The Goophered Grapevine, The sheriff's Children and Jean-ah Poquelin

This short story week was fun because we could actually relate all the three stories that we read because they were written on a similar theme. All the stories were based on the time of slavery. There were deeper meanings to the stories and the meanings often co-relates with the background of the authors especially in the story "The Sheriff's Children" where the author would relate the children of mixed race as he was one at his time.

In the short story "The Goophered Grapevine" there is a mysterious curse that was cast down upon the person who eats the grapes and Henry a slave who did not know about the curse eats the grape. They try to lift the curse but the only way he could survive was by using the sap of the grapes to be healthy and strong. This is a co-relation of slavery and the old southern economy where the slavery dependent upon the plantation. If the plantation was thriving the slavery was growing. The curse can be related to the condition the slaves had to live in during those dark times. The grapes would perish after a season and so did the health of Henry. This might be suggesting that when there was work to be done slaves would have better health may be because they would have more food in the table or more care as the owners needed them. Henry's owner sold him every off season and buy him back making some profit. This story represents the culture of the old south and has some deeper meanings. The Gothic images used are the mysterious and magical curse. The idea of being sold as a property itself is very Gothic as it incites terror.

The Sheriff's Children is also based on issues of slavery and represents the old south. It tries to address the problem of mixed race children as the author Chestnut was had mixed heritage. In this story a person of authority, a Sheriff commits a crime by raping a slave women who eventually gives birth to a son. The Sheriff ends up selling his own son. The son later is charged of murder. There is a lot of internal conflict represented in the story. Tom the mixed racial child is not accepted in the society. He feels like he would never get fair treatment like the whites because he was half black. This is a very important part of history as several mixed race children would have to struggle against the society primarily controlled by the white Americans. It is a story about acceptance and struggle for being accepted into the society. Tom lets himself bleed to death because he feels like he would never be accepted, and he gives up fighting for the fair treatment for himself. This story is very revolutionary of the time and I am sure that the author at some point had experienced similar attitudes from the others for him being mixed racial

Jean-Ah Poquelin is another story which is around the time of slavery. The story however doesnot directly touch upon slavery and its issues. It is more subtle and the meanings are very deep. For example the slave that the brothers have cannot speak or in other words is mute. George W Cable perhaps want this to be a political statement to the people of the time as the slaves did not have a voice meaning the fundamental rights that the other had. Also it is a tool to make the affairs of the house to look more suspicious as the caretaker of the house would not be able to talk about what goes on in the house. The location of the house is bizarre and he history of the family has some Gothic elements to it.