The House Behind The Cedars Essay

The House Behind the Cedars by Charles Chesnutt and Iola Leroy by Frances Harper both focus on the struggles faced by those of mixed race. Many black women were forcibly raped by white men and some consensually engaged in sexual relations with them; they then bore children who were classified as “mulattoes” - both black and white. The children of black mothers and white fathers often lived a distraught life due to the lack of self identity; torn between their seemingly white appearance and their mulatto genetic makeup. Mulatto children were forced to follow the the condition of the mother, not the father; which meant that even if their appearance was as white as can be, if their mother was a slave they would carry the same fate. According

to the “one drop rule” a single drop of black blood was enough to be classified as black and subjugate an individual to an inferior slave status in society. The term “passing” arises from the stance that some mulattos took by denying, rejecting, and keeping a secret their black blood thereby opting to only claim their white race. Passing was an option for many mulattos who when judged by appearance looked white. Frances Harper and Charles Chesnutt both create an image of a “tragic mulatta” through their depictions of Rena Walden and Iola Leroy, respectively. However, these characters have different ways of dealing with the struggle of being mixed race . Through the characters of Rena and Iola, the authors imagine different attitudes, roles, and futures of mulatta woman.
Rena Walden, never having experienced the horrors of slavery, places marriage and social acceptance over family bonds.

In the beginning of The House Behind the Cedars Rena Walden’s brother John arrives and persuades her to go back to South Carolina with him. Rena’s mother initially does not want Rena to go with John showing great anguish at the thought of her child being taken away from her. However, after John guilt trips his mother she concedes. John tells Rena’s mother that Rena will have a better life in South Carolina where she has the opportunity to pass and rise in society through marriage, “of course she will have no chance here, where our story is known” (pg 19).The “story” he is referring to is the one of black blood in their lineage. Rena showed sadness toward the idea of leaving her mother but only because her mother showed anguish over being alone not because she felt that leaving was something she did not want, “The girl’s eyes lighted up. She would not have gone if her mother has wished her stay, but she would always have regarded this as the lost opportunity in her life” (pg 22). Leaving to South Carolina meant Rena was to be separated from her mother and only allowed minimal contact yet she ultimately agreed to these terms, “it would be necessary to leave her behind, they both perceived clearly enough, unless they were prepared to surrender the advantage of their whiteness and drop back to the lower rank” (pg 127). This serves as a contrast from Iola Leroy

where there is an importance placed on the coming together of the family unit. Rena Walden’s story took place after the Civil War therefore she never had to experience slavery ,while Iola Leroy after discovering she was a black was sold as a slave and separated from her family, including her mother. Iola’s separation of her mother is represented as a tragic event and she vows to search for her mother after the Civil War, “When the war is over I intend to search the country for my mother. Doctor were you to five me a palace-liek home, with velvet carpets.. I should miss her voice amid all other tones… Oh, you do not know how hungry my heart is for my mother” (pg 117). This contrasts to Rena who willingly leaves her mother perhaps because she has never experienced the same pains that black people endured when their families were forcibly torn away.
Rena did not get her chance to become part of the white world due to unfortunate circumstances while Iola was not part of the white world because she did not want to and chose not to. Rena accepts a marriage proposal from Tryon, a affluent white man, without revealing to him that she is a mulatta woman. Although Rena was internally struggling with her decision she still went ahead with the proposal, “she was willing to bury the past in forgetfulness” (pg 61). Had Tyrone not discovered on his own that she was a mulatta she most likely would have been his wife. Despite internal conflicts, Rena was willing to leave her past behind and move forward towards a future as a married white woman. However, Iola rejects a marriage proposal from Dr. Gresham because she refuses to live a privatized life, “should the story of my life be revealed to your family, would they be willing to ignore all the traditions of my blood… I have too much self respect to enter your home under a veil of concealment” (pg 117). Rena’s and her mother Molly lived their whole life behind the cedars and have been forcibly privatized and Rena did not seem to have a problem with having to hide who she really was for the rest of her life from the community, privatizing her life was something Rena was used to. Iola rejects passing as white to improve her social standing. Iola never chose to privatize her life or conceal her identity, even before she was enslaved she lived a free life as a white woman because her mother hid her true identity from her; Iola was not accustomed to having to live in a concealed space like Rena was.
Iola and Rena both ultimately decide to become educators in the black community however, there were different reasons behind their decision to dedicate their lives to helping black people after the Civil War. In The House Behind the Cedars, only after being rejected by her suitor Tyrone, did Rena commit herself to living as a black woman and teaching black children. This contrasts to Iola Leroy who after the first time Dr. Gresham asked her to marry him, move North with him, and pass as white she replied, “I intend , when this conflict is over, to cast my lot with the freed people as a helper, teacher, and friend” (pg 114). Iola’s decision to become a teacher in the black community seems more genuine than that of Rena’s because without the rejection by a white man Rena would have assimilated into the white world without placing an importance on serving those in her community.
Chesnutt and Harper create significantly different end results for the mulatta woman. Rena ultimately dies a tragic death while trying to escape from the two men following her in the woods. However, Iola ultimately becomes an activist in the black community for the education of black mothers and goes on to fall in love and marry another mulatto activist in the black community. While Rena’s story seems to end in tragedy, Iola’s ends with optimism towards the future. Even after Rena has chosen to be a part of the black community, it seems that she continues to wonder about the life she could have had if Tyrone never found out she was black, “she found it necessary to crush once or twice a wild hope that, her secret being still unknown to save a friendly few, he might return and claim her” (183). However Rena after choosing to not pass did not hold on to dreams of what could have been not does she express missing the life of privilege she had before she was enslaved, “yet in looking over the mournful past, I would not change the Iola of then for the Iola of now” (pg 273). Rena symbolizes the mulatta woman that was not able to enter the white world and was never able to fully accept her place in the black world . It is possible that Chesnutt's message through the depiction of Rena Walden, specifically through her tragic death, is that one can not live in the black world while still having the true intentions to be a part of the white world. Iola symbolizes the mulatta woman who rejects the concealment of her identity, makes peace her her tumultuous past, and accepts her place in society as a black woman. Iola becomes an activist in the black community and marries out of love for a man who is a mulatto, like her. Although Iola has had tragic events happen in her life Iola’s life does not end in a tragedy but rather optimism and hope for a future, “the shadows have been lifted from all their lives; and peace, like bright dew, has descended upon their paths (pg 281). Iola, who turned her back on the possibility of passing as a white woman, fared better than Rena, who turned her back on the white world because she was forced to and even then lived in the black world with regret in her heart over what could have been.
Despite knowing of her black blood Rena continues to show prejudice over others in her communitry while Iola holds to the same value different classes of black people.

Rena’s revelation that she belongs in the black world comes only after she is rejected by Tyrone. Iola’s revelation that she belongs in the black world comes after she is taken away and enslaved. Even though Rena has always been aware of her black blood, her family felt superior to other black people in her community, “her early training had not directed her thoughts to the darker people with whose fate her own was bound up so closely, but rather away from them. she had been taught to despise them because they were not so white as she was, and had been slaves while she was free” (pg 134). Her attitudes toward other blacks is also seen in her treatment of Frank, Frank is treated and acts like a servant to Rena’s family. Even after Rena’s marriage to Tyrone fails and she returns home she still allows Frank to wait on her and does not invite him inside while the party is taking place, instead he is made to sit outside in the porch; he is not allowed because “Mis Molly’s guests were mostly of the bright class, most of them more than half white, and few of them less” (pg 145). Iola only had feelings of privilege and entitlement before she knew she was black, “Iola, being a Southern girl and a slaveholder's daughter, always defended slavery when it was under discussion” (pg 97). However, after knowing she had

black blood and experiencing slavery she does not show any feelings of being above any other black person. In fact, Iola deeply mourns the death of her friend Tom Anderson who freed her from slavery. Tom Anderson was formerly a slave and through the use of dialect we get a sense he was also uneducated yet he was one of Iola’s greatest friends.
Rena Walden represents a mulatta woman who died with hopes and dreams of inclusion into the white world while Iola Leroy represents a mulatta woman who desired and confidently asserted her position in the black world. Chesnutt and Harper in these novels create the infamous mulatta woman and then go on to imagine divergent paths for her, one ending in tragedy and the other in triumph. In these novels Chesnutt and Harper also explore other areas such as the significance of passing for mulatto men, specifically for the characters of Harry Leroy and John Walden.