BOOK: The House Behind the Cedars - Old Habits Die Hard
Racism is a cancer of the soul. It’s hilarious to hear people, now a days, who have no business being racist being so. While driving down the road a car cuts one off my wife driving, “He must be Asian!” Or on the radio, “Unless you’re Eminem, rappers are black.” And the one that gets me the most is in the movies when if a Mexican wants to run for and win the presidency in his high school, he needs the help of his white friends to doing all the work for him, by making and handing out keychains, bribing the voters, and putting on elaborate dance productions. It’s old habits that haven’t yet fully subsided in our society today. In Chesnutt’s time, during the Civil War, it’s obvious that racism isn’t going to die after a few years of changing the laws, which is the the theme he has put across in “House Behind the Cedars,” as well as that love is more powerful than Racism, and that black and white is actually very gray.
To the point of racism as a bad habit that doesn’t go away as easily as some would like, It is clearly delineated when Warwick returns to Patesville and makes a stop at his old mentor’s courthouse. “We make our customs lightly; once made, like our sins, they grip us in bands of steel; we become the creatures of our creations” (23). This is to say that old habits do die hard; not only that, but also if one begins begins practicing racism, one will become a racist. Judge Straight, being a very liberal and enlightened person to racism, he doesn’t blind himself to the the way the world is in his time. He fully understands that now that slavery is abolished however, people are going to continue to be racist still. This can be seen in a conversation between Tryon and the lovable Doctor Green, whom says that, “it’s a genuine pleasure to get acquainted with another real Southern gentleman, whom one can invite into one’s house without fear of contamination, and before whom one can express his feelings freely and be sure of perfect sympathy” (77), In other words, The lovable, yet racist, Doctor Green fears to have liberal ideals enter his household, and invites another racist with whom they can speak to one another about racism. Yet it seems that it’s become somewhat of a behind-closed-doors situation as in the book no one ever really makes racist comments before a black person.
Now to the point of love being more powerful than the habits of racism. The two main characters are in love due to the fact that Tryon doesn’t know that Reena has black blood. As the story develops, Tryon finds out that she is colored and shuns her. Little by little he is griped by the fact that he no longer cares about that and makes all kinds of excuses for his mind to comprehend what his heart already knows. “[Tryon] had felt, as soon as he had indulged his first opportunity to talk to her, an irresistible impulse to see her and speak to her again” (173). That impulsive feeling is from a habit much older than racism; that feeling was the habit of millions of years of evolution called falling in love. After failing to secretly meet with Reena, Tryon attempts to make another connection as he is fully aware of his feeling by now. In chapter 32, titled “The Power of Love,” Chesnutt points out this about Tryon, “his heart, he had discovered, was more deeply and permanently involved than he had imagined” (187).
The last major them in this books is that lines of black and white aren’t so clearly defined, but grayed. This can be clearly seen in the fact that In the town of Patesville, Molly Walden and her two offspring, Warwick and Reena, “Tradition [gives them] to the negro race” (105). However, Judge straight, know fully well that those clearly defined lines of race aren’t so black and white. Because as he advises the child John Walden (Warwick), “‘Here you have started as black, and must remain so. But if you wish to move away, and sink your past into oblivion, the case might be different” (117). He also continues that because of the laws in South Carolina, little John would “have simply to assume the place and exercise the privilege of a white man. [He] might, of course, do the same anywhere, as long as no one know [his] origin” (117).
Chesnutt’s main message and theme, as we have seen are that habits take longer to get rid of than laws to change, that love can help get rid of racism, and that lines of racism are clearly mottled in ridiculous values of gray. So, the next time my wife makes a comment about Asian driving, I do three things; One, I’ll understand that it’s mainly out of habit that she does this; Two, remind her that her little sister is Half-Asian, but looks fully Asian, and a pretty good driver; And three, ask her if it’s just her, Asian, Mexican, White Spanish, or mesoamerican side that helps her drive better.
To the point of racism as a bad habit that doesn’t go away as easily as some would like, It is clearly delineated when Warwick returns to Patesville and makes a stop at his old mentor’s courthouse. “We make our customs lightly; once made, like our sins, they grip us in bands of steel; we become the creatures of our creations” (23). This is to say that old habits do die hard; not only that, but also if one begins begins practicing racism, one will become a racist. Judge Straight, being a very liberal and enlightened person to racism, he doesn’t blind himself to the the way the world is in his time. He fully understands that now that slavery is abolished however, people are going to continue to be racist still. This can be seen in a conversation between Tryon and the lovable Doctor Green, whom says that, “it’s a genuine pleasure to get acquainted with another real Southern gentleman, whom one can invite into one’s house without fear of contamination, and before whom one can express his feelings freely and be sure of perfect sympathy” (77), In other words, The lovable, yet racist, Doctor Green fears to have liberal ideals enter his household, and invites another racist with whom they can speak to one another about racism. Yet it seems that it’s become somewhat of a behind-closed-doors situation as in the book no one ever really makes racist comments before a black person.
Now to the point of love being more powerful than the habits of racism. The two main characters are in love due to the fact that Tryon doesn’t know that Reena has black blood. As the story develops, Tryon finds out that she is colored and shuns her. Little by little he is griped by the fact that he no longer cares about that and makes all kinds of excuses for his mind to comprehend what his heart already knows. “[Tryon] had felt, as soon as he had indulged his first opportunity to talk to her, an irresistible impulse to see her and speak to her again” (173). That impulsive feeling is from a habit much older than racism; that feeling was the habit of millions of years of evolution called falling in love. After failing to secretly meet with Reena, Tryon attempts to make another connection as he is fully aware of his feeling by now. In chapter 32, titled “The Power of Love,” Chesnutt points out this about Tryon, “his heart, he had discovered, was more deeply and permanently involved than he had imagined” (187).
The last major them in this books is that lines of black and white aren’t so clearly defined, but grayed. This can be clearly seen in the fact that In the town of Patesville, Molly Walden and her two offspring, Warwick and Reena, “Tradition [gives them] to the negro race” (105). However, Judge straight, know fully well that those clearly defined lines of race aren’t so black and white. Because as he advises the child John Walden (Warwick), “‘Here you have started as black, and must remain so. But if you wish to move away, and sink your past into oblivion, the case might be different” (117). He also continues that because of the laws in South Carolina, little John would “have simply to assume the place and exercise the privilege of a white man. [He] might, of course, do the same anywhere, as long as no one know [his] origin” (117).
Comments