Analysis Of The Novel Chesnutt Uses Mixed Race Characters

In the novel, Chesnutt uses mixed race characters, which have both black and white ancestors and these characters display the conflicts between black and white societies. Within the novel, Janet Miller is the best example of a mixed race character. Janet’s father was from the white aristocracy, while her mother was a slave and a servant. Janet is emotionally hurt because she doesn t receive the same affection like white half-sister. She views herself as black and submits to the segregation of the time. In comparison to societal views, Olivia Carteret also cannot view her sister as an equal which is incredibly sad. Janet’s angry compassion for her white sister sets the novel’s climax and represents hope for equality between the races. The Millers are well educated and were brought up in the white world where they exclude themselves from the poor and uneducated members within the society. However, the whites within society do not welcome them due to their race beca use they think that Africans lack sense of purity. When exploring the complexity of mixed races in the South Chesnutt describes, â€Å"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...but both his swarthy complexion and his curly hair revealed what has been described in the laws of some of our states as a â€Å"visible admixture† of African blood†Show MoreRelatedThe Wife of His Youth by Charles Chestnut2139 Words   |  9 Pagesin his short stories, novels, and essays. He told most of his stories from prospective that would not offend, but instead, inform his white readers about African Americans and how they are defining their identity in America. The question of identity becomes the focus for American Americans because most of their identity was lost during slavery. Chestnut’s approach to the matter of racial identity has been seen as ineffective to solving race problems. However, after an analysis of his works and his