Breaking the Caricatures Society Assigns
An Analysis of Charles Chesnutt’s The Goophered Grapevine
by Natasha Luehr
The United States of America underwent
significant change during the literary period
called Realism from 1865-1914. The people of
North America were adjusting to match the ideals
of the land of the free while observing the
inconsistencies of reality around them. Two of
these changes was the abolition of slavery and
the growing rights of women. Charles Chesnutt
comments on these changes in The Goophered
Grapevine. Two of Charles Chesnutt’s
characters, Uncle Julius and Annie have
interesting parallels: Anne and Uncle Julius are
connected to the land- they thrive as the lands
thrives; their freedoms are also connected to the
land. Their connection to the land enables them
to overcome the caricatures, or roles, assigned to
them by society and to become more than what
society makes them. Uncle Julius overcomes the
caricature assigned to him by society and
thus illustrates the way Annie can overcome the
caricature society assigns her. Through their
parallels Chesnutt shows that it was time for
blacks, women, and other groups to have their
freedoms and individuality grow.
Anne and Uncle Julius both thrive when
the land thrives. Annie’s sickness causes her
husband to consider moving to the South. It is not
specifically stated that Annie did get well, but the
land does flourish and Annie’s condition is
mentioned in past tense in the first paragraph of
the story as “was in poor health,” indicating that
her health is better now and no longer poor.
Annie has recovered from her poor health
through the cultivation of her husband and doctor
by moving to a southern state, but her health is
also paralleled at the end of the story with the
currently thriving grapevines and land. Uncle
Julius has connections to the land as a former
slave, though he cannot legally own it. Annie, as
a wife, has claim through her husband to that
land. Both Annie and Uncle Julius have a
dependency on the land from which they gather
strength. Uncle Julius and Annie thus show how
blacks and women can grow (as individuals) and
be cultivated through what they are connected to.
Uncle Julius becomes more than is
expected of him as seen when he is shown to be
as conniving as his former master because he
tells the goophered grapevine story to keep the
white people off the land so that he can flourish
from selling the grapes that grow on the land.
Though the white man comes and cultivates more
grapes by treating the land properly, Uncle Julius
and Annie both begin to take from that base of
the land and white men and grow on their own.
Uncle Julius’s growth is seen through his
resourcefulness from relying on the techniques
he learned as a slave. Annie grows healthier, as
does the land. Annie’s cultivation is hinted at by
Chesnutt bringing her back in at the end of the
story between concluding the story about the
goophered grapevines and the story’s conclusion
with the husband’s comments on the state of the
land and how Uncle Julius is faring. Uncle Julius
represents blacks and their new freedom, and
Chesnutt shows that black freedom is the
doorway making openings for other suppressed
groups, such as women, represented by Annie, to
follow and gain more rights and freedoms. All
that is needed is cultivation (meaning
opportunity).
Uncle Julius and Annie both grow
beyond their beginning states of being. Chesnutt
uses Uncle Julius as a caricature and then breaks
that mold through Uncle Julius’ trickery.
Chesnutt thus also hints that Annie can break her
caricature as a women needing the cultivation of
a white man.
Though Annie is a small character, she is
significant in the message of Chesnutt’s tale of
the goophered grapevine. Annie is also a
comment on the significance of black’s freedom
from slavery and the doors that opened to other
minority groups caused by the changes of the
time period called Realism in literary studies.