46 pages • 1 hour read
Charles W. ChesnuttThe Marrow of Tradition
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1901A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 20-23Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 20 Summary: “A Shocking Crime”
The next morning, Mrs. Ochiltree’s cook, Dinah, finds her employer murdered. Before the police arrive, Olivia arrives and goes through her belongings searching for the papers that would give Janet the Carteret home. As news gets out, “[s]uspicion [is] at once directed toward the negroes, as it always is when an unexplained crime is committed in a Southern community” (116). The Black population goes into hiding, knowing that a lynching is likely to take place.
Chapter 21 Summary: “The Necessity of an Example”
After Mrs. Ochiltree’s murder, McBane, Belmont, and Carteret meet to strategize. Jerry has identified Sandy as the murderer, and they know a lynching is already near-inevitable: The crime is “a fatal assault upon a woman of [their] race” (119). McBane believes Sandy should be burned alive. Belmont councils him not to intervene directly and urges Carteret to put out a special edition of the paper detailing the crime and hinting that “drastic efforts to protect the white women” are necessary (121).
Chapter 22 Summary: “How Not to Prevent a Lynching”
Josh tells Dr. Miller that he was with Sandy the night before—there was no way Sandy could have committed the crime. Together with Mr. Watson, the town’s Black lawyer, they discuss the injustice of lynching. Miller is determined to act, but Dr. Watson reveals that the mayor is out of his office and that Judge Everton has already expressed that although lynching is “as a rule unjustifiable […] there [are] exceptions to all rules” (125). Dr. Miller resolves to visit Mr. Delamere at Belleview to ask for his aid.
Chapter 23 Summary: “Belleview”
Miller visits Mr. Delamere at his country estate. After Dr. Miller explains the situation, Mr. Delamere states that Sandy is “incapable” of such a crime and that he’d “as soon believe such a thing of [his] own grandson” (129). Dr. Miller emphasizes that he shares this judgment—but that Sandy will be lynched without the chance to clear himself. Mr. Delamere prepares to go to town and talk to Sandy first.
Chapters 20-23 Analysis
These chapters highlight the racist views of Wellington’s white men. As soon as Sandy is accused of murder, Carteret and his cronies are prepared to plan a lynching. There are some minor differences between their views, which develops the theme of The “Poetry” of Racism Versus the Reality of Racism. For instance, while McBane is happy to actively involve himself in instigating a lynching and advocates that Sandy be burned alive, Belmont and Carteret don’t want to get their hands dirty. It is clear, however, that they want the same end: They are simply not equally willing to create the means to that end.
Moreover, it is clearer than ever that these two kinds of racism are mutually reinforcing. While the novel has previously suggested that violence upholds Belmont and Carteret’s more “polite” form of white supremacy, it now shows Belmont and Carteret harnessing The Power of the Press to incite much more widespread violence than McBane could ever dream of.
With the white men of the town unwilling to keep order, Dr. Miller must take things into his own hands. In his encounter with old Mr. Delamere, Chesnutt depicts the rare Southern man who believes in the integrity of Black people. Mr. Delamere’s repeated statement that he would just as soon believe Tom murdered Mrs. Ochiltree as believe Sandy did foreshadows what is to come.
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By Charles W. Chesnutt
