Slavery Through the White-Tinted Lens of an Embedded Black Narrator: Séjour's "The Mulatto" and Chesnutt's "Dave's Neckliss" as Intertexts

• Published in: The Southern literary journal 2011-09, Vol.44 (1), p.121-143
• Main Author: Piacentino, Edward J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: African American studies; African Americans; American literature; Chesnutt, Charles W; Chesnutt, Charles Waddell (1858-1932); Criticism; Criticism and interpretation; Cultural identity; Dramatists; Emotional abuse; Historical criticism; Intertextuality; Literary criticism; Melodrama; Narrators; Plantations; Point of view (Literature); Pointing; Politics; Slave narratives; Slavery; Slaves; Storytelling; Séjour, Victor; Tales; Tone; White people
• ISSN: 0038-4291; 1534-1461; 2470-9506; 1534-1461; 2474-8102
• DOI: 10.1353/slj.2011.0015

According to Jon Smith, "the literature, cultures, and identity politics of the U.S. South are seen as important . . . because they share several traits with those of the global South - a history . . . of colonial plantations, race slavery... [and] vibrant African cultural survival" (125). The amicable white frame narrator introduces Antoine without any apparent signs of prejudice or condescension, stating that "the moment I arrived, I was accosted by an old negro, at least seventy years of age; his step was firm, his head held high, his form imposing and vigorous" (353). [...] Antoine sets the cynical tone of the tragedy he is about to relate with evident foreshadowing, pointing out that the black man is, in his words, a "most unhappy being, who hasn't even the consolation of always being virtuous . . . and [who] often goes to his grave with bloodstained hands and a heart hungering after yet more vengeance" (354).