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Summary
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Wife of His Youth, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Race and Class
Love, Loyalty, and Honor
History and Identity
Community and Solidarity
Summary
Analysis
Mr. Ryder is planning a ball. He’s one of the leading figures of what is colloquially called the “Blue Veins,” a society of mostly light-skinned, mixed-race people in a Northern city. The Blue Veins were founded after the American Civil War for the purpose of social advancement. Although the society’s only official requirements for membership are “character” and “culture,” in practice most of its members are “more white than black.”
The fact that Mr. Ryder is planning a ball hints at the relatively refined, elite social world that he belongs to. The “Blue Veins” society in this story is based on a similar society of mostly light-skinned, mixed-race people that the author, Charles Chesnutt, himself belonged to in Cleveland, Ohio. The existence of such societies illustrates the complex nature of racial identity in post-Civil War America. Although the members of the “Blue Veins” society are “more white than black”—much like Chesnutt himself, who had majority-European ancestry and could “pass” for white—American society doesn’t consider them white. Racial beliefs such as the “one-drop rule”—which held that any trace of African ancestry made a person not “white”—arose during the time of slavery to justify the enslavement of mixed-race people, even those who appeared white.
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Those excluded from the Blue Veins accuse it of colorism, arguing that it only reinforces racial prejudices, but the society’s defenders claim that their members are mostly light-skinned only because such people tend to have more opportunities for social advancement. The society’s defenders also claim that it serves as a “lifeboat” to guide their people through a “social wilderness.”
The existence of societies such as the one Chesnutt belonged to, or the fictional “Blue Veins,” suggests how mixed-race Americans in this time period (the late 19th century) sought to band together to work against the racial prejudices they faced. This is why those belonging to the Blue Veins see it as a “lifeboat” in a hostile world. However, these societies could also encourage colorism, the belief that lighter-skinned people were better and more worthy of acceptance into white society than darker-skinned people. These prejudices are what underlie the exclusivity of the Blue Veins society. The claim that the Blue Veins’ exclusiveness reinforces racial prejudice suggests that, in distancing themselves from other Black Americans and seeking acceptance into white society, the society’s members are only playing into the belief that white people are better than Black people.
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Moreover, critics accuse the Blue Veins society of only allowing members who were born into freedom rather than slavery. While this is not actually a formal requirement, there are indeed only one or two older members who were formerly enslaved—most of the members were born free in the North. Some Blue Veins members are more conservative than others when it comes to the question of skin color and formerly free or enslaved status, and Mr. Ryder is one of the most conservative members in this regard. Although Mr. Ryder is not one of the founding members of the Blue Veins society, he nonetheless became a leader, protecting its standards and traditions through his “genius for social leadership.”
The fact that very few of the Blue Veins members were born into slavery shows that classism is working alongside racism in the society of the story. People who were once enslaved would have had a more difficult path toward gaining wealth, education, and social status compared to free-born people. Therefore, they would have also had more difficulty gaining admission to a society like the Blue Veins, which values its members’ “culture” or sophistication. Mr. Ryder’s conservatism when it comes to the “quality” of people admitted for membership hints that he may have personal reasons for wanting to distance himself from the legacy of slavery.
Themes
Another reason for Mr. Ryder’s popularity is his manner and appearance. He nearly “passes” for white, he is always neatly dressed, and his morals are “above suspicion.” He came to the Northern city of Groveland as a young man, working as a clerk in a railroad company. Although Mr. Ryder did not have a formal education, he is self-taught and has a passion for poetry. He is thrifty and owns a nice house. Because he is single, he shares his house with a young couple who keep him company.
Mr. Ryder clearly belongs to the upper rungs of this society of mixed-race people. His origins here are entirely obscured—the reader is told only what happened after he arrived in Groveland as a young man, not about his youth. However, there are some hints of his humble origins, like his lack of formal education. But he has clearly overcome these limitations, apparently through sheer force of will, educating himself and working his way up the social ladder. He does, however, seem to lack close intimate relationships, since it’s implied that he rents his house to boarders to alleviate his loneliness.
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Early on during his involvement with the Blue Veins, the young women of the society saw Mr. Ryder as a good match and flirted with him, but it isn’t until a woman named Molly Dixon moves to Groveland from Washington that Mr. Ryder decides to marry. Molly is younger, lighter-skinned, and better educated than he is. She used to teach at a school in Washington D.C., and her husband had been a government clerk who left behind a decent sum of money in life insurance when he died. On a visit to Groveland, she decided to stay permanently, and she and Mr. Ryder struck up a romantic relationship.
Molly Dixon attracts Mr. Ryder not only because she’s clever and interested in him, but also because of the opportunities she represents. Molly is even higher up on the social ladder than Mr. Ryder is, owing to her skin color, formal education, and inheritance from her husband. In addition, the fact that Molly is much younger than him is significant, since this likely means that she didn’t live through slavery and thus doesn’t share Mr. Ryder’s view of the past.
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Literary Devices
Mr. Ryder has finally decided to ask Molly Dixon to marry him. His plan is to give a ball in her honor and to propose to her that evening. He’s certain that she’ll say yes, and he wants the occasion of the proposal to be a suitable one. He wants the ball to be a very socially proper event, with “quality” guests. Mr. Ryder is concerned that the Blue Veins’ standards are becoming too “lax,” forcing him to meet with people whose social status and skin color lead him to believe they are beneath him.
Mr. Ryder’s plans for the ball again demonstrate the refinement of the social world that both he and Molly Dixon inhabit. His exclusionary attitude toward the guests demonstrates his racial and class prejudices, which may—as is the case with his desire for marriage with Molly Dixon—be rooted in a desire to distance himself from his humble origins and work his way up the social ladder.
Themes
Mr. Ryder insists that he does not have racial prejudice, but he believes that mixed-race people are ground between upper and lower “millstones,” faced either with “absorption” into the white race or “extinction” into the Black race. The white race doesn’t want them but might accept them in time. The Black race would welcome them, but for mixed-race people this would be a “backward step.” Mr. Ryder believes that mixed-race people should do the best they can for themselves, since “self-preservation is the first law of nature.” He hopes that his exclusive ball will help to counteract the Blue Veins’ more liberal, equalizing tendencies, and that his marriage with Molly Dixon will help him in his quest for “upward absorption” into the white race.
This passage provides the clearest statement of Mr. Ryder’s views on race and class. His focus on “self-preservation” demonstrates that he is mostly concerned with how he and other mixed-race people can best conform and succeed within this society, rather than with showing solidarity for all classes of people facing racial oppression. Mr. Ryder’s focus on “self-preservation” is understandable in some ways, considering how strongly rooted racist beliefs were in late 19th-century American society. For mixed-race people, “absorption” into the privileges of being considered “white” may have seemed a likelier prospect than eliminating racism entirely. However, Mr. Ryder’s belief that “extinction” into the Black race would be a “backward step” reinforces the racism of this society, which ultimately harms even light-skinned, mixed-race people like himself as well. This was one reason why Chesnutt himself chose to identify as Black rather than “pass” for white. Again, Mr. Ryder’s motivations for marrying Molly Dixon stem not so much from his love for her as a person, but rather from his beliefs about race and class, and his desire for upward mobility (increased wealth and social status). Mr. Ryder’s beliefs here will be challenged considerably in Part 2 of the story.
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