Different Approaches to the Reconstruction - Dissociation from Black Society

(Spoilers ahead for “The Wife of His Youth” by Charles Chesnutt)

The wounds inflicted from slavery in the United States have forever integrated the thought of African Americans being subhuman counterparts to white people in American society.  The Reconstruction period was composed of efforts to heal these wounds—the goal was to incorporate newly freed African Americans in the south as equal to their former oppressors, giving them the same opportunities. However, the conception of black people being inherently inferior to white people was a foundation to multiple Reconstructionist approaches. Take Booker T. Washington, one of the most prominent African American Reconstructionist figures, as an example—he thought that black people had to earn their own merit and thus “prove” their own value to white society in order to become equals—he conforms with the belief that they’re at this subhuman level that must climb up the social ladder to ever be on the same level as white people. Many Reconstructionist approaches were shaped by the degrading foundations influenced by slavery, showing just how much of a burden the hurt from slavery is, even in efforts of healing and rebuilding.

American writer Charles Chesnutt addresses this scarred Reconstructionist approach in his short story “The Wife of His Youth.” The story revolves around Mr. Ryder, who is the dean of the Blue Veins, a little society organized of black people. The Blue Veins itself is a Reconstructionist group for black people who want to curate their “room for limitless improvement.” However, all of its members were described as people who were “more white than black.” This idea of unlimited room for improvement was based on their ability and want to pass into white society. Chesnutt addresses how the Blue Veins was only composed of light-colored black people—it is described as a “natural affinity,” likely following the effects from slavery—people who could be less black and more white naturally believed that they could reach higher potential, showing how the thought of black inferiority was ingrained to even black society. 

Additionally, one of the alleged requirements for joining the Blue Veins is thought to be that the member must not be slave-born—while it is not a genuine requirement for the Blue Veins, Chesnutt clarifies this is assumption is made from the fact that most members are freeborn, and that those who are not freeborn have “robbed their servile origin of its grosser aspects.” They have concealed part of their history to ensure that they don’t represent the hurt and ugliness of slavery, and can be interpreted as a way to recover by moving on and farther from it. In the case of the Blue Veins, it can be seen as a reconstruction of a black person bettering themself to their potential. But again, it shows what extent they will go to in order to move farther from this “inferior” aspect of themselves.

Mr. Ryder is one of those members who are freeborn, but it wasn’t just simply that. Because his parents died when he was young, he was exploited and apprenticed to a master, being forced to work for him until he grew up. But before he could turn twenty-one, he was nearly sold despite the fact that he was legally free. With plenty of context, Mr. Ryder offers a more individual and in-depth level of this Reconstruction, and what the scars from slavery have driven him to do. Just as Chesnutt described, Mr. Ryder has purposefully concealed his origin from the rest of the Blue Veins—this story is exclusively offered to us readers. 

Upon learning that he was going to be sold, Mr. Ryder escapes and eventually finds his way to the Blue Veins, where he begins to attempt to earn his own place in society. But he essentially climbs up the social ladder by making decisions that dissociate himself from black society and instead pass into white society—and to reconstruct himself, he tries abandoning his hurtful past altogether. This is seen through the main plot of the short story: Mr. Ryder wants to propose to Mrs. Dixon, a young wealthy woman who is passing into white society. However, this decision isn’t entirely out of his romantic feelings—to him, marrying her is also the perfect opportunity to move up on the social ladder, and it’s just another approach to reconstruct. But on the day he is planning to propose to her, he encounters Liza Jane, a woman who Chesnutt portrays in all ways black and contradicting that of the mannerisms of Mr. Ryder, or the entirety of the Blue Veins. She seeks out his help to find her husband, Sam, who fled from slavery twenty five years ago, and she’d been looking for him since. Unknowingly to Liza, the man she is speaking to is her former husband, Sam.

But Mr. Ryder doesn’t embrace Liza at all. Instead, he only projects his own feelings of how he has run away—when he talks to Liza Jane, he says “Perhaps he’s outgrown you, and climbed up in the world where he wouldn’t care to have you find him.” He projects how he feels that he has climbed up the social ladder because he has essentially outgrown black society—and the feeling that he’s too good to care about finding his old wife essentially because she is blacker than him. At this point, the term “wife of his youth” to him is the equivalent of “wife of his slavery,” and because of his desire to completely dissociate with slavery, Mr. Ryder was ready to even abandon her in order to reconstruct himself and pass further into white society—in fact, he was about to do exactly that, if Liza hadn’t confronted him that day. 

In the end, he finally acknowledges Liza Jane. He still throws the ball that was meant to be his proposal to Mrs. Dixon, but instead uses his speech to address Liza. And that’s where it ends—he doesn’t say if he’s going to get back with her, or if he’s not going to propose to Mrs. Dixon anymore. It just ends with him acknowledging Liza. So, we don’t know what he decides to do; if he decides he still wants to marry Mrs. Dixon, or stays with the woman that was looking for him for twenty five years. But I believe Chesnutt does this on purpose: he endorses the thought that Reconstruction for a lot of African Americans was based on the idea that they had to abandon their “blackness” if they wanted to improve themselves and become equal to white people in society, since this was ingrained into the entirety of American society because of the impact of slavery. He challenges us—what will Mr. Ryder do? Do we really think Mr. Ryder is able to overcome this harmful ideal that he’s basically stuck to for life? Sure, he does it to some extent by finally acknowledging Liza Jane, and therefore acknowledging his origin (but still not thoroughly explaining his experience with slavery). But I personally believe that this wound is forever engraved into Mr. Ryder with all of his experiences considered and how much he has dedicated himself to his own reconstruction—I don't think he'd go back to Liza.