The Marrow of Tradition

By: Charles Waddell Chesnutt

Narrated by: Sean Crisden

Major Carteret is the white owner of the biggest newspaper in Wellington, a racially segregated city in the post-Civil War South. Carteret, along with other powerful white men in Wellington, are outraged that an editorial published the town's black newspaper has questioned the justification for lynchings.

As racial tension mounts, Carteret struggles on the domestic front. His wife and child are unwell and his niece, Clara, is courted by Tom Delamer, a lush aristocrat. Meanwhile, William Miller, a young black doctor, returns to hometown of Wellington to set up a practice. Everything comes to a head, however, when a white woman is murdered.

Public Domain (P)2014 Dreamscape Media, LLC

As timely in 2023 America as it was when published in 1901

The racial discrimination Chestnutt portrays in post Civil War South sadly is as accurate about America in 2023 - where “Whiteness as a political project…sorts (us) into those who must be protected and those who are expendable” from Christina Sharpe

American Lit

I read this for class. The recording was great, I only caught two mistakes but the story was a little lackluster

A relic of a bygone age

What did you like best about The Marrow of Tradition? What did you like least?

Best--the dialect was accurate based on a character's social position. Least--We never really find out what happens to one of the main characters (Tom).

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

For the time it was written, the book is appropriate. Although, it was not all that well-received in 1898. Too much romanticism.

Which scene was your favorite?

When Tom gets his comeuppance over the card game, but his greater crime going unpunished is annoying. Chesnutt does make an important point by allowing Tom to remain more or less unscathed.

Could you see The Marrow of Tradition being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Never. This book has disharmony between the races at its core. While that is still an issue America struggles with, the book's main themes differ from the problems today. I think that the event the book is partly based on (the 1890s Wilmington Riot) would make a good documentary, though.

Any additional comments?

No