The Marrow of Tradition (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Charles Waddell Chesnutt
- First Published: 1901
- Type of Work: Novel
- Genres: Long fiction, Social realism
- Subjects: African Americans, United States or Americans, Racism, Blacks, Biracial people, South or Southerners, Nineteenth century, Doctors, Sisters, North Carolina, Riots
- Locales: North Carolina
The main plot of The Marrow of Tradition is based on newspaper and eyewitness accounts of the lynchings that occurred during the election riots in Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1898. Chesnutt added a number of subplots that enabled him to explore a wider range of social issues more thoroughly than the short-story form had permitted. Dr. Miller, a talented black surgeon, and Major Carteret, an aristocratic white supremacist, are somewhat melodramatically brought together when Carteret, having indirectly caused the death of Miller's child with inflammatory race-baiting editorials...
[The entire page is 641 words long]
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