The Wife Of His Youth Analysis

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Charles W. Chesnutt, an American author, wrote The Wife of His Youth, a short story first published in July 1898. Chesnutt was born in Cleveland to free parents. Also, he is known for realism, local color, and folk tales. Chesnutt writes African American characters that challenged racial stereotypes and enjoys exploring race, specifically, the troubles of mixed-race people and social tensions in the South. The Wife of His Youth is about a bi-racial man named Mr. Ryder, who was born before civil war. He is the head of the Blue Veins Society, which is a social organization for colored people in a Northern town that consists of people who look more white than black. Mr. Ryder’s story focuses on realism, the analysis of race relations, and folk tales. Chesnutt leaves so many unanswered questions about this story, but the real question is why?
The story starts off at the Blue Vein ball, where Mr. Ryder plans on proposing to his fiancé, who is a very light mixed-race woman from Washington, DC. Mr. Ryder is also giving a speech at this ball. Meanwhile at the ball, he meets an old, plain-looking black woman, ‘Liza Jane. ‘Liza is searching for her husband Sam Taylor, whom she has not seen in twenty five years. She tells Mr. Ryder that she was married to Sam before the Civil War, when she was enslaved and Sam worked for the family of her master. ‘Liza being a free black, the family tried to sell Sam into slavery. Mr. Ryder suggests to her that Sam could have died, remarried someone, or even outgrown her love and that could be why he has not returned. ‘Liza is determined to find Sam and he even promised to return and free her.
As the Blue Vein ball started, Mr. Ryder was trying to focus on his speech, but he couldn’t keep h...

... middle of paper ...

...o acknowledge her or not. Chesnutt also suggests that mixed race people are stereotyped as non-wealthy or sophisticated. Regionalism and Local Color are types of realism that focuses on customs, speech, and culture of specific United States regions. . The ending suggests that it is an example of realism because ordinary Americans want to have choices and logical reasoning behind every situation. Ordinary Americans sometimes want other people to be truthful even though it may hurt someone else’s feelings. Also, they want the opinion of other people to help them make logical decisions in life. There are still some unanswered questions from Chesnutt. How does Mary Dixon feel about the story? How could Mr. Ryder not acknowledge ‘Liza Jane at first? Chesnutt will continue to create unanswered questions in his stories, which makes for a better thrilling story.

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