Jean-ah Poquelin

Upon examination of the story of Jean-ah Poquelin, there is a strong parallel and symbolic notion in regards to how Jean acts in social situations and how people view him to the way that blacks were viewed in society as opposed to reality. Within the text we find that Jean's marshy swamp like property was surrounded with superstition and the citizens seemed to fear and mock him. When he does seem to interact within the town appears very civilized and for the most part well mannered, just a bit harder to understand because of his french tongue, even though he can speak in English. This parallels the discussions in the movie from class, "Black Notions", where it explained that blacks were viewed in society as a caricatured version of them selves, but were in reality quite civilized. The movie also discussed how even though blacks were well versed in proper English, the common view of their speech was a strong, almost incomprehensible dialect. Just as Jean died of and seemed to gain respect at the end of the text, in the same way the veiws of the Southern Black as being uncivilized had started to diminish and the Black race at least begin to earn some of the respect they deserve with equal rights as time went on.

Charles Chessnut

In Charles Chessnut's "Goophered Grapevine" expands on the stereotype of how blacks are associated with nature when he conjures up the story of Henry being an extension of the grapevine. He parallels Henry's health with the health of the grapevine in that when the grapevine bloomed, Henry appeared to become stronger and more spry. When the grape season was over and the plants withered, his health seemed to wither and deteriorate until the new spring arrived the following years. It also described his hair as growing with similar characteristics of the grapes themselves making it sound like he was more than just a part of nature but in a way he was nature himself. Also, in the way that the grapevine owner had to take care of the fields during the winter and harder times, he took care of Henry to make sure neither would completely wither away and die.

Our Nig

When considering the writing style used in by Harriet Wilson for "Our Nig" it makes us question why the story was written as a fictional novel in limited third person narrative instead of a first person autobiography. Considering that most women, much less blacks during the time that this was written had little to no voice in society. By making it more fictional she would be able to get more people to read, and thus hopefully understand the oppression that she had to endure. If she had left it as an autobiography, people might not have cared as much. Also, it may have been written as a fiction because she can remember the emotions and feelings that she experienced but might not remember all the causes of her emotions within the contexts of her sufferings.
When considering if this text can be deemed as part of Gothic Literature, i believe it can be, but more under the influence of Female Gothic. While it does have a sense of the castle where she is made to sleep in the attic and a sense of terror/horror brought about when describing the beatings and whippings she received. It would qualify as Female Gothic because while it does focus on the dominance of white over blacks, it parallels the form of oppression that Female Gothic uses to show the oppression of women in a male dominated society.