Animality against Humanism in Charles Chesnutt’s The Conjure Woman and The Marrow of Tradition

Abstract

The fiction of Charles Chesnutt may be easily read and analyzed through his ownEnlightenment humanist political lens. However, despite his politics, Chesnutt’s useof animality in The Conjure Woman and The Marrow of Tradition opens an unexpected space of critique towards humanist perspectives and strategies as he addressesracial injustice in the United States in the early 20th century. Given recent critiques of the racial and special construction of the human, animalizing comparisons inliterature may be understood in a new light, working to challenge typical humanistunderstandings of racial degradation and “dehumanization.” I argue that Chesnutt’sfictional use of animality poses such a challenge, prompting a recognition of andresponse to white material interests, rather than ineffective humanist ideals.