Anindya Komala Dewi. RACISM EXPERIENCED BY THE BLACKS AND MULATTOES IN THE LATE NINETEENTH CENTURY UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IN CHESNUTT’S THE MARROW OF TRADITION.

Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2013.

This study analyzes a work of Charles W. Chesnutt, The Marrow of Tradition. The novel deals with the issue of racism experienced by the Blacks and Mulattoes in the United States of America in the late nineteenth century.

In conducting this study, the writer provides three problems to be answered. The first problem is how the characters are described inThe Marrow of Tradition. The second problem is how racism is experienced by the characters in

The Marrow of Tradition. The third problem is how The Marrow of Tradition

reflects racism experienced by the Blacks and Mulattoes in the late nineteenth century United States of America.

The writer uses library research in conducting this study. To analyze the topic, the writer uses theory of character, characterization, the relation between literature and society, and racism. The writer also uses the review of racism in the U.S.A. in the late nineteenth century, Mulattoes in the U.S.A. and slavery in the U.S.A. The approach used in this study is sociocultural-historical approach.

From the analysis, the writer finds that of the four colored characters, some characters like the Whites while some others do not. They experience some practices of racism such as racial segregation, lynching, being attacked by the Ku Klux Klan, being hindered to vote, and being attacked in the race riot. The writer finds that the experiences of the four characters reflect racism experienced by the Blacks and the Mulattoes in the United States of America in the late nineteenth century. The writer also finds that on the one hand, Mulattoes got an advantage; unlike the Blacks, they got higher education. However, on the other hand, they got racist treatment from the Whites just like the Blacks did.

xii ABSTRAK

Anindya Komala Dewi. RACISM EXPERIENCED BY THE BLACKS AND MULATTOES IN THE LATE NINETEENTH CENTURY UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IN CHESNUTT’S THE MARROW OF TRADITION.

Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2013.

Penelitian ini menganalisis karya Charles W. Chesnutt yang berjudul The Marrow of Tradition. Novel tersebut berkaitan dengan persoalan rasisme yang dialami oleh orang kulit hitam dan Mulatto di Amerika Serikat pada akhir abad kesembilan belas.

Dalam menyusun penelitian ini, penulis menyiapkan tiga permasalahan untuk dijawab. Permasalahan yang pertama adalah bagaimana para tokoh digambarkan di The Marrow of Tradition. Permasalahan kedua adalah bagaimana rasisme dialami oleh para tokoh di The Marrow of Tradition. Permasalahan yang ketiga adalah bagaimana The Marrow of Tradition mencerminkan rasisme yang dialami oleh orang kulit hitam dan Mulatto di Amerika Serikat pada akhir abad kesembilan belas.

Penulis menggunakan studi pustaka dalam menyusun penelitian ini. Untuk menganalisis topik, penulis menggunakan teori karakter, karakteristik, teori hubungan antara sastra dan masyarakat, dan teori rasisme. Penulis juga menggunakan ulasan tentang rasisme di Amerika Serikat pada akhir abad kesembilan belas,Mulattodi Amerika Serikat dan perbudakan di Amerika Serikat. Pendekatan yang digunakan di penelitian ini adalah pendekatan sejarah dan sosial-budaya.

Dari analisis, penulis menemukan bahwa dari keempat tokoh kulit berwarna, beberapa tokoh menyukai orang kulit putih, sedangkan beberapa tokoh lainnya tidak menyukai orang kulit putih. Mereka mengalami praktek rasisme seperti segregasi ras, lynching, diserang oleh Ku Klux Klan, dihalang-halangi ketika akan mengikuti pemilihan umum, dan diserang di kerusuhan ras. Penulis menemukan bahwa pengalaman-pengalaman keempat tokoh tersebut mencerminkan rasisme yang dialami oleh orang-orang kulit hitam dan Mulattodi Amerika Serikat pada akhir abad kesembilan belas. Penulis juga menemukan bahwa di satu sisi, para Mulatto mendapatkan keuntungan; tidak seperti orang kulit hitam, mereka mendapatkan pendidikan yang tinggi. Akan tetapi, di sisi yang lain, seperti orang kulit hitam, mereka mendapatkan perlakuan rasis dari orang kulit putih.

1 CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

According to Humes, Jones, and Ramirez in “Overview of Race and

Hispanic Origin: 2010 Census Briefs,” there are six races categories in the United States: “White, Black or African American, American Indian or Alaska Native,

Asian, and Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander” and “Some Other Race”

(2011: 2). The following quotation defines the six races categories.

“White” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa. “Black or African American” refers to a person having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa. “American Indian or Alaska Native” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America). “Asian” refers a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent. “Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands. “Some Other Race” includes all other peoples not included in the White, Black or African American, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, and Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander. Multiracial, mixed, interracial, or a Hispanic or Latino group are included in this category (Humes et al., 2011: 3).

In the 2010 US census, the largest racial group is White (223.6 million),

“accounting for 72 percent of all people living in the United States” (2011: 4). It

means that all racial groups other than White are the minorities. The minorities

often experience the practice of racism from the majority because they are

different. One of the differences is their physical appearance. Unlike the Whites

skin, frizzly hair, and flat nose” (Boas, 1955: 4). Another racial minority is the

Asians who have “flat faces and straight black hair” (1955: 4).

The difference of physical appearance can cause the majority think that

minorities are inferior. They think that the minorities have lower intelligence.

However, this is not true. According to Franz Boas in his book Race, Language, and Culture, Professor Garth makes a research on relationship between race and intelligence. The professor draws conclusion that “it is not possible to prove a

difference due to genetic factors” and that the difference in intelligence is due to

“differences in social environment” (1955: 11).

The majorities often think that the minorities have bad behavior. This is

not true, either. There is no relationship between race and behavior. “From Waitz

on, through Spencer, Tylor, Bastian, to our times, ethnologists have not given

serious attention to race, because they find cultural forms distributed regardless of

race” (1955: 13). They find that the North American Indians are stoic and ready to

endure pain and torture without a murmur (1955: 13). However, this not because

they are Indians, but this is because they live in a culture that “demands repression

of emotion” (1955: 13).

In the case of black people, the practice of racism against them is not only

because the Whites think that the Blacks have lower intelligence and bad behavior

but it is also because during the slavery time, black people were the slaves.

According to Blum, et al. in The National Experience: a History of the United States, after 1815, the economy of American South depended on the cultivation of cotton and slaves brought higher return on investment (1985: 207). Cotton was a

profitable crop because the price was high. The owner of a plantation could make

big profit by “exploiting the labor of black slaves” so the production costs were

low and by selling the cotton for a high price (1985: 207).

During the slavery time, slaves were considered as valuable property. For

the masters, the possession of slaves brought great prestige. If there was a person

who owned a plantation in which the workers were the slaves, he was considered

as a successful person (1985: 209). Because slaves were considered as property,

they were treated badly. They were overworked and were given monotonous food

(1985: 210).

Slavery in the United States of America was abolished in 1865

through Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

(http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=40). However, the

treatment toward black people was not improved. They experienced the practice

of racism from the Whites who thought that the Blacks were inferior race. There

were laws that forced the segregation between Blacks and Whites on the public

transportation (Boyer, et al, 1990: 756). Another practice of racism was lynching.

According to Amy Louise Wood in Lynching and Spectacle: Witnessing Racial Violence in America, 1890-1940, “hundreds, sometimes thousands, of white spectators gathered and watched as their fellow citizens tortured, mutilated and

hanged or burned” (2009: 1). The majority of the lynching victims were black

men (2009: 4). The horrifying violence was representation of “racial hierarchy”

that is powerful Whites and helpless Blacks (2009: 2). Lynchings took place most

The practice of racism is also experienced by mixed-race people. One of

them is the mulatto. Being a mulatto means having both African and European

ancestry (Reuter, 1928: 36). However, because of the “one drop rule,” one drop of

Black blood makes a person Black, they are considered Blacks (Hickman, 1997:

1163). The law of Virginia that was enacted in 1785 and continued to apply

through nineteenth century gave the definition of a Negro: “a person with a black

parent or grandparent” (Zackodnik, 2001: 433). The law made a person who had

at least one quarter African blood a Negro or Black. Consequently, in the

eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, southern courts treated a Mulatto as

discriminatively as black people (Bodenhorn, 2002: 25).

Racism against black people and Mulattoes inspires some authors to write

novels about it. One of the novels that tell about racism against black people and

Mulattoes is The Marrow of Tradition that was written by Charles W. Chesnutt. The novel tells about Southern society that discriminates black people and

Mulattoes in the late nineteenth century. There are various characters in the novel

that experience the practice of racism. The experiences of practice of racism that

are depicted inThe Marrow of Traditionbecome the focus of this study.

There are two reasons why the writer chooses Chesnutt's The Marrow of Tradition to analyze. The first reason is that the novel took place in the late nineteenth century when the practice of racism, including racial segregation, was

of America. The second reason is that there are various characters in the novel that

experience the practice of racism.

To analyze racism experienced by the Blacks and Mulattoes in the late

nineteenth century United States of America in Chesnutt’s The Marrow of Tradition, the writer uses sociocultural-historical approach. The approach is used because this study is related to the social, cultural, and historical background of

Blacks and Mulattoes in the United States of America.

B. Problem Formulation

Based on the above discussion, there are three problems that can be

formulated as follows

1. How are the characters described inThe Marrow of Tradition?

2. How is racism experienced by the characters inThe Marrow of Tradition? 3. How doesThe Marrow of Traditionreflect racism experienced by the Blacks and Mulattoes in the late nineteenth century United States of America?

C. Objectives of the Study

This study has three main objectives. The first objective is to see how the

characters are described in The Marrow of Tradition. The second objective is to find out how racism is experienced by the characters inThe Marrow of Tradition.

The third objective is to discover how The Marrow of Tradition reflects racism experienced by the Blacks and Mulattoes in the late nineteenth century United

D. Definition of Terms

According to Donald Light, Suzanne Keller, and Craig Calhoun in

Sociology, racism is “the doctrine (or a policy based on the doctrine) that some races are inherently inferior and some inherently superior to others” (1989: 352).

Therefore, racism is a belief that some races are better than the others.

Mulatto is a person of “mixed Negro-white ancestry.” “It includes

individuals one of whose parents is Negro and the other white as well as

individuals one of whose parents, or both, is of mixed blood” (Reuter, 1928: 36).

7

CHAPTER II

THEORETICAL REVIEW

A. Review of Related Studies

In this subchapter, the writer reviews three studies. Two of them analyze

The Marrow of Tradition like this study does while one of them analyzes the similar topic to that of this study that is racism. The first study titled Why Whites Riot: The Race Riot Narrative and Demonstrations of Nineteenth Century Black Citizenship was conducted by Ebone McFarland. The second study titled Black Benefactors and White Recipients: Counternarratives of Benevolence in Nineteenth-Century American Literature was conducted by Marie L. Troppe. The last study titledRacism and Women’s Liberation in Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sunwas conducted by Andreanus Radhityo Cahyo Utomo.

In his graduate thesis Why Whites Riot: The Race Riot Narrative and Demonstrations of Nineteenth Century Black Citizenship, McFarland argues that the author ofThe Marrow of Tradition, Chesnutt, “revises Southern custom”:

Through the Miller family, Chesnutt revises Southern custom. In white Southern memory, blacks are traditionally characterized as lacking economic, social, and political power. Chesnutt presents the Millers as occupying a black middle class position, challenging the assumption that there is a natural link between privilege and whiteness (2011: 57).

The above quotation tells that by presenting the Miller family who are black

middle class citizens, Chesnutt wants to show that unlike what white Southerners

think, Blacks are not always poor.

In her dissertation Black Benefactors and White Recipients: Counternarratives of Benevolence in Nineteenth-Century American Literature,

Marie L. Troppe argues that Chesnutt wants to highlight the importance of black

newspapers:

The character of Carteret overlooks the achievement of the black newspaper in Wellington because of its small size, the poor quality of the paper upon which it is printed and its preponderance of advertisements. Having thrown the newspaper there earlier in the day “without looking at it,” Carteret retrieves from the wastebasket an “eighteen by twenty-four sheet, poorly printed on cheap paper” and mocks it as “an elegant specimen of journalism.” Chesnutt metaphorically retrieves what Carteret considers trash, imbuing it with redeeming value, observing that “it was not an impressive sheet in any respect, except when regarded as the first local effort of a struggling people to make public expression of their life and aspirations” as written by a “class to whom, a generation before, newspapers, books, and learning had been forbidden fruit.” By adding this context through the narrator, Chesnutt expands the criteria by which to judge the black newspaper from mere appearance to what it represents—a community speaking with a collective voice, having overcome a lack of educational opportunity, and with the capacity to create a community asset on their own, without white supervision or philanthropy (2012: 156).

Therefore, Chesnutt wants to highlight the importance of black newspaper

because it represents the progress of the black people—having a newspaper to

express their opinions and aspirations without the help of white people.

Andreanus Radhityo Cahyo Utomo in his thesis Racism and Women’s Liberation in Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun critiques the topic of racism: “Mama migrated to Chicago from the South because of racial

discrimination against blacks at that time. Many blacks are lynched without a

lawful trial. Without an obvious reason and enough proof, black people are

hanged by whites” (2003: 35). Racial discrimination is seen in the novel when one

of the characters, Mama, is afraid that she will be lynched by whites so she moves

from the South to Chicago. She is afraid because many Blacks are lynched

they are black. The novel shows that racial discrimination can be in the form of

murder.

This study has one similarity to the two previous studies. It analyzes

Chesnutt’sThe Marrow of Traditionlike they do. However, this study is different from the two previous studies because it only analyzes Chesnutt’s The Marrow of Tradition while they analyze some novels and The Marrow of Tradition is only one of them. Moreover, this study analyzes a different topic from that of the two

previous studies. It analyzes racism experienced by the Blacks and Mulattoes in

the late nineteenth century United States of America in Chesnutt’sThe Marrow of Tradition while the two previous studies analyze the race riot narrative and demonstrations of nineteenth century black citizenship and counternarratives of

benevolence in nineteenth-century American literature respectively. This study

analyzes a similar topic to that of the third previous study that is racism. However,

this study analyzes a different novel from that of the third previous study. It

analyzes Chesnutt’s The Marrow of Tradition while the third previous study analyzes Lorraine Hansberry’sA Raisin in the Sun.

B. Review of Related Theories

In this subchapter, the writer reviews some theories that are needed to

answer the problems stated in the problem formulation. Those theories are the

theories on character, characterization, the relation between literature and society,

1. Theory of Character

In A Glossary of Literary Terms, Abrams and Harpham define characters as follows

Characters are the persons represented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the reader as possessing particular moral, intellectual, and emotional qualities by inferences from what the persons say and their distinctive ways of saying it-the dialogue-and from what they do-the action (2009: 42).

Thus, the characters are the persons in a work whose characteristics are reflected

in the dialogue and in the action.

2. Theory of Characterization

In A Handbook to Literature, William Harmon and Hugh Holman define characterization as the creation of imaginary persons in fictions (2009: 95).

According to M. J. Murphy in Understanding Unseens: An Introduction to English Poetry and the English Novel for Overseas Students (1972: 161-173), there are nine ways that can be used by an author to show the characteristics of the

characters. They are personal description, character as seen by another, speech,

past life, conversation of others, reactions, direct comment, thoughts, and

mannerisms.

3. The Relation between Literature and Society

According to Rene Wellek and Austin Warren inTheory of Literature, works of literature are social documents. They are pictures of social reality (1956: 102).

A literary work can represent the social situation when the work is being written.

They also argue that “literature can be made to yield the outlines of social history”

history. It is because a literary work can represent an era or century, e.g.

Elizabethan era, Victorian era, and eighteenth century.

4. Theory of Racism

According toThe New Encyclopædia Britannica, one of the manifestations of the practice of racism is physical segregation (1983: 360). Another

manifestation of the practice of racism is racial endogamy that is marrying within

one’s own racial group (1983: 360). The practice of racism can also be in the form

of commensality that is rules determining with whom one may or may not eat

(1983: 360). Another manifestation of the practice of racism is limitation of the

rights of some racial groups to get access to “essential services – housing,

education, employment, and health facilities” (Archer, 2000: 3-4).

There are two types of racism: individual and institutional racism.

Individual racism is racism that is practiced by individuals. Institutional racism is

“when organizational programs or policies work to the benefit of white people and

to the detriment of people of color” (http://www.seattle.gov/rsji/why.htm).

C. Review of Racism in the United States of America in the Late Nineteenth

Century

In the United States of America, there were Jim Crow laws. Jim Crow

laws are “legal enactments adopted by Southern states after Reconstruction to

enforce segregation of Whites and Blacks in schools, public transportation,

theaters, hotels, and restaurants” (The Encyclopedia Americana: International Edition, 1995: 92). The law enforced the “separate but equal” accommodations. It means that railroad companies “had a right to segregate their passengers if they

provided for blacks accommodations precisely equal in all respects to those

provided for whites holding similar tickets” (Riegel, 1984: 29). However, in

reality, there were many Blacks admitted that they were forced to use “segregated

accommodations which were generally inferior to comparable white

accommodations of the same price” (Riegel: 1984: 25). Moreover, the law did not

really impose Whites: Whites who smoked or had second-class tickets were

allowed to sit in the Jim Crow car (Riegel, 1984: 27).

According to Boyer, et al, in The Enduring Vision: A History of the American People, Jim Crow laws did not only force the segregation on train but it also forced the segregation on other places: “A tangle of local ‘Jim Crow’ laws

imposed strict segregation on streetcars, trains, schools, parks, public buildings,

and even cemeteries. In some courts, black and white witnesses took the oath on

separate Bibles!” (1990: 756). Therefore, because of Jim Crow laws, there was

segregation on streetcars, trains, schools, parks, public buildings, cemeteries, and

Bibles.

Another practice of racism was that black people got different facilities.

“The facilities provided for blacks, including the schools, were invariably far

inferior. With a few exceptions, labor unions excluded black industrial workers,

while skilled black craftsmen earned about one-third less than whites” (1990:

756). The quotation shows that facilities for black people were far inferior and that

“black craftsmen earned about one-third less than whites.”

Another practice of racism is lynching. According to Amy Louise Wood in

although the victims of lynching were not only Blacks but were also “white men;

Native Americans; Chinese, Mexican, and other immigrants” the majority of the

victims were black men (2009: 3-4). Because of that, most Americans in the late

nineteenth century “understood lynching as a southern practice and as a form of

racial violence that white mobs committed against African American men”

(Wood, 2009: 4). “Lynching is understood to be just and necessary retributions

against abominable crimes” (2009: 7). When an unexplained crime was

committed in a Southern community, Whites always thought that the criminal was

a black man. It is because many white Southerners believed that black men often

committed acts of violence and “sexual transgression” (Wood, 2009: 6). The

victims of lynching were usually hanged or burned in front of thousands of

spectators (Wood, 2009: 21). Lynching was not only reported in newspapers, it

was also retold via pamphlets, popular stories, ballads, and motion pictures

(Wood, 2009: 9). Southern newspapers also promoted lynching by telling

“stories of black crime” (Wood, 2009: 6). Lynch mobs “saw themselves not as

criminals or defilers of the law but as honorable vindicators of justice and popular

sovereignty” that fulfill their “rights as citizens to punish crimes against their

communities” (Wood, 2009: 24). The defenders of lynching “saw the violence as

an inevitable and justifiable substitution for capital punishment in particular

because the legal system bestowed too many rights on black criminals and offered

too little respect for white victims” (Wood, 2009: 25). Although the purpose of

lynching was to punish crimes, usually white criminals were not lynched;

instead (Wood, 2009: 26). Therefore, it was believed that black men were

criminals and that lynching was a just punishment for them.

There was an organization called Ku Klux Klan that did the practice of

racism frequently. It was established in 1866. The following quotation is the

definition of Ku Klux Klan according to anti-Ku Klux law cited by Stanley F.

Horn in his bookInvisible Empire: The Story of the Ku Klux Klan 1866-1871: A secret organization of men, who, under the cover of masks and other grotesque disguises, armed with knives, revolvers and other deadly weapons, do issue from the place of their rendezvous…generally in the late hours of the night, to commit violence and outrage upon peaceable and law-abiding citizens, robbing and murdering them upon the highways, and entering their houses, tearing them from their homes and the embrace of their families, and, with violent threats and insults, inflicting on them the most cruel and inhuman treatment…disturbing the public peace, ruining the happiness and prosperity of the people, and in many places over-riding the civil authorities, defying all law and justice (1939: VII).

Therefore, Ku Klux Klan is a secret organization in which the members wear

masks to disguise and have weapons to commit violence, usually in the late night.

Ku Klux Klan did not commit violence without reasons. They had goals:

suppressing black voting and reestablishing white supremacy (Boyer, et al, 1990:

544). The members of Ku Klux Klan attacked “white Republicans, black militia

units, economically successful blacks, and black voters.” They attacked white

Republicans because the Republicans supported the Blacks. One of the forms of

their support is forming “state militia, in which blacks were often heavily

presented” (1990: 543). In 1868, a white Republican made a speech in front of

many Blacks in Huntsville in which he urged the Blacks to shoot the Ku Klux

members attacked the place where the speech was held. They killed 2 people and

wounded 5 people (1939: 134). In 1871, the Ku Klux Klan members burned

several black schoolhouses (1939: 152). The Ku Klux Klan members were also

“robbing and plundering the weak and defenseless negroes” (1939: 144). In 1871,

a white man called John Coleman was threatened by a Ku Klux Klan member that

he would be killed because he taught at a Negro school (1939: 137-138). Thus, the

Ku Klux Klan did not only attack Blacks but they also attacked Whites who

helped Blacks.

Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution that was

enacted in 1870 stated: “The right of citizens of the United States to vote

shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on

account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude”

(http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?doc=44&page=transcript). However,

Blacks and Mulattoes could not vote freely because in the 1898 campaign,

Democrats used some tactics “to keep black Republicans away from the polls”

(Wright, et al, 2006: 95).

There was an event called Wilmington Race Riot that happened on

November 10, 1898 (Wright, et al, 2006: 122). It was planned to “suppress the

African American and Republican communities,” but the riot “grew into

unplanned bloodshed” (Wright, et al, 2006: 122). According to Dr. Jeffrey Crow,

deputy secretary of the N.C. Office of Archives and History as cited by Easley and

Evans, “The Wilmington Race Riot was not a spontaneous event, but was

Wilmington” (2005: 1). In their campaign that triggered the riot, Democrats used

Alexander Manly’s editorial that “challenged the popular notion among southern

judges and legislators that interracial sex was rape” ” (Lowery, 2006: 349). As a

result of the riot, there were black men who were killed or wounded throughout

the day because of the firing of rifles from “a mob of up to 2,000 Whites” (Easley

and Evans, 2005: 2). During the day, “the Red Shirts and the White Government

Union clubs,” the supremacist groups, “regularly brandished weapons while

marching through black neighborhoods” (Easley and Evans, 2005: 2). The total

death toll of the riot was as high as 250 (http://ncpedia.org/wilmington-race-riot).

Moreover, there were black and Mulatto men who were banished on November

10, 1898. There were two categories of black and Mulatto men who were

banished: “First, were the African American leaders who were vocal supporters of

full participation in government by blacks and open opponents of the white

supremacy campaign. Second were African American businessmen and

entrepreneurs whose financial successes were galling to the white upper and

working classes (Wright, et al, 2006: 158).

D. Review of Mulattoes in the United States of America

The legal records of the first Mulatto in the United States “are few and not

a model of judicial explication” but there were some documents about it

(Hickman, 1997: 1172). In 1632, “Captain Daniel Elfrye was reprimanded by his

employer for too freely entertaining a mulatto” (Hickman, 1997: 1172).

Although the first formal statutes that prohibited interracial mating were

before in which white men were punished for having interracial mating. One of

those cases was Robert Sweat’s in 1640. He had to do public penance because he

had a child with “a negro woman servant” (Hickman, 1997: 1173).

The first legal statute concerning Mulatto appears in 1656. Called In Re Mulatto, the statute states: “Mulatto held to be a slave and appeal taken.” Although a Mulatto has European ancestry, “the court found that the European

ancestry made no legally significant difference at all” so he/she got racial

discrimination (Hickman, 1997: 1174).

In the late nineteenth century, Mulattoes got both advantages and

disadvantages. One of the advantages they got was that many Whites considered

them to be superior to the full-blood Negroes and gave them better treatment.

“Proprietors generally preferred mulattoes as house servants and plantation

tradesmen and gave them more opportunities to acquire skills for these

occupations than they gave the other slaves.” Mulattoes were also “provided some

education, enjoyed good food, clothing, and shelter.” Sometimes they also had an

authority as plantation managers (Toplin, 1979: 192). Furthermore, “masters

chose mulattoes for household duties because the mixed race was more

susceptible to improvement and could handle tasks requiring higher capabilities”

(Toplin, 1979: 194).

Another advantage was that they usually “rose higher on the occupational

hierarchy sooner and accumulated significantly more wealth” than Blacks. They

also had better access “to food, health care, housing, and clothing” (Bodenhorn,

Another advantage that the Mulattoes got was that they were more likely

to hold professional and “proprietorial jobs than Blacks” although Mulattoes are

much fewer than Blacks (Engerrand, 1978: 208). Furthermore, “in general the

economically prosperous, the socially prominent, and the educated, intellectual,

and professional groups are chiefly mulatto” (Reuter, 1928: 37).

Besides their better occupation, the Mulattoes also had higher literacy rate

than Blacks. 40 percent of Mulattoes could read and write while “only one third of

the Blacks had these skills” (Engerrand, 1978: 208).

There were more Mulattoes “who have risen to some measure of national

reputation” than Blacks. Some of them are: “Frederick Douglass, anti-slavery

agitator and politican [SIC]; Ira Aldridge, actor; Charles W. Chesnutt, novelist;

Henry O. Tanner, artist; Booker T. Washington, educator and race politican [SIC];

Bert Williams, comedian” (Reuter, 1928: 37).

There were more Mulattoes occupying position as government officials

than Blacks. There were two Negroes who were members of United States Senate;

both are mulattoes. There were twenty Negroes who were “members of the

National House of Representatives;” seventeen were Mulattoes (Reuter, 1928:

38).

The Mulattoes also got some disadvantages. One of the disadvantages was

that they were treated as Blacks. “For generations,” there has been a rule,

informally known as “one drop rule,” which means “one drop of Black blood

makes a person Black.” The rule is formally known as “hypodescent” and the

(Hickman, 1997: 1163). Degler made a research on “cases decided by southern

courts in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries” and found that “blacks and

mulattoes were, as far as southern law and southern society was concerned, one

and the same” (Bodenhorn, 2002: 25). Thus, the Mulattoes were considered

Blacks and consequently, they got racial discrimination like Blacks did.

According to the law of Virginia enacted in 1785, a Negro is “a person

with a black parent or grandparent.” Before the enactment of the law, “a mulatto

could posses up to one half African blood, but with this law’s enactment all

persons possessing one quarter African blood or more were considered Negroes.”

The law continued to apply “through the nineteenth century” (Zackodnik, 2001:

433). The law confirmed that Mulattoes were treated as Blacks.

White people usually considered a Mulatto to be “just another nigger” and

“drove the mulattoes into the arms of the blacks, no matter how hard some tried to

build a make-believe third world for themselves” (Toplin, 1979: 186).

Consequently, Mulattoes were refused “in any social relationship to which other

Negroes are ineligible” (Reuter, 1928: 40). Therefore, because they were

considered Blacks, Mulattoes experienced racial discrimination like Blacks did:

they were refused in some social relationships.

E. Review of Slavery in the United States of America

Racism in the United States of America is related to the history of slavery

in the country. According to Paul F. Boller, Jr. and Ronald Story inA More Perfect Union: Documents in U.S. History, slavery in USA began in 1619 when a Dutch trader brought twenty ‘Negars’ from Africa and sold them in Jamestown (1984:

24). Since then, slaves were very important in the United States especially in the

South. The economy of the South depended on agriculture and the slaves were

needed to work in the cotton, tobacco, and sugar plantations. According to

Current, et al, inAmerican History: a Survey, in 1700s, many tobacco plantations in the Chesapeake region employed hundreds of slaves (1979: 67). Nelson

Manfred Blake in A Short History of American Life tells about the tasks of black people: “Plowing, planting, thinning, hoeing, and picking under the broiling sun

were tasks which white men could do if they had to but which they gladly

relinquished to Negroes” (1952: 160). Therefore, the tasks of black people are

“plowing, planting, thinning, hoeing, and picking under the broiling sun.”

According to Blake, slaves were often mistreated: “Negroes might be

overworked and mistreated. Slave women might become the paramours of

overseers or masters. Husbands were often separated from their wives and

children from their parents” (1952: 164). Thus, slaves were mistreated because

they were overworked, were separated from their spouse, children, and parents

and they became the paramours of overseers or masters.

F. Theoretical Framework

To analyze the racism experienced by the Blacks and Mulattoes in the late

nineteenth century United States of America in Chesnutt’s The Marrow of Tradition, the writer uses sociocultural-historical approach. It means that the writer uses the theories on social, cultural, and historical background of The Marrow of Tradition. Therefore, the writer uses the theory of racism and reviews

of racism in the United States of America in the late nineteenth century,

Mulattoes, and slavery in the United States of America.

The writer has formulated three problems to analyze the topic. The first

problem is how the characters are described in The Marrow of Tradition. The second problem is how the practice of racism is experienced by the characters in

The Marrow of Tradition. The third problem is how The Marrow of Tradition

reflects racism experienced by the Blacks and Mulattoes in the late nineteenth

century United States of America. To answer the problems, the writer uses

theories of character, characterization, relation between literature and society, and

racism. The writer also uses the reviews of racism in the United States of America

in the late nineteenth century, Mulattoes in the United States of America, and

slavery in the United States of America. The theories of character and

characterization are used to help the writer understands the characters in the novel.

The theory of relation between literature and society is used to help the writer

understands that literature can represent society. The theories of racism is used to

help the writer understands the manifestations of the practice of racism. The

review of racism in the United States of America in the late nineteenth century is

used to help the writer understands the practice of racism that was experienced by

the Blacks in the United States of America in the late nineteenth century. The

review of Mulattoes in the United States of America is used to help the writer

understands the attitudes of white people toward Mulattoes in the United States of

America. The review of slavery in the United States of America is used to help the

writer analyzes racism revealed in The Marrow of Traditionto see how it reflects racism that really happened in the United States of America in the late nineteenth

century.

Below is the diagram that illustrates the theoretical framework:

0

Racism

Racism in the United States of America in the late

nineteenth century

Chesnutt’sThe Marrow of Tradition

-Character -Characterization

Results

Sociocultural-historical

approach

-_{Racism in the U.S.A. in}

the late nineteenth century

-Mulattoes in the U.S.A. - Slavery in the U.S.A. - The

relation between literature and society -Racism

23

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

A. Object of the Study

The object of this study is The Marrow of Tradition, a novel written by Charles W. Chesnutt. The novel consists of 465 pages. It was first published by

Houghton, Mifflin and Company in 1901. The novel used in this study is

published by Bedford/St. Martin’s in 2002.

Set in the fictional town of Wellington, The Marrow of Tradition tells about Southern society that discriminates black people and Mulattoes. There are

many white and black characters and some Mulatto characters in the novel. One

of the white characters is Major Carteret. He thinks that Blacks are supposed to be

Whites’ servant. It can be seen when he says: “The old relations of dependence

and loyal obedience on the part of the colored people, the responsibility of

protection and kindness upon that of the whites, have passed away forever”

(Chesnutt, 2002: 70). Major Carteret is a white supremacist who, along with

General Belmont and Captain George McBane, wants to overthrow ‘Negro

domination.’ As the editor of The Morning Chronicle newspaper, Major Carteret spreads the campaign against ‘Negro domination.’ One of the black characters in

the novel is Sandy Campbell. He is the servant of John Delamere, an old white

man. Sandy is accused of murdering a white woman and he will be lynched

because of that. In fact, he is not the real murderer and he is accused of the murder

because he is slandered by John Delamere’s grandson, Tom. One of the Mulatto

when he travels by train. He is ordered by a train conductor to move to a colored

sleeping-car although he has paid first-class fare. Dr. Miller finds that unlike the

one for Whites, the colored sleeping-car has low quality.

The novel reveals the practice of racism toward black people and

Mulattoes. The majority of white characters always discriminate the Blacks and

Mulattoes while the black and mulatto characters continually gets discriminative

treatments. The story also tells about the real race riot that happened in

Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1898 in which “the total death toll as high as 250”

(http://ncpedia.org/wilmington-race-riot).

B. Approach of the Study

The writer uses sociocultural-historical approach to analyze the novel.

According to Mary Rohrberger and Samuel H. Woods, Jr. in Reading and Writing about Literature, sociocultural-historical approach is the way to locate the real work in reference to the civilization that produced it. The critics should

understand “the social milieu in which a work was created” (1971: 9). Therefore,

sociocultural-historical approach is an approach that is used to understand a

literary work by observing the social, cultural, and historical background of the

literary work.

In this study, the writer observes the social, cultural, and historical

background of Chesnutt’s The Marrow of Tradition. The writer finds that The Marrow of Traditionset in the late nineteenth century when the practice of racism such as racial segregation and lynching still existed in the United States of

writer analyzes the practice of racism revealed inThe Marrow of Traditionto see how it reflects the practice of racism that really happened in the United States of

America in the late nineteenth century.

Sociocultural-historical approach is most suitable for this study because

the topic of this study is the practice of racism experienced by the Blacks and

Mulattoes in the late nineteenth century United States of America in Chesnutt’s

The Marrow of Tradition. It is impossible to understand the topic without knowledge of the practice of racism against black people and Mulattoes that

happened at that time in the United States of America.

C. Method of the Study

The method used in this study is library research. Library research is a

research method in which a researcher collects information using existing

resources such as encyclopedias, glossaries, books, and the internet.

The writer uses two kinds of sources in conducting this study: the primary

and secondary sources. The primary source is Chesnutt’s The Marrow of Tradition. The secondary sources are books on racism against black people; Mulattoes in the United States of America, slavery in the United States of

America, lynching, and Ku Klux Klan namelyThe Enduring Vision: A History of the American People written by Boyer, et al, Hickman’s The Devil and the One Drop Rule: Racial Categories, African Americans, and the US Census, Blake’s A Short History of American Life, Wood’s Lynching and Spectacle: Witnessing Racial Violence in America, 1890-1940, and Horn’sInvisible Empire: The Story of the Ku Klux Klan 1866-1871.

There are some steps in conducting this study. The first step is reading the

novel to understand what the novel tells about. The second step is choosing the

topic and formulating the problems. The third step is collecting theories and

reviews that are needed to answer the problems. The next step is answering the

27 CHAPTER IV

ANALYSIS

A. The Description of the Characters inThe Marrow of Tradition

In this subchapter, the writer describes the characteristics of the characters in The Marrow of Tradition. There are four characters that are described: Sandy Campbell, Josh Green, Jerry Letlow, and Dr. Miller. The writer chooses the four characters because they are major characters in the novel.

1. The Description of Sandy Campbell

Sandy is “a nigger” (Chesnutt, 2002: 155) “… apparently about forty years old, to whom short side-whiskers and spectacles imparted an air of sobriety” (Chesnutt, 2002: 51). The quotations tell that Sandy is 40-year-old black man who looks serious.

Sandy is an honest man. It can be seen when his master, John Delamere says: “The only servant in hearing of the conversation has been my own; and Sandy is as honest as any man in Wellington” (Chesnutt, 2002: 58). When Major Carteret says to John Delamere: “You mean, sir, as honest as any negro in Wellington,” Delamere says “I would trust Sandy with my life,—_{he saved it once at the risk of his own”} (Chesnutt, 2002: 58). Therefore, Sandy is an honest man because he is trusted by his master.

Sandy is a servant who always wants to keep the honor of his master’s family. It is revealed when he answers the grandson of John Delamere, Tom Delamere, who wants to borrow some money from him:

I don’ min’ lettin’ you take my money, but I hopes you ain’ gwine ter use it fer none er dem rakehelly gwines-on er yo’n, — gamblin’ an ’bettin’ an’ so fo’th. Yo’ granddaddy ’ll fin out ’bout you yit, ef you don’ min’ yo’ P’s an’ Q’s. I does my bes’ ter keep yo’ misdoin’s f’m ’im, an’ sense I b’en tu’ned out er de chu’ch— thoo no fault er my own, God knows!—I ’ve tol’ lies ’nuff ’bout you ter sink a ship. But it ain’t right, Mistuh Tom, it ain’t right! An’ I only does it fer de sake er de fam’ly honuh (Chesnutt, 2002: 144).

The above quotation shows that Sandy knows that Tom likes to gamble and bet but he never tells John Delamere about that because he wants to keep the honor of Delamere’s family. Therefore, he always wants to keep the honor of his master’s family.

Sandy is a servant who loves his master. It is revealed when Tom borrows some money from him and asks him whether or not he will tell John Delamere:

No, suh, co’se I won’t! Does I ever tell ’im ’bout yo’ gwines-on? Ef I did, I would n’ have time ter do nothin’ e’se ha’dly. I don’ know whether I ’ll ever see dat money agin er no, do’ I ’magine de ole gent’eman would n’ lemme lose it ef he knowed. But I ain’ gwine ter tell him, whether I git my money back er no, fer he is jes’ so wrop’ up in dat boy dat I b’lieve it ’d jes’ break his hea’t ter fin’ out how he ‘s be’ n gwine on. Doctuh Price has tol’ me not ter let de ole gent’eman git ixcited, er e’se dere ‘s no tellin’ w’at mought happen. He ’s be’n good ter me, he has, an’I ’m gwine ter take keer er him,— dat ’s w’at I is, ez long ez I has de chance (Chesnutt, 2002: 145-146).

The above quotation shows that Sandy will not tell John Delamere about Tom borrowing his money even if Tom will not give his money back. It is because telling John Delamere about it will shock him and affect his health.

Sandy is religious. He attends church regularly:

Under normal circumstances, Sandy would have attended prayer-meeting on this particular evening of the week; but being still in contumacy, and cherishing what he considered the just resentment of a man falsely accused, he stifled the inclination which by long habit led him toward the church, and set out for the house of a friend with whom it occurred to him that he might spend the evening pleasantly (Chesnutt, 2002: 147).

Sandy is religious because he usually attends church on particular evening of the week. However, he cannot attend church as usual because he is falsely accused of doing something sinful by the church. Because of that, he goes to his friend’s house so he can “spend the evening pleasantly.”

That Sandy is religious and that he is a servant who loves his master is also revealed when John Delamere is visiting Sandy who is going to be lynched because he is accused of murdering and robbing Polly Ochiltree. Believing that Sandy is not the real murderer, Delamere wants to save him so Delamere asks where the gold that is found in his trunk comes from. Sandy does not tell Delamere because the one who gives him the gold and the real murderer is Delamere’s grandson, Tom. He is afraid that telling Delamere the truth will endanger Delamere’s health:

I know you’re gwine ter do de bes’ you kin fer me, an’ I’m sorry I can’t he’p you no mo’ wid it; but ef dere should be any accident, er ef you can’t git me out er here, don’ bother yo’ min’ ‘bout it no mo’, suh, an’ don’ git yo’sef ixcited, fer you know de doctuh says, suh, dat you can’t stan’ ixcitement; but jes’ leave me in de han’s er de Lawd, suh,— He ’ll look after me, here er hereafter. I know I ’ve fell f’m grace mo’ d’n once, but I ’ve done made my peace wid Him in dis here jail-house, suh, an’ I ain’t ’feared ter die — ef I haf ter (Chesnutt, 2002: 171).

The above quotation shows that Sandy loves his master because he does not tell Delamere where the gold that is found in his trunk comes from because he is afraid

that telling the truth will shock Delamere and affect Delamere’s health. That he prefers being lynched to causing death of his master shows that he loves his master. The quotation also shows that Sandy is religious because he believes that God will look after him so he is not scared even if he has to die in the prison.

Sandy is a good servant. It can be seen when John Delamere says to him: “You have been a good servant and a good friend” (Chesnutt, 2002: 170). Therefore, Sandy is a good servant because his master considered him to be “a good servant and a good friend.”

Sandy is an honest, faithful, and trustworthy man. It is revealed when John Delamere does not believe that Sandy is a murderer:

Carteret, what is all this talk about lynching my man for murder and robbery and criminal assault? It ’s perfectly absurd! The man was raised by me; he has lived in my house forty years. He has been honest, faithful, and trustworthy. He would no more be capable of this crime than you would (Chesnutt, 2002: 172).

The above quotation reveals that Sandy is honest, faithful, and trustworthy so it is impossible for him to commit the murder.

2. The Description of Josh Green

Josh Green is “a black giant” who “for many years had worked on the docks for Miller’s father” (Chesnutt, 2002: 112). Therefore, Josh Green is a big black man who has worked for Dr. Miller’s father for many years.

Josh is tall, big, and strong. It can be seen when in the riot, white men admire him: “Josh Green, the tallest and biggest of them all, had not apparently been touched. Some of the crowd paused in involuntary admiration of this black giant,

famed on the wharves for his strength…” (Chesnutt, 2002: 234). Thus, Josh is a tall, big, and strong man.

Josh chooses a violent way that is fighting to defend his right. It is revealed when Dr. Miller sees that Josh walks into the hospital with “a broken arm hanging limply by his side.” When Dr. Miller asks him whether or not he has been fighting again, Josh answers: “No, suh, I don’ s’pose you could ha’dly call it a fight. One er dem dagoes off’n a Souf American boat gimme some er his jaw, an’ I give ’im a back answer, an’ here I is wid a broken arm. He got holt er a belayin’-pin befo’ I could hit ’im” (Chesnutt, 2002: 112). When Dr. Miller asks him what became of the other man, he answers:

Dey tuck him ter de Marine Horspittle in de amberlance, ‘cause his leg wuz broke, an’ I reckon somethin’ must ’a’ accident’ly hit ’im in de jaw, fer he wuz scattr’rin’ teeth all de way ’long de street. I did n’ wan’ ter kill de man, fer he might have somebody dependin’ on ’im, an’ I knows how dat ’d be ter dem. But no man kin call me damn low-down nigger and keep on enjoyin’ good health right along (Chesnutt, 2002: 112).

The above quotations reveal that Josh fights to defend his right. He fights against people who attack him and who insult him. He fights so that there is no man who can call him “damn low-down nigger.”

That Josh fights to defend the right of his and his race is also revealed when Sandy Campbell is going to be lynched. He wants to prevent the lynching by fighting: But look a-here, Mr. Watson, — Dr. Miller, is we-all jes’ got ter set down here, widout opening’ ou’ mouths, an’ let dese w’ite folks hang er bu’n a man w’at weknowain’t guilty? Dat ain’t no law, ner jestice, ner nothin’! Ef you-all won’t he’p, I ’ll do somethin’ myse’f! Dere ’s two niggers ter one white man in dis town, an’ I ’m sho’ I kin fin’ fifty of ’em w’at ’ll fight, ef dey kin fin’ anybody ter lead ’em (Chesnutt, 2002: 160).

The above quotation shows that Josh wants to fight to prevent the lynching. Josh is not going to do it alone; he will mobilize fifty black people to fight against the lynching. The quotation also shows that Josh is an unwise man. It is because if he mobilizes fifty black people, there will be “a clash” and “instead of one dead negro there ’d be fifty” (Chesnutt, 2002: 160).

Josh is truculent. It is revealed when Dr. Miller, Watson, and Josh gather at Dr. Miller’s house to find a way to prevent the lynching of Sandy Campbell. They are going to meet some white men who might want to prevent the lynching. However, Watson advises Dr. Miller to leave Josh at Dr. Miller’s house because he is too truculent: “We ’d better leave Josh here. He ’s too truculent. If we went on the street he ’d make trouble, and if he accompanied us he ’d do more harm than good. Wait for us here, Josh, until we ’ve seen what we can do. We ’ll be back in half an hour” (Chesnutt, 2002: 162). The quotation shows that Josh is too truculent — he will make trouble if he accompanies Watson and Dr. Miller to find some white men who might want to prevent the lynching.

Josh wants to die in a quarrel with a white man. It can be seen when he says to Dr. Miller: “I expec’s ter die a vi’lent death in a quarrel wid a w’ite man. An’ fu’thermo’, he ’s gwine ter die at the same time, er a little befo’. I be’n takin’ my own time ’bout killin’ ’im (Chesnutt, 2002: 112). The quotation shows that Josh wants to kill a white man and that he has been waiting to do it for a long time. It also shows that he wants to die at the same time with the death of the white man.

Josh asks Dr. Miller whether or not he remembers the Ku Klux Klan. Then he tells a story by which he tells who the white man whom he wants to kill is:

One night a crowd er w’ite men come ter ou’ house an’ tuck my daddy out an’ shot ’im ter death, an’ skeered my mammy so she ain’ be’n herse’f f’m dat day ter dis. I wa’n’t mo’ ’n ten years ole at de time, an’ w’en my mammy seed de w’ite men comin’, she tol’ me ter run. I hid in de bushes an’ seen de whole thing, an’ it wuz branded on my mem’ry, suh, like a red-hot iron bran’s de skin. De w’ite folks had masks on, but one of ’em fell off — he wuz de boss, he wuz de head man, an’ tol’ de res w’at ter do, — an’ I seen his face. It wuz a easy face ter ’member; an’ I swo’ den, ’way down deep in my hea’t, little ez I wuz, dat some day er ’nother I ’d kill dat man. I ain’ never had no doubt erbout it; it ’s jus’ w’at I ’m livin’ fer (Chesnutt, 2002: 113).

The quotation tells that the white man whom Josh wants to kill is the leader of the Ku Klux Klan who killed his father and who made his mother crazy. The quotation also shows that killing the Ku Klux Klan leader is his aim in life.

That Josh Green’s aim in life is killing the leader of the Ku Klux Klan is confirmed by Dr. Miller:

Here was a negro who could remember an injury, who could shape his life to a definite purpose, if not a high or holy one. When his race reached the point where they would resent a wrong, there was hope that they might soon attain the stage where they would try, and, if need be, die, to defend a right. This man, too, had a purpose in life, and was willing to die that he might accomplish it (Chesnutt, 2002: 114).

Therefore, the reason why Josh Green’s aim in life is killing the leader of the Ku Klux Klan even if he has to die to accomplish it is because he wants to “defend a right” as a black person whose father was murdered by Ku Klux Klan.

Josh Green hates white people. It is revealed when he says to Dr. Miller: A w’ite man kin do w’at he wants ter a nigger, but de minute de nigger gits back at ’im, up goes de nigger, an’ don’ come down tell somebody cuts ’im down. If a nigger gits a’ office, er de race ’pears ter be prosperin’ too much, de

w’ite folks up an’ kills a few, so dat de res’ kin keep on fergivin’ an’ bein’ thankful dat dey ’re lef’ alive. Don’ talk ter me ’bout dese w’ite folks, — I knows ’em, I does! Ef a nigger wants ter git down on his marrow-bones, an’ eat dirt, an’ call ’em ‘marster,’he’s a good nigger, dere ’s room ferhim. But I ain’ no w’ite folks’ nigger, I ain’. I don’ call no man ‘marster’ (Chesnutt, 2002: 115).

The quotation reveals that Josh Green hates white people. It is because they treat black people badly. Another reason why Josh hates white people is because they kill black people who are prosperous. Moreover, white people only like black people who call them “master.” It means that white people think that black people are not equal to them. The quotation also reveals that Josh refuses to call white people “master.”

Josh is a brave man. It is revealed when Dr. Miller thinks that “Josh had a reputation for absolute fearlessness” (Chesnutt, 2002: 112). That Josh is brave is also revealed when the riot is happening. He is with his group that consists of some black men who want to fight against white people:

De w’ite folks are killin’ de niggers, an’ we ain’ gwine ter stan’ up an’ be shot down like dogs. We ’re gwine ter defen’ ou’ lives, an’ we ain’ gwine ter run away f’m no place where we ’ve got a right ter be; an’ woe be ter de w’ite man w’at lays han’s on us! Dere ’s two niggers in dis town ter eve’y w’ite man, an’ ef we ’ve got ter be kilt, we ’ll take some w’ite folks ’long wid us, ez sho’ ez dere ’s a god in heaven (Chesnutt, 2002: 217).

The quotation shows that Josh is brave because he is not afraid to die in attempt to defend the right of black people. He does not want white people to shoot black people ‘only’ because black people do nothing against them. Therefore, Josh is brave and always wants to defend the right of black people.

` That Josh is brave can also be seen when Dr. Miller says to him that his group “are rushing on to certain death” and then Josh answers: “Well, suh, maybe we is; but we ’re gwine ter die fightin’. Dey say de w’ite folks is gwine ter bu’n all de cullud schools an’ chu’ches, an’ kill all de niggers dey kin ketch. Dey ’re gwine ter bu’n yo’ new hospittle, ef somebody don’ stop ’em” (Chesnutt, 2002: 225). The quotation tells that Josh is brave because he is not afraid to die when he is fighting to protect black people’s property.

Josh has leadership characteristic. It is revealed when his group is protecting black people’s property and a group of white men “were following them at a short distance”: “Josh, with the eye of a general, perceived that some of his party were becoming a little nervous, and decided that they would feel safer behind shelter” (Chesnutt, 2002: 228). Therefore, Josh has leadership characteristic because he can make a decision that is good for his men that is going inside the hospital so they can be safe while protecting the building.

Josh is a man who never gives up. When the leader of the crowd of white men and the murderer of his father, Captain McBane, tells him to give up or his group will “be shot like dogs,” Josh answers:

Dat ‘s no news, Mr. White Man. We ‘re use’ ter bein’ treated like dogs by men like you. If you w’ite people will go ’long an’ ten’ ter yo’ own business an’ let us alone, we ’ll ten’ ter ou’n. You ’ve got guns, an’ we ’ve got jest as much right ter carry ’em as you have. Lay down yo’n, an’ we ’ll lay down ou’n,— we did n’ take ’em up fust; but we ain’ gwine ter let you bu’n down ou’ chu’ches an’ school’ouses, er dis hospittle, an’ we ain’ comin’ out er dis house, where we ain’ disturbin’ nobody, fer you ter shoot us down er sen’ us ter jail. You hear me!” (Chesnutt, 2002: 230).

The quotation shows that Josh refuses to give up although he is threatened that he and his men will be shot down. He prefers taking the risk of being shot to giving up because he does not let the white men burn down black people’s churches, schools, and hospitals. Therefore, Josh is a man who never gives up and who always wants to defend the right of black people.

That Josh never gives up is also revealed when the hospital is being burned and “one or two” members of his group “had already been killed, and as many more disabled.” He exclaims:

Men! — fer nobody but men would do w‘at you have done, — the day has gone ’g’inst us. We kin see ou’ finish; but fer my part, I ain’ gwine ter leave dis worl’ widout takin’ a w’ite man ’long wid me, an’ I sees my man right out yonder waitin’, — I be’n waitin’ fer him twenty years, but he won’ have ter wait fer me mo’ ’n ’bout twenty seconds. Eve’y one er you pick yo’ man! We ’ll open de do’ an’ we ’ll give some w’ite men a chance ter be sorry dey ever started dis fuss! (Chesnutt, 2002: 233).

Although Josh knows that his group does not have a chance to win the battle, he does not give up; he even tells his men to keep fighting. Therefore, Josh never gives up although he is in a difficult situation.

That Josh never gives up can also be seen when he is shot:

Like a wedge he dashed through the mob, which parted instinctively before him, and all oblivious of the rain of lead which fell around him, reached the point where Captain McBane, the bravest man in the party, stood waiting to meet him. A pistol-flame flashed in his face, but he went on, and raising his powerful right arm, buried his knife to the hilt in the heart of his enemy (Chesnutt, 2002: 234).

Although Josh is shot, he keeps walking toward Captain McBane and jabs his knife into McBane’s heart. Thus, even though he knows that he will die soon, he never

gives up and he can still do what he wants to do in his life that is killing the murderer of his father.

3. The Description of Jerry Letlow

Jerry Letlow, “a very good negro” (Chesnutt, 2002: 99), is a porter at Major Carteret’s newspaper office. It can be seen in the following quotation:

The whole office force, including reporters, compositors, and pressmen, came in to congratulate the major and smoke at his expense. Even Jerry, the colored porter,—Mammy Jane’s grandson and therefore a protégé of the family,— presented himself among the rest, or rather, after the rest” (Chesnutt, 2002: 61).

Therefore, Jerry is a black porter who works at Major Carteret’s newspaper office. Jerry wants to be white. It is revealed when General Belmont observes Jerry and asks him:

What, in h—ll is the matter with you, Jerry? Your black face is splotched with brown and yellow patches, and your hair shines as though you had fallen head-foremost into a firkin of butter. What’s the matter with you?” (Chesnutt, 2002: 194).

Although Jerry answers “nothin’, suh, nothin’,” General Belmont knows that Jerry uses some cosmetics to lighten his skin and to straighten his hair. The general says to Jerry: “You have been reading the Afro-American Banner.” Then the general opens a newspaper “which he had retained in his hand” and reads one of the advertisements: “Kinky, curly hair made straight in two applications. Dark skin lightened two shades; mulattoes turned perfectly white.” The quotations show that Jerry uses some cosmetics to lighten his skin and to straighten his hair after he reads an advertisement in a newspaper.

The following quotation explains the reasons why he wants to be white: He had realized that it was a distinct advantage to be white,—an advantage which white people had utilized to secure all the best things in the world; and he had entertained the vague hope that by changing his complexion he might share this prerogative (Chesnutt, 2002: 194-195).

The quotation tells that Jerry wants to be white because white people can get “all the best things in the world.” He tries to change his complexion because he hopes that doing so will help him to get the advantage that white people have.

Jerry envies Captain McBane who was a poor man but now he is rich:

I don’ like dat Cap’n McBane. Dey says he got dat eye knock’ out tryin’ ter whip a cullud ‘oman, when he wuz a boy, an’ dat he ain’ never had no use fer niggers sence —‘cep’n’ fer what he could make onten ‘em wid his convic’ labor contrac’s. His dady wuz a’ overseer befo’ ‘im, an’ it come nachul fer him ter be a nigger-driver. I don’ want dat one eye er his’n restin’ on me no longer ‘n I kin he’p, an’ I don’ know how I’m gwine ter like dis job ef he’s gwine ter be comin’ roun’ here. He ain’ nothin’ but po’ w’ite trash nohow; but Lawd! Lawd! Look at de money he’s got, — livin’ at de hotel, wearin’ di’mon’s an’ colloguin’ wid de bes’ quality er dis town! ‘Pears ter me de bottom rail is gittin’ mighty close ter de top. Well, I s’pose all comes f’m bein’ w’ite. I wush ter Gawd I wuz w’ite!” (Chesnutt, 2002: 65-66).

The above quotation shows that Jerry does not like Captain McBane, a former poor “nigger-driver” who is rich now because he exploits prison labor. Jerry envies McBane because he thinks that McBane can be rich because he is white while Jerry cannot be rich because he is not white. Because of that, Jerry wants to be white.

To white men, Jerry looks obedient. He always comes immediately when Major Carteret rings the bell for him: “A bell sounded over his head, at which he sprang up hastily and entered the room where the gentlemen were talking” (Chesnutt, 2002: 66), “Jerry appeared promptly at the sound of the bell” (Chesnutt, 2002: 67),

and “Carteret rang the bell for Jerry, who answered promptly” (Chesnutt, 2002: 98). Therefore, he looks obedient because he always comes immediately when Major Carteret rings the bell to order him to do a job.

Jerry does not only look obedient but also respectful. He always thanks white people who give him some money. It can be seen when General Belmont orders him to buy some liquor: “Jerry, go over to Mr. Brown’s, — I get my liquor there, — and tell them to send me three glasses of my special mixture. And, Jerry, — you may keep the change!” and he answers “Thank y’, gin’l, thank y’, marster.” He answers “with unctuous gratitude, bending almost double as he backed out of the room” (Chesnutt, 2002: 67). That he always thanks white people who give him some money can also be seen when in another time General Belmont says “You may keep the change, Jerry,” at which he replies “Yas, suh, gin’l; thank y’, suh”(Chesnutt, 2002: 100). Therefore, he looks respectful because he always thanks white people who give him some money and because he sometimes bows to them.

White men consider Jerry respectful, humble, and obedient. It can be seen when General Belmont says to Major Carteret:

Jerry, now, is a very good negro. He ’s not one of your new negroes, who think themselves as good as white men, and want to run the government. Jerry knows his place, — he is respectful, humble, obedient, and content with the face and place assigned to him by nature (Chesnutt, 2002: 99).

The above quotation shows that white men consider Jerry respectful, humble, and obedient. It also shows that white men believe that Jerry does not think that he is as good as white men.

Although Jerry looks respectful and obedient, he is actually a hypocrite. It is because he likes to cheat. It is revealed when General Belmont orders him to buy some cocktails. The general gives Jerry half a dollar but he does not say anything about the change:

O Lawd! I never troubles trouble till trouble troubles me; but w’en I got dem drinks befo’, Gin’l Belmont gimme half a dollar an’ tol’ me ter keep de change. Dis time he did n’ say nothin’ ’bout de change. I s’pose he jes’ fergot erbout it, but w’at is a po’ nigger gwine ter do w’en he has ter conten’ wid w’ite folks’s fergitfulniss? I don’ see no way but ter do some fergittin’ myse’f. I ’ll jes’ stan’ outside de do’ here till dey gits so wrop’ up in deir talk dat dey won’ ’member nothin’ e’se, an’ den at de right minute I ’ll han’ de glasses ‘roun, an’ mos’ lackly de gin’l ’ll fergit all ’bout de change (Chesnutt, 2002: 99).

The quotation shows that Jerry always hopes to be able to keep the change when he is ordered to buy some drinks by General Belmont so when the general does not say anything about the change, Jerry is confused. Finally he decides that he will say nothing about the change and that he will keep it. Therefore, Jerry likes to cheat.

That Jerry likes to cheat is also revealed when General Belmont orders him to buy three cocktails. The General says that Jerry should charge the cocktails. Jerry thinks of cheating: “Dere ain’ no change fer Jerry dis time, sho’: I ’ll jes’ make dat fo’ cocktails, an’ de gin’l won’t never know de diffe’nce. I ain’ gwine ’cross de road fer nothin’, not ef I knows it” (Chesnutt, 2002: 200). The quotation shows that Jerry is disappointed because this time he does not get change, so instead of buying three cocktails as instructed, he buys four cocktails so he can get a glass of cocktail for himself.

Jerry is a hypocrite not only because he likes to cheat, but also because he likes to lie. It is revealed when General Belmont remembers that he did not say anything about the change to Jerry. Then he says to Jerry: “You may keep the change, Jerry” at which Jerry replies “Yas, suh, gin’l; thank y’, suh; much obleedzed, suh. I wuz jus’ gwine ter fetch it in, suh, w’en I had put de tray down. Thank y’, suh, truly, suh!” (Chesnutt, 2002:100). The quotation shows that Jerry lies to General Belmont — he tells the general that he will give the change to him while from the beginning he decides that he will say nothing about the change and that he will keep it. Therefore, Jerry likes to lie.

Jerry considers white people to be his friends. When the riot is happening, he meets Josh Green’s group. When Josh asks Jerry to join his group and to fight against white men, Jerry refuses: “I don’ wan’ ter fight. De w’ite folks ain’ gwine ter pester me; dey ’re my frien’s. Tu’n me loose!” (Chesnutt, 2002: 229). The quotation reveals that Jerry does not want to fight against white men because he considers them to be his friends who do not pester him.

Although Jerry refuses him, Josh forces Jerry to follow him to a hospital where his group can take shelter while protecting the building. When the hospital is being burned by white people, Jerry tries to call Major Carteret to ask for help: “Majah Carteret—Omajah! It’s me, suh, Jerry, suh! I did n’ go in dere myse’f, suh, — I wuz drag’ in dere! I would n’ do nothin’ ’g’inst de w’ite folks, suh, — no, ’ndeed, I would n’, suh!” (Chesnutt, 2002: 233). That Jerry tries to call Major Carteret to ask for help shows that he considers Carteret to be his “protector”

(Chesnutt, 2002: 228). He believes that Carteret can save him from the riot. However, later he finds out that the white people do not listen to his shout and that they shoot him to death.

Jerry is a black man who always wants to delight white people. It is revealed when General Belmont finds out that Jerry uses some cosmetics to lighten his skin and to straighten his hair. The general says that the cosmetics are “rank poison” and that he “can see the signs of decay” in Jerry’s face. He also says that Jerry’s hair “will all fall out in a week or two at the latest” (Chesnutt, 2002: 194). Jerry knows that “the general was making fun of him; but he also knew that the general would like to think that Jerry believed him in earnest; and to please the white folks was Jerry’s consistent aim in life” (Chesnutt, 2002: 194). Because of that, Jerry decides to wash “his head thoroughly and there remained no trace of the pomade.” He also tries to “darken the lighter spots in his cuticle by the application of printer’s ink” (Chesnutt, 2002: 195). That he washes his head and darkens his cuticle to remove the cosmetics shows that he wants to delight white people. It is because he actually does not believe that the cosmetic will decrease the quality of his hair and skin but he removes it in order that white people think that he believes them. Therefore, he removes the cosmetic only to delight white people.

4. The Description of Dr. Miller

William Miller or Dr. Miller is a Mulatto. That Dr. Miller is a Mulatto is revealed when he meets Dr. Burns on a train:

Looking at these two men with the American eye, the differences would perhaps be the more striking, or at least the more immediately apparent, for the first was white and the second black, or, more correctly speaking, brown; it was even a light brown, but both his swarthy complexion and his curly hair revealed what has been described in the laws of some of our states as a “visible admixture” of African blood (Chesnutt, 2002: 74).

Therefore, Dr. Miller is a Mulatto who has light-brown skin and curly hair. The following quotation describes Dr. Miller further:

Having disposed of this difference, and having observed that the white man was perhaps fifty years of age and the other not more than thirty, it may be said that they were both tall and sturdy, both well dressed, the white man with perhaps a little more distinction; both seemed from their faces and their manners to be men of culture and accustomed to the society of cultivated people. They were both handsome men… (Chesnutt, 2002: 74).

Therefore, Dr. Miller is thirty years old, tall, sturdy, well dressed, handsome, and is “accustomed to the society of cultivated people.”

Dr. Miller was a smart student. It is revealed in the following quotation: Dr. Alvin Burns was professor in the famous medical college where Miller had attended lectures. The professor had taken interest in his only colored pupil, to whom he had been attracted by his earnestness of purpose, his evident talent, and his excellent manners and fine physique (Chesnutt, 2002: 75).

The above quotation tells that Dr. Miller was Dr. Burns’ only colored student who was smart and who has “excellent manners and fine physique.”

The following quotation describes who Dr. Miller’s father and grandfather are:

Miller’s father, Adam Miller, had been a thrifty colored man, the son of the slave, who, in the olden time, had bought himself with money which he had earned and saved, over and above what he had paid his master for his time. Adam Miller had inherited his father’s thrift, as well as his trade, which was that of a stevedore, or contractor for the loading and unloading of vessels at

the port of Wellington. In the flush turpentine days following a few years after the civil war, he had made money. His savings, shrewdly invested, had by constant accessions become a competence. He had brought up his eldest son to the trade; the other he had given a professional education… (Chesnutt, 2002: 75).

The quotation tells that Dr. Miller’s grandfather was a slave who could buy his freedom from his master. Like Dr. Miller’s grandfather, his father, Adam Miller, was a stevedore. The quotation also tells that Adam Miller gave Dr. Miller “a professional education.”

Dr. Miller has a hospital: “He had promptly spent part of his inheritance in founding a hospital, to which was to be added a training school for nurses, and in time perhaps a medical college and a school of pharmacy” (Chesnutt, 2002: 75). Therefore, Dr. Miller has a hospital that also functions as a training school for nurses.

Dr. Miller wants to help to improve social welfare of black people. It is revealed in the following quotation:

He had been strongly tempted to leave the South, and seek a home for his family and a career for himself in the freer North, where race antagonism was les keen, or at least less oppressive, or in Europe, where he had never found his color work to his disadvantage. But his people had needed him, and he had wished to help them, and had sought by means of this institution to contribute to their uplifting (Chesnutt, 2002: 75).

The quotation shows that Dr. Miller wants to leave the South because of the racial discrimination, but he remains there because he wants to help to improve social welfare of black people by founding a hospital that also trains nurses.

Dr. Miller dislikes white people because they consider black people unequal to them: “White people do not object to the negro as a servant. As the traditional

negro, — the servant, — he is welcomed; as an equal, he is repudiated” (Chesnutt, 2002: 81). Therefore, Dr. Miller dislikes white people because they welcome black people as servants but object Blacks as social equals.

Dr. Miller believes that the race antagonism is a temporary thing:

He liked to believe that the race antagonism which hampered his progress and that of his people was a mere temporary thing, the outcome of former conditions, and bound to disappear in time, and that when a colored man should demonstrate to the community in which he lived that he possessed character and power, that community would find a way in which to enlist his services for the public good (Chesnutt, 2002: 85).

Thus, Dr. Miller believes that the race antagonism is a temporary thing and will disappear someday. He also believes that if a colored man can show that he has “character and power,” the community in which he lives will ask for “his services.”

Dr. Miller hates the fact that there are many white people who treat black servants as their properties: “There was many a one who protected or pampered his negroes, as the case might be, just as a man fondles his dog, — because they were his; they were a part of his estate, an integral part of the entity of property” (Chesnutt, 2002: 214). Therefore, Dr. Miller hates the fact that many white people treat black people as their properties instead of humans like them.

Dr. Miller loves his wife and child very much. It is revealed when he arrives at his hometown after visiting another city and “Miller’s wife and child were waiting for him in fluttering anticipation”: “He kissed them both as he climbed into the buggy. Miller felt very much elated as he drove homeward through the twilight. By his side sat the two persons whom he loved best in all the world” (Chesnutt, 2002: 84). Thus,

Dr. Miller loves his wife and child very much and considers them as people “whom he loved best” in the world.

That Dr. Miller loves his wife and child very much can also be seen when his child dies and his wife kneels beside his child crying. At the same time, Olivia Carteret begs Dr. Miller to save her child. Dr. Miller says to her:

Madam, my heart is broken. My people lie dead upon the streets, at the hands of yours. The work of my life is in ashes, — and, yonder, stretched out in death, lies my own child! God! Woman, you ask too much of human nature! Love, duty, sorrow,justice, call me here. I cannot go!” (Chesnutt, 2002: 243). The quotation tells the reason why he cannot go to save Olivia’s child is because his own child dies and his wife is overcome with grief. He loves both his child and wife and “it is not safe to leave her unattended” (Chesnutt, 2002: 241) so he cannot go to save Olivia’s child.

B. Racism Experienced by the Characters inThe Marrow of Tradition

In this subchapter, the writer analyzes the practice of racism experienced by the characters that are described in the previous part. Like the previous part, the writer analyzes black characters first and then the mulatto character.

1. Racism Experienced by Sandy Campbell

Sandy Campbell experiences the practice of racism when Tom Delamere wants to borrow some money from him: “I ’m going to use the money for an excellent purpose, in fact to relive a case of genuine distress; and I ’ll hand it back to you in a day or two, — perhaps to-morrow. Fetch me the money, Sandy, —that ’s a good darky!”(Chesnutt, 2002: 145). From the above quotation, it can be seen that the

practice of racism is done by Tom. It is because by calling Sandy “darky,” he insults Sandy who is a black person.

A white woman, Polly Ochiltree, is found murdered. It is believed that she is robbed before she is murdered:

Upon the floor, where it had fallen, lay the body in a pool of blood, the strongly marked countenance scarcely more grim in the rigidity of death than it had been in life. A gaping wound in the head accounted easily for the death. The cedar chest stood open, its strong fastenings having been broken by a steel bar which still lay beside it. Near it were scattered pieces of old lace, antiquated jewelry, tarnished silverware (Chesnutt, 2002: 153).

When the news of the murder spreads throughout the city, “suspicion was at once directed toward the negroes, as it always is when unexplained crime is committed in a Southern community” (Chesnutt, 2002: 154). That people suspect the Blacks as the murderer of Polly Ochiltree reveals the practice of racism. It is because people have not found the murderer but they suspect the black people as the murderer. It means that people believe that crimes are usually committed by black people.

Sandy Campbell is accused of the murder because he had been seen “in the neighborhood of the scene of the crime” in the night before the body of Polly Ochiltree was found. Another reason why he is accused of the murder is that he has “an old-fashioned knit silk purse, recognized as Mrs. Ochiltree’s, and several gold pieces of early coinage, of which the murdered woman was known to have a number.” Because of that, Sandy will be lynched (Chesnutt, 2002: 159). The impending lynching shows the practice of racism toward the Blacks. It is because if

Sandy is lynched, he will be put to death “without the intervention of judge or jury” (Chesnutt, 2002: 154).

One of the newspapers in the city, The Morning Chronicle, states that the crime is “an atrocious assault upon a defenseless old Lady, whose age and sex would have protected her from harm at the hands of any one but a brute in the lowest human form.” The Chronicle also suggests that people have to make “drastic effort” to protect the women in the South “against brutal, lascivious, and murderous assaults at the hands of negro men” (Chesnutt, 2002: 158). That the newspaper argues that black people are the lowest human form and associates black people with brutal crime show the practice of racism toward the Blacks.

Sandy experiences another practice of racism when the real murderer of Polly Ochiltree is found. The one who finds the real murderer of Polly Ochiltree is John Delamere. He is sure that the real murderer is his own grandson, Tom Delamere, after finding “a five-dollar gold piece of a date back toward the beginning of the century,” the same gold piece owned by Polly Ochiltree in Tom’s bedroom (Chesnutt, 2002: 180). John Delamere tells his finding to Major Carteret, the editor of The Morning Chronicle and asks him to print a handbill “stating that Sandy Campbell is innocent and Tom Delamere guilty of this crime” to be circulated through the town (Chesnutt, 2002: 183). Carteret decides that in order to save Sandy, John Delamere must swear in front of “thirty or forty of the leading citizens of Wellington,” that Sandy “was with him all last night, covering any hour at which this crime could have been committed” (Chesnutt, 2002: 184-185). They will not reveal that Tom Delamere is the

real murderer in order that “the prestige of the white race in Wellington was not seriously impaired” (Chesnutt, 2002: 187). For Carteret, maintaining the prestige of white race is very important to succeed the campaign of white supremacy (Chesnutt, 2002: 183). From the quotations, it can be interpreted that white people do not reveal that Tom is the real murderer. It shows the practice of racism because they always lynch a black person who is suspected to be a murderer but they do not punish a murderer who is white just because they want to maintain their race prestige.

After Sandy has been found innocent, the newspapers all over the United States of America do not report the facts of the case. Instead, they report “another dastardly outrage by a burly black brute” and “the impending lynching with its prospective horrors” (Chesnutt, 2002: 187). That the newspapers all over the United States of America do not report the facts of Sandy’s case reveals the practice of racism. It is because previously, all the newspapers reported that Sandy would be lynched but when it is revealed that Sandy is innocent, they do not report it. It means that instead to be impartial, the newspapers support the white supremacy.

2. Racism Experienced by Josh Green

Josh Green asks Dr. Miller whether or not he remembers the Ku Klux Klan. Then Josh tells Dr. Miller about his experience of practice of racism:

One night a crowd er w’ite men come ter ou’ house an’ tuck my daddy out an’ shot ’im ter death, an’ skeered my mammy so she ain’ be’n herse’f f’m dat day ter dis. I wa’n’t mo’ ’n ten years ole at de time, an’ w’en my mammy seed de w’te men comin’, she tol’ me ter run. I hid in de bushes an’ seen de whole thing… (Chesnutt, 2002: 113).

The quotation shows that when Josh was ten years old, the Ku Klux Klan killed his father and his mother became crazy because of that. The killing of Josh’s father by Ku Klux Klan shows the practice of racism.

When the riot is happening, Josh tells Dr. Miller what the Whites do to the Blacks: “De w’ite folks are killin’ de niggers…” (Chesnutt, 2002: 217). Therefore, white people do the practice of racism by killing the black people.

In the riot, Josh and his group who are protecting the property of the Blacks, are warned by Captain McBane, a leader of the crowd of white men. Captain McBane says that if Josh and his group surrender and give up their arms, the white men will let them alive, and if they resist, they will be shot like dogs (Chesnutt, 2002: 229-230). Josh replies:

Dat ’s no news, Mr. White Man. We ’re use’ ter bein’ treated like dogs by men like you. If you w’ite people will go ’long an’ ten’ ter yo’ own business an’ let us alone, we ’ll ten’ ter ou’n. You ’ve got guns, an’ we ’ve got jest as much right ter carry ’em as you have. Lay down yo’n, an’ we ’ll lay down ou’n,— we did n’ take ’em up fust; but we ain’ gwine ter let you bu’n down ou’ chu’ches an’ school’ouses, er dis hospittle, an’ we ain’ comin’ out er dis house, where we ain’ disturbin’ nobody, fer you ter shoot us down er sen’ us ter jail. You hear me!” (Chesnutt, 2002: 230).

The quotation tells that Josh refuses to give up and that he and his group do not disturb anybody but they are just protecting the Blacks’ property such as churches, schools, and hospitals. Hearing that, McBane responds: “All right. You ’ve had fair warning. Your blood be on your” — (Chesnutt, 2002: 230). McBane’s speech “was interrupted by a shot from the crowd, which splintered the window-casing close to Josh’s head” (Chesnutt, 2002: 230). The quotations reveal that Josh’s group is shot by

white men although Josh has told them that his group does not disturb anybody. It shows the practice of racism because the white men attack the black men who do not disturb anybody.

When Josh’s group is in the hospital to protect the building, the white men led by Captain McBane burn the hospital down:

Some brought hay, some kerosene, and others wood from a pile which had been thrown into a vacant lot nearby. Several safe ways of approach to the building were discovered and the combustibles placed and fired. The flames, soon gaining a foothold, leaped upward, catching here and there at the exposed wood work, and licking the walls hungrily with long tongues of flame (Chesnutt, 2002: 232).

The quotation shows that the white men burn down the hospital where Josh’s group is in. It reveals the practice of racism because by burning down the hospital, the white men may kill the black men who are inside the building.

3. Racism Experienced by Jerry Letlow

Jerry Letlow experiences the practice of racism when he and other employees congratulate Major Carteret for his child’s birth:

The whole office force, including reporters, compositors, and pressmen, came in to congratulate the major and smoke at his expense. Even Jerry, the colored porter, — Mammy Jane’s grandson and therefore a protégé of the family, — presented himself among the rest, or rather, after the rest. The major shook hands with them all except Jerry, though he acknowledged the porter’s congratulations with a kind of nod and put a good cigar into his outstretched palm... (Chesnutt, 2002: 61).

The quotation tells that Major Carteret shakes hands with all of his employees except Jerry. It reveals the practice of racism because Major Carteret does not want to shake hands with Jerry just because he is a black person.

Jerry gets some racist treatments from Captain McBane. One of them is when Jerry brings two whole chairs for the captain and General Belmont: “He set a chair for the general, who gave him an amiable nod, to which Jerry responded with a bow and a scrape. Captain McBane made no acknowledgement, but fixed Jerry so fiercely with his single eye…” (Chesnutt, 2002: 65). That Captain McBane “fixed so fiercely with his single eye” shows the practice of racism. It is because by doing so, the captain does not respect Jerry just because Jerry is a black person.

That Captain McBane often does the practice of racism is also revealed when he gives Jerry half a dollar to buy him three whiskies: “The captain tossed the half dollar at Jerry, who, looking to one side, of course missed it” (Chesnutt, 2002: 67). The quotation tells that Captain McBane throws the money at Jerry. It shows the practice of racism because by doing so, the captain gives no respect to Jerry since Jerry is a black person.

That Jerry often gets racist treatments from Captain McBane is also revealed when General Belmont orders him to buy three cocktails. The captain says to Jerry: “And make has’e, charcoal, for we ’re gettin’ damn dry” (Chesnutt, 2002: 98). It can be interpreted that Captain McBane does the practice of racism by calling Jerry “charcoal.” It is because the color of charcoal is black and Captain McBane calls Jerry “charcoal” to insult him who is a black person.

Jerry also gets racist treatment from General Belmont. It happens when the general orders Jerry to buy three cocktails: “Jerry, you lump of ebony, the sight of you reminds me! If your master does n’t want you for a minute, step across to Mr.

Brown’s and tell him to send me three cocktails” (Chesnutt, 2002: 199). By calling Jerry “lump of ebony,” General Belmont does the practice of racism. It is because ebony is a black wood and by calling Jerry “lump of ebony,” the general insults Jerry who is a black person.

When Jerry uses some cosmetics to lighten his skin and to straighten his hair, Major Carteret says to him:

Jerry, when I hired you to work for the Chronicle, you were black. The word ‘negro’ means ‘black.’ The best negro is a black negro, of the pure type, as it came from the hand of God. If you wish to get along well with the white people, the blacker you are the better, — white people do not like negroes who want to be white. A man should be content to remain as God made him and where God placed him (Chesnutt, 2002: 195).

By saying “A man should be content to remain as God made him and where God placed him,” Major Carteret does the practice of racism. It is because by doing so, the major says implicitly that God wills that a Black is lower than a White.

Jerry gets another racist treatment from Major Carteret. The major asks him whether or not he is going to vote at the next election and Jerry replies: “What would you ’vise me ter do, suh?” Then the major says:

I do not advise you. You ought to have sense enough to see where your own interests lie. I put it to you whether you cannot trust yourself more safely in the hands of white gentlemen, who are your true friends, than in the hands of ignorant and purchasable negroes and unscrupulous white scoundrels? (Chesnutt, 2002: 195).

The quotation tells that Major Carteret wants Jerry to “remain away from the polls” because white gentlemen do not like black people who vote (Chesnutt, 2002: 195). It

shows the practice of racism because Major Carteret thinks that black people are second class citizen and therefore they do not deserve to vote.

Jerry has heard twice the conversation between Major Carteret, Captain McBane, and General Belmont about the campaign of white supremacy. One of them is when he is waiting for the call from the major:

He could hear the major, now and then, use the word “negro,” and McBane’s deep voice was quite audible when he referred, it seemed to Jerry with alarming frequency, to “the damned niggers,” while the general’s suave tones now and then pronounced the word “niggro”… (Chesnutt, 2002: 66)

Although Jerry do not understand all what the “Big Three” are saying, he realizes that “something serious was on foot, involving his own race” (Chesnutt, 2002: 66). In another time, Jerry also hears the conversation about white supremacy: “While Jerry stood outside, the conversation within was plainly audible, and some inkling of its purport filtered through his mind” (Chesnutt, 2002: 99). He hears that the “Big Three” are talking about an editorial in the black newspaper. The editorial discusses lynching and it suggests that most lynchings are “not for crimes at all but for voluntary acts which might naturally be expected to follow from the miscegenation laws” (Chesnutt, 2002: 97). The “Big Three” think that the editorial is “good campaign matter” because it can anger Whites and that they will print the editorial in order to “organize the white people on the color line,” meaning that they organize the white people to fight against black people (Chesnutt, 2002: 99-100). They will also organize “a little demonstration with red shirts and shotguns, scare the negroes into fits, win the state for white supremacy, and teach our colored fellow citizens that we

are tired of negro domination and have put an end to it forever” (Chesnutt, 2002: 100). The plan of “Big Three” to make the campaign of white supremacy reveals the practice of racism. It is because by making the campaign, they organize white people to make a demonstration to scare the black people.

Jerry experiences the practice of racism in the riot. He is inside the hospital where Josh Green’s group is retaliating against the white men’s attack. When seeing Major Carteret, he waves “his handkerchief as a flag of truce” and shouts: “Majah Carteret —OMajah! It ’s me, suh, Jerry, suh! I did n’ go in dere myse’f, suh, — I wuz drag’ in dere! I would n’ do nothin’ ’g’inst de w’ite folks, suh— no, ’ndeed, I would n’, suh!” (Chesnutt, 2002: 233). Despite his flag of truce and explanation, he receives “a volley of shots from the mob” (Chesnutt, 2002: 233). The quotations tell that he is shot by the white men. It shows the practice of racism because they shoot him despite his flag of truce and his explanation that he will not do anything against white people. They shoot him just because he is a black person.

4. Racism Experienced by Dr. Miller

Dr. Miller experiences the practice of racism when he travels by train. He meets Dr. Burns on the train and they are talking when a conductor asks Dr. Burns if Dr. Miller is with him and Dr. Burns replies: “Certainly. Don’t you see that he is?” The conductor passes on, but then he comes again to Dr. Burns and asks if Dr. Miller is his servant and Dr. Burns replies that Dr. Miller is not his servant “nor anybody’s servant,” but is his friend. Then Dr. Burns asks: “What affair it is of yours?” The conductor answers “It ’s very much my affair. I ’m sorry to partfriends, but the law of

Virginia does not permit colored passengers to ride in the white cars.” Then he says to Dr. Miller: “You ’ll have to go forward to the next coach.” When Dr. Miller remonstrates with the conductor: “I have paid my fare on the sleeping-car, where the separate-car law does not apply,” the conductor says: “I can’t help that. You can doubtless get your money back from the sleeping-car company. But this is a day coach, and is distinctly marked ‘White,’ as you must have seen before you sat down here. The sign is put there for that purpose” (Chesnutt, 2002: 77). When Dr. Burn asks Miller to stay, the conductor says that it is the law of Virginia and that he and Dr. Burns are bound by it. When Dr. Burns remonstrates with him, the conductor says:

The law gives me the right to remove him by force. I can call on the train crew to assist me, or on the other passengers. If I should choose to put him off the train entirely, in the middle of a swamp, he would have no redress — the law so provides. If I did not wish to use force, I could simply switch this car off at the next siding, transfer the white passengers to another, and leave you and your friend in possession until you were arrested and fined or imprisoned (Chesnutt, 2002: 78).

The quotations show that he is forced to move to another sleeping-car because the sleeping-car where he is sitting is the one for white people so he has to move to the sleeping-car that is used only by colored people. That Dr. Miller is forced to move to another sleeping-car and that he is threatened that he will be put off the train or he will be arrested if he refuse to move reveal the practice of racism. It is because as a colored person, he is considered unequal to white people so he does not deserve the sleeping-car that is used by white people.

The colored sleeping-car is different from the one for white people:

It was an old car, with faded upholstery, from which the stuffing projected here and there through torn places. Apparently the floor had not been swept for several days. The dust lay thick upon the window sills, and the water-cooler, from which he essayed to get a drink, was filled with stale water which had made no recent acquaintance with ice (Chesnutt, 2002: 79).

The quotation tells that the sleeping car that is used only by colored people is old and dirty. It also shows that the water-cooler in the sleeping-car does not provide fresh, cool water. The colored sleeping-car reveals the practice of racism because unlike the white sleeping-car, it provides facilities with poor quality. It means that unlike white people, colored people are treated badly.

Another practice of racism is experienced by Dr. Miller when he is on the colored car. There is a white man who is smoking on the colored sleeping-car. Dr. Miller says to a colored train attaché that he objects to the man’s smoking because he has paid first-class fare. Then the train attaché says that he will tell the conductor. Then a conductor comes and says to Dr. Miller that he will speak to the white man. The conductor says to the white man: “Captain McBane, it ’s against the law for you to ride in the nigger car” at which the captain replies: “Who are you talkin’ to? I ’ll ride where I damn please.” The conductor answers: “Yes, sir, but the colored passenger objects. I ’m afraid I ’ll have to ask you to go into the smoking-car.” The captain rejoins: “The hell you say! I’ll leave this car when I get good and ready, and that won’t be till I ’ve finished this cigar. See?” Hearing it, the conductor gets out of the sleeping-car without doing any repressive action (Chesnutt, 2002: 80). From the quotations, it can be seen that the conductor does not do any repressive

action towards the white man who is against the law by smoking in the colored sleeping-car. It shows the practice of racism because when a colored passenger uses a white sleeping-car, he forces the passenger to move into the colored sleeping-car but when a white passenger uses a colored sleeping-car, the conductor does not force the white passenger to move into white sleeping-car. Therefore, although the law applies to both white and colored people, in the reality the law does not force white people to obey it.

Dr. Miller is asked by Dr. Burns to assist him in performing the operation of Carteret’s child. When he arrives at Carteret’s house, he is told by Dr. Price that the operation is being already performed. When he is going to leave the house, a servant calls and tells him:

Dat ’s all a lie, doctuh, bout de operation bein’ already pe’fo’med. Dey-all had jes’ gone in de minute befo’ you come — Doctuh Price had n’ even got out n’ de room. Dey be’n quollin’ ’bout you fer de las’ ha’f hour. Majah Ca’te’et say he would n’ have you, an’ de No’then doctuh say he would n’t do nothin’ widout you, an’ Doctuh Price he j’ined in on bofe sides, an’ dey had it hot an’ heavy, nip an; tuck, till bimeby Majah Ca’te’et up an an’ say it wa’n’t altogether yo’ color he objected to, an’ wid dat de No’then doctuh give in. He ’s a fine man, suh, but dey wuz too much fer ’im! (Chesnutt, 2002: 92).

The quotation tells that Dr. Price lies about the operation being already performed. The truth is that the operation has not been performed yet and that Dr. Price lies to Dr. Miller because he does not want Dr. Miller knows that Carteret does not allow Dr. Miller to treat his family. From the quotation, it can be interpreted that Major Carteret does the practice of racism by not allowing Dr. Miller to treat his family. It shows the

practice of racism because the reason why he does not allow Dr. Miller to treat his family is because Dr. Miller is a colored doctor.

Dr. Miller is on his way back home from attending a case at a colored farmer’s house when he sees a horrible sight:

…half a dozen men and women approaching, with fear written in their faces, in every degree from apprehension to terror. Women were weeping and children crying, and all were going as fast as seemingly lay in their power, looking behind now and then as if pursued by some deadly enemy (Chesnutt, 2002: 214).

Seeing the horrible sight, Dr. Miller wonders what is happening. Then a black man asks Dr. Miller: “Is dat you, Doctuh Miller?” at which Dr. Miller replies “Yes. Who are you, and what ’s the trouble?” The man answers “What ’s de trouble, suh? Why, all hell ’s broke loose in town yonduh. De white folks is riz ’gins’ de niggers, an’ say dey ’re gwine ter kill eve’y nigger dey kin lay han’s on” (Chesnutt, 2002: 215). The quotations tell that the Wellington race riot has just started and that the white people will kill every black person. That white people will kill every black person reveals the practice of racism.

When Dr. Miller is near the town, he meets Watson, a colored lawyer. Dr. Miller asks him what the trouble is. Watson answers:

The white people are up in arms. They have disarmed the colored people, killing half a dozen in the process, and wounding as many more. They have forced the mayor and aldermen to resign, have formed a provisional city government à la française, and have ordered me and half a dozen other fellows to leave town in forty-eight hours, under pain of sudden death (Chesnutt, 2002: 216).

The quotation tells that the white people kill six colored people and wound many more. It also shows that the white people have ordered colored people “to leave town in forty-eight hours” or they will be killed. Thus, white people do the practice of racism because they kill, wound, and threaten colored people.

When he is looking for his wife and child, Dr. Miller sees a terrible sight: “As he turned the first corner, his horse shied at the dead body of a negro, lying huddled up in the collapse which marks sudden death” (Chesnutt, 2002: 220). When continuing his journey, Dr. Miller sees another horrible sight: “At the next corner lay the body of another man, with the red blood oozing from a ghastly wound in the forehead” (Chesnutt, 2002: 221). The quotations tell that two black men die in the riot. It reveals the practice of racism because the black men die in the riot which is a “war” of white people against black people.

Another practice of racism is experienced by Dr. Miller when he continues his journey. He hears “a sharp voice” that command him to halt. The owner of the voice commands Dr. Miller to come down from his buggy while pointing a revolver. When Dr. Miller asks why he should come down, the man answers: “Because we ’ve ordered you to come down! This is the white people’s day, and when they order, a nigger must obey. We ’re going to search you for weapons”(Chesnutt, 2002: 221). At the next corner he is stopped again. Like before, the white men search him for weapons (Chesnutt, 2002: 222). That white people force him to come down from his buggy while pointing a gun and search him for weapons reveals the practice of racism. It is because white people consider him dangerous only because he is a

colored person. Another reason why it is a practice of racism is because white people point out a gun at Dr. Miller which is an act of threatening.

Dr. Miller sees another terrible sight when he drives his buggy: “He came near running over the body of a wounded man who lay groaning by the wayside” (Chesnutt, 2002: 222). From the quotation, it can be seen that there is a wounded man. It shows the practice of racism because he is wounded in the riot that is a “war” of white people against black people.

Once again, Dr. Miller sees a horrible sight: there is “a body of a woman lying upon the sidewalk. She was not yet quite dead…” (Chesnutt, 2002: 226). Dr. Miller is shocked and he worries if the woman is his wife but “a second glance revealed that it could not be his wife.”Then Dr. Miller recognizes that the woman is Aunt Jane Letlow, the old black servant of Carteret family. Nevertheless, he is not relieved because he realizes that “the war had reached the women and children” (Chesnutt, 2002: 226). The quotations tell that there is a woman lies dying in the riot. It reveals the practice of racism; not only because the victim is a black person, but it is also because the victim is an old woman who is not dangerous and therefore should not be attacked in the riot.

Another practice of racism is experienced by Dr. Miller when Major Carteret asks him to save his child. Major Carteret says to Dr. Miller: “I am Major Carteret. My Child is seriously ill, and you are the only available doctor who can perform the necessary operation” at which Dr. Miller replies: “Ah! You have tried all the others, — and then you come to me!” Major Carteret returns: “Yes, I do not deny it. But I

havecome to you, as a physician, to engage your professional services for my child, — my only child. I have confidence in your skill, or I should not have come to you” (Chesnutt, 2002: 240). The quotations show that Major Carteret has tried the other doctors, but all of them are not available so he comes to Dr. Miller. It reveals the practice of racism because usually Major Carteret does not allow any colored doctor to treat his family but this time he asks Dr. Miller to treat his child because there is no other available doctor.

When Major Carteret implores Dr. Miller to save his child, Dr. Miller says: There, Major Carteret! There lies a specimen of your handiwork! There lies myonly child, laid low by a stray bullet in this riot which you and your paper have fomented; struck down as much by your hand as though you had held the weapon with his life was taken! (Chesnutt, 2002: 240).

The quotation tells that Dr. Miller’s child dies in the riot. It shows the practice of racism not only because he dies in the riot which is a “war” of white people against black people but also because he is only a child who is not dangerous and therefore should not be attacked in the riot. The quotation also shows that Major Carteret is the one who triggers the riot in which many Blacks and Mulattoes die. That Major Carteret triggers the race riot reveals the practice of racism.

C. The Reflection of Racism Experienced by the Blacks and Mulattoes in the Late Nineteenth Century United States of America

In this subchapter, the writer analyzes racism experienced by the Blacks and Mulattoes in the United States of America in the late nineteenth century that is

reflected through the characters in The Marrow of Tradition. Therefore, the writer compares racism in the late nineteenth century United States of America with the one that is experienced by the characters in the novel.

One of the practices of racism that happened in the United States of America in the late nineteenth century was racial segregation. Because of Jim Crow law, there was segregation “on streetcars, trains, schools, parks, public buildings, and even cemeteries” (Boyer at al., 1990: 756). The law enforced the “separate but equal” accommodations. It means that railroad companies “had a right to segregate their passengers if they provided for blacks accommodations precisely equal in all respects to those provided for whites holding similar tickets” (Riegel, 1984: 29).However, in reality, there were many Blacks admitted that they were forced to use “segregated accommodations which were generally inferior to comparable white accommodations of the same price” (Riegel: 1984: 25).Moreover,the law did not really impose Whites: Whites who smoked or had second-class tickets were allowed to sit in the Jim Crow car (Riegel, 1984: 27).

The racial segregation is experienced by Dr. Miller. He is forced to move to a colored sleeping-car by a conductor (Chesnutt, 2002: 77-78).He is threatened that he will be put off the train or he will be arrested if he refuses to move (Chesnutt, 2002: 77-78). He also finds that the colored sleeping-car provides poor quality (Chesnutt, 2002: 79). Unlike the one for Whites, the colored sleeping-car is old and dirty (Chesnutt, 2002: 79). Moreover, the water-cooler in the sleeping-car does not provide fresh, cool water (Chesnutt, 2002: 79). Dr. Miller also finds that Whites can smoke in

the colored sleeping-car (Chesnutt, 2002: 80). Therefore, as a colored person who has paid first-class fare, Dr. Miller experiences some practice of racism: he has to move to the colored sleeping-car that has poor quality and he has to breathe the dirty, smoky air because there is a white man who uses the colored sleeping car for smoking.

Another practice of racism that happened in the United States of America in the late nineteenth century was lynching. Although the victims of lynching were not always Blacks, most Americans in the late nineteenth century “understood lynching as a southern practice and as a form of racial violence that white mobs committed against African American men” (Wood, 2009: 4). When an unexplained crime was committed in a Southern community, Whites always thought that the criminal was a Black man. It is because many white Southerners believed that black men often committed acts of violence and “sexual transgression” (Wood, 2009: 6). The victims of lynching were usually hanged or burned in front of thousands of spectators (Wood, 2009: 21). Lynching was not only reported in newspapers, it was also retold via pamphlets, popular stories, ballads, and motion pictures (Wood, 2009: 9). Southern newspapers also promoted lynching by telling “stories of black crime” (Wood, 2009: 6). Lynch mobs “saw themselves not as criminals or defilers of the law but as honorable vindicators of justice and popular sovereignty” that fulfill their “rights as citizens to punish crimes against their communities” (Wood, 2009: 24). The defenders of lynching “saw the violence as an inevitable and justifiable substitution for capital punishment in particular because the legal system bestowed too many rights on black

criminals and offered too little respect for white victims” (Wood, 2009: 25). Although the purpose of lynching was to punish crimes, usually white criminals were not lynched; “authorities in some southern localities consciously used capital punishment” instead (Wood, 2009: 26).

In the novel, when a white woman named Polly Ochiltree is found murdered, people suspect the Blacks as the murderer. Sandy Campbell is accused of the murder because he had been seen “in the neighborhood of the scene of the crime” in the night before the body of Polly Ochiltree was found. Another reason why he is accused of the murder is that he has “an old-fashioned knit silk purse, recognized as Mrs. Ochiltree’s, and several gold pieces of early coinage, of which the murdered woman was known to have a number.” Because of that, Sandy will be lynched (Chesnutt, 2002: 159). It means that Sandy will be put to death “without the intervention of judge or jury” (Chesnutt, 2002: 154).Before the lynching of Sandy, one of the newspapers in the city, The Morning Chronicle, argues that black people are the lowest human form and associates black people with brutal crime (Chesnutt, 2002: 158). When people find that Sandy is innocent, they do not reveal the real murderer because the murderer is Tom Delamere, a white man (Chesnutt, 2002:184-185). They hide the real murderer in order that “the prestige of the white race in Wellington was not seriously impaired” (Chesnutt, 2002: 187). Because of that, Tom will not be punished, let alone be lynched. Moreover, although previously reporting the impending lynching of Sandy Campbell, the newspapers all over the United States do not report the facts of the case. Instead, they report “another dastardly outrage by a

burly black brute” and “the impending lynching with its prospective horrors” (Chesnutt, 2002: 187).

Historically, there was an organization called Ku Klux Klan that did the practice of racism frequently. Established in 1866, Ku Klux Klan is a secret organization in which the members wear masks to disguise and have weapons to commit violence, usually in the late night (Horn, 1939: VII). The Klan had goals: suppressing black voting and reestablishing white supremacy (Boyer, et al, 1990: 544).The members of Ku Klux Klan attacked “white Republicans, black militia units, economically successful blacks, and black voters” (Boyer, et al, 1990: 543). Their attack could be in the form of murder (Horn, 1939: 134).

Josh Green experiences the practice of racism from Ku Klux Klan. When Josh was ten years old, the Ku Klux Klan killed his father and his mother became crazy because of that (Chesnutt, 2002: 113). The Ku Klux Klan wore masks but the one worn by the leader fell off so Josh could see his face. Seeing his face, Josh swore that someday he would kill him (Chesnutt, 2002: 113).

Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution that was enacted in 1870 stated: “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude” (http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?doc=44&page=transcript). However, Blacks and Mulattoes could not vote freely because in the 1898 campaign, Democrats used

some tactics “to keep black Republicans away from the polls” (Wright, et al, 2006: 95).

Jerry Letlow experiences the practice of racism when Major Carteret wants him to “remain away from the polls” because white gentlemen do not like black people who vote (Chesnutt, 2002: 195). Major Carteret, along with General Belmont and Captain McBane, are Democrats. It can be interpreted from what General Belmont says when the “Big Three” are having conversation in a meeting to plan “a revolution”: “Every white Republican office-holder ought to be made to go. This town is only big enough for Democrats, and negroes who can be taught to keep their place” (Chesnutt, 2002: 198).

There was an event called Wilmington Race Riot that happened on November 10, 1898 (Wright, et al, 2006: 122). It was planned to “suppress the African American and Republican communities,” but the riot “grew into unplanned bloodshed” (Wright, et al, 2006: 122).According to Dr. Jeffrey Crow, deputy secretary of the N.C. Office of Archives and History as cited by Easley and Evans, “The Wilmington Race Riot was not a spontaneous event, but was directed by white businessmen and Democratic leaders to regain control of Wilmington” (2005: 1).In their campaign that triggered the riot, Democrats used Alexander Manly’s editorial that “challenged the popular notion among southern judges and legislators that interracial sex was rape”” (Lowery, 2006: 349). As a result of the riot, there were black men who were killed or wounded throughout the day because of the firing of rifles from “a mob of up to 2,000 Whites” (Easley and Evans, 2005: 2). During the day, “the Red Shirts and the White

Government Union clubs,” the supremacist groups, “regularly brandished weapons while marching through black neighborhoods” (Easley and Evans, 2005: 2). The total death toll of the riot was as high as 250 (http://ncpedia.org/wilmington-race-riot). Moreover, there were black and Mulatto men who were banished on November 10, 1898. There were two categories of black and Mulatto men who were banished: “First, were the African American leaders who were vocal supporters of full participation in government by blacks and open opponents of the white supremacy campaign. Second were African American businessmen and entrepreneurs whose financial successes were galling to the white upper and working classes (Wright, et al, 2006: 158).

Jerry hears the conversation between Major Carteret, Captain McBane, and General Belmont who are Democrats (Chesnutt, 2002: 198) about the campaign of white supremacy (Chesnutt, 2002: 97).He hears that they are talking about an editorial in the black newspaper that suggests that most lynchings are “not for crimes at all but for voluntary acts which might naturally be expected to follow from the miscegenation laws” (Chesnutt, 2002: 97). They are planning to use the editorial in a campaign of white supremacy. They will print the editorial in order to “organize the white people on the color line,” meaning that they organize the white people to fight against black people (Chesnutt, 2002: 99-100). They will also organize “a little demonstration with red shirts and shotguns, scare the negroes into fits, win the state for white supremacy, and teach our colored fellow citizens that we are tired of negro domination and have put an end to it forever” (Chesnutt, 2002: 100).

Dr. Miller hears that Watson, a mulatto lawyer (Chesnutt, 2002: 198) says that he is ordered to “leave town in forty-eight hours, under pain of sudden death” (Chesnutt, 2002: 216). Although Watson is neither a businessmen nor entrepreneur, he can be categorized into second category of black and Mulatto men who were banished. It is because Whites consider him successful. It can be seen when General Belmont says to Major Carteret and Captain McBane: “He ’s altogether too mouthy, and has too much business. Every nigger that gets into trouble sends for Watson, and white lawyers, with families to support and social positions to keep up, are deprived of their legitimate source of income” (Chesnutt, 2002: 198). The quotation shows that Watson is considered successful and his financial success is “galling to the white upper and working classes” (Wright, et al, 2006: 158).

The novel tells that many Blacks and Mulattoes die or wounded in the riot. It can be seen when Josh tells Dr. Miller that Whites are killing the Blacks (Chesnutt, 2002: 217). Josh experiences the attack of Whites: he and his group are shot by the white crowd (Chesnutt, 2002: 230). Jerry also receives “a volley of shots from the mob” although he has shown a flag of truce and he has explained that he will not do anything against white people (Chesnutt, 2002: 233). When Dr. Miller has not realized that the riot has just started, he is told by a black man that Whites are against the Blacks and that they will kill every black person (Chesnutt, 2002: 215). Dr. Miller is also told by Watson that the white people kill six colored people and wound many more (Chesnutt, 2002: 216). When he is looking for his wife and child, Dr. Miller sees “the dead body of a negro, lying huddled up in the collapse which marks sudden

death” (Chesnutt, 2002: 220) and “the body of another man, with the red blood oozing from a ghastly wound in the forehead” (Chesnutt, 2002: 221). When continuing his journey, Dr. Miller sees “the body of a wounded man who lay groaning by the wayside” (Chesnutt, 2002: 222). He also sees a woman lies dying in the riot (Chesnutt, 2002: 226). Seeing that, Dr. Miller realizes that “the “war” had reached the women and children” (Chesnutt, 2002: 226). The riot leaves a deep sadness to Dr. Miller since his child dies because he is shot (Chesnutt, 2002: 240).

71

CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION

In this chapter, the writer gives the conclusion of the analysis on the

characteristics of the characters, racism experienced by the characters, and how

The Marrow of Traditionreflects racism experienced by the Blacks and Mulattoes in the late nineteenth century United States of America.

There are four major characters in The Marrow of Tradition who experience the practice of racism. They are Sandy Campbell, Josh Green, and

Jerry Letlow who are Blacks and Dr. Miller who is a Mulatto. Sandy Campbell is

a servant of an old white man, John Delamere. Josh Green is a big black man who

workson the docks for Dr. Miller’s father. Jerry Letlow is a porter at Major

Carteret’s newspaper office. Dr. Miller is a thirty-years-old Mulatto doctor who

has a hospital.

The writer finds that some characters like Whites while some do not.

Sandy loves his white master and Jerry considers white people to be his friends.

On the other hand, Dr. Miller dislikes white people and Josh hates them.

Each character experiences the practice of racism. Sandy gets racist

treatment when Tom Delamere calls him “darky.” Sandy almost experiences

lynching becausehe is accused of murdering an old white woman, Polly Ochiltree.

Before the lynching is planned to be held, one of the newspapers in the city, The Morning Chronicle, promotes lynching by arguing that black people are the lowest human form and associates black people with brutal crime. When Whites

maintain the prestige of white race. Moreover, the newspapers all over the United

States of America do not report that Sandy is innocent.

Josh experiences some practices of racism. When Josh was ten years old,

his father was killed by the Ku Klux Klan. When the riot is happening, Josh sees

that Whites are killing the Blacks. Josh’s group who isprotecting the Blacks’

property is shot by white men although Josh has told them that his group does not

disturb anybody. When Josh’s group is in the hospital to protect the building, the

white men burn the hospital down.

Jerry gets some racist treatments. One of them is experienced by Jerry

when Major Carteret shakes hands with all of his employees who congratulate

him for his child’s birth except Jerry. The major also gives racist treatment to Jerry

by saying implicitly that God wills that a Black is lower than a White. The major

also wants Jerry not to vote. Jerry also gets some racist treatments from Captain

McBane. One of them is when the captain fixes Jerry fiercely with his eye.

Another racist treatment done by Captain McBane is throwing money at Jerry

when he orders Jerry to buy three whiskies. Captain McBane also does the

practice of racism by calling Jerry “charcoal.” Another practice of racism is

experienced by Jerry when General Belmont calls him “lump of ebony.” Jerry

hears the conversation between Major Carteret, Captain McBane, and General

Belmont or the “Big Three” about the campaign of white supremacy. They are

planning to use an editorial in a black newspaper to organize the white people to

He is shot by the white men although he has shown his flag of truce and he has

explained that he will not do anything against white people.

Dr. Miller experiences the practice of racism when he travels by train. He

is forced to move to a colored sleeping-car and he is threatened that he will be put

off the train or he will be arrested if he refuses to move. Dr. Miller also finds that

the colored sleeping-car provides poor quality: the car is old and dirty and the

water-cooler does not provide fresh, cool water. He also finds that Whites can

smoke in the colored sleeping-car.

Dr. Miller gets racist treatment from Major Carteret. He is not allowed to

treat the major’s family because he is a colored doctor. Dr. Miller also experiences

the practice of racism in the riot. He sees some black people who die or wounded.

In the riot, Whites force him to come down from his buggy while pointing a gun

at him and search him for weapons. When the riot is still happening, Major

Carteret asks Dr. Miller to treat his child because there is no other available

doctor. The riot leaves a deep sadness to Dr. Miller since his child dies because he

is shot.

The writer finds that the experiences of the four characters reflect racism

experienced by the Blacks and Mulattoes in the late nineteenth century United

States of America. Just like the Blacks and Mulattoes who experienced racial

segregation, Dr. Miller has to use the colored sleeping-car. Sandy almost

experiences lynching because he is accused of murdering an old white woman,

Polly Ochiltree. It is similar to the Blacks who were lynched because they were

Ku Klux Klan. When he was ten years old, the Ku Klux Klan killed his father and

his mother became crazy because of that. Jerry Letlow experiences the practice of

racism when Major Carteret wants him not to vote. It is similar to the Blacks who

were hindered to vote by the Democrats.

Josh, Jerry, and Dr. Miller experience the practice of racism in the riot.

Josh and his group whoare protecting the Blacks’ property are shot by white men

although Josh has told them that his group does not disturb anybody. Jerry is also

shot by white men although he has shown his flag of truce and he has explained

that he will not do anything against white people. Dr. Miller sees some black

people who die or wounded in the riot. In the riot, Dr. Miller also hears that

Watson, a mulatto lawyer, says that he is banished. Moreover, his child dies

because he is shot in the riot. The story of the riot in the novel reflects the

Wilmington Race Riot that happened on November 10, 1898.

The writer also finds that on the one hand, Mulattoes got an advantage;

unlike the Blacks, they got higher education. Unlike the black characters who are

blue-collar workers, Dr. Miller who is a mulatto is a white-collar worker. It means

that unlike the Blacks, he can get higher education to be a doctor. However, on the

other hand, they got racist treatment from the Whites just like the Blacks did.

75

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78

APPENDIX

SUMMARY

Major Carteret’s son, Dodie, accidentally swallows a piece of a rattle and

needs an operation to get the rattle out from his throat. The Major’s doctor, Dr.

Price, asks some doctors including Dr. Burns to help him performing the

operation. At the invitation of Dr. Burns, Dr. Miller comes to join the operation

but he is turned away because Major Carteret does not allow any colored doctor to

treat his family.

The next day, Major Carteret takes a meeting with General Belmont and

Captain McBane to discuss their strategy to overthrow ‘Negro domination.’ They

read an editorial in a black newspaper. The editorial argues that most lynchings

are “not for crimes at all but for voluntary acts which might naturally be expected

to follow from the miscegenation laws” (Chesnutt, 2002: 97). They plan to use the

editorial to organize white people to make a demonstration to scare the black

people.

Dr. Miller treats the broken arm of Josh Green, a black man who works for

his father. Josh Green tells Dr. Miller that he wants to kill the ex-Ku Klux Klan

leader who killed his father, Captain McBane. Dr. Miller advises Josh not to do it,

but Josh ignores him.

In a cakewalk, Mr. Ellis sees Sandy Campbell, John Delamere’s servant. It

actually is not Sandy but Tom Delamere who disguises as Sandy. The real Sandy

is kicked out of the church because people think that he participates in the

When Olivia Carteret visits her aunt Polly Ochiltree, she is told that

Ochiltree stole the marriage certificate of Julia and Olivia’s father. Because of

that, Julia and her daughter Janet cannot inherit Olivia’s father property. When

Olivia asks about the certificate, Ochiltree does not answer her.

Polly Ochiltree is dead. It is found that her money is stolen. Sandy is

accused of the murder and he will be lynched. John Delamere investigates the

murder and he knows that the real murderer is his own grandson, Tom Delamere.

John Delamere lies to people that he is with Sandy when the murder is happening

to save Sandy from being lynched.

The riot begins in the afternoon. Many black people are shot by white

men. Hearing the riot, Dr. Miller looks for his wife and child. Then he knew that

his child is dead. In the riot, Josh Green kills McBane but he is killed too.

Major Carteret’s son is sick. The major begs Dr. Miller to save his son but

Dr. Miller refuses him because his own son is killed in the riot. Olivia Carteret

pleads with her half-sister Janet, Dr. Miller’s wife, for saving her son. For the first

time, Olivia calls Janet ‘sister.’ She also tells Janet that Janet inherits their father’s

estate. Janet is not really happy to hear it because she thinks that Olivia

acknowledges her as her sister just because Olivia wants Janet to ask Dr. Miller to