Chestnut

Chestnut's short stories The Passing of Grandison and The Wife of His Youth both deal with the African American condition in both the pre and post civil war era. In The Passing of Grandison it was interesting how Grandison was set up throughout the novel as a simple servant who no matter what was loyal to his master above all else. However, his true motivation was that of keeping his family together. He was in love with Betty the maid and he just could not leave her behind as well as the rest of his family. The reader is lead to believe throughout this story that Grandison is a simpleton who doesn't understand the value of freedom, but he is smart enough to set up his families escape to freedom without getting caught proving he was very intelligent. Also in this story it was interesting how Dick set about freeing Grandison and just couldn't figure out why he refused to go free. This misunderstanding of African Americans by whites is indicative of how whites viewed blacks as selfish stupid creatures, where in reality they are intelligent and selfless. It was also interesting how Dick set out to free one slave but because of his attempt to free just Grandison he paved the way for eight to escape together. This theme of importance of family is also evident in the second story, The Wife of His Youth. This story once again shows the selflessness of an African American as she waited for 25 years to find the husband she had when she was still a slave. She wandered America to find this man and he too chose his old bride to the one he was about to make advances toward. This is the type of love that is rare and beautiful and is great that Chestnut set it up between two older African Americans instead of the usual young people that most stories revolve around. It should also be pointed out that just because Mr. Ryder had planned on furthering his courtship of Mrs. Dixon. He too had waited a very long time before even considering another woman and like most people after 25 years he must have assumed she was dead.