The goophered grapevine. The Goophered Grapev... 2022-12-18
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The "Goophered Grapevine" is a short story written by Charles W. Chesnutt, a African American author and political activist during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The story is set in the southern United States and follows the narrator, a young man named Julius, as he travels through a small town and hears a local legend about a cursed grapevine on a plantation.
According to the legend, the grapevine on the plantation was "goophered" by a voodoo practitioner, causing it to produce exceptionally large and delicious grapes. However, anyone who ate the grapes would become cursed and die within a year. Despite the warning, Julius becomes tempted by the grapes and ultimately succumbs to their allure, leading to a tragic and cautionary tale about the dangers of temptation and superstition.
The story of the "Goophered Grapevine" is a poignant commentary on the cultural and social issues of the time, particularly in regards to race and superstition. The legend of the cursed grapevine serves as a metaphor for the destructive power of greed and temptation, as well as the dangers of blindly following superstitions and folklore.
Additionally, the story highlights the segregation and discrimination faced by African Americans in the South during this period. Julius, the narrator, is treated with suspicion and mistrust by the white characters in the story, and the voodoo practitioner is depicted as a mysterious and dangerous figure, adding to the overall sense of fear and distrust between the races.
Overall, "The Goophered Grapevine" is a thought-provoking and insightful exploration of human nature, temptation, and the societal issues of its time. It serves as a reminder of the dangers of succumbing to our baser instincts and the importance of questioning the beliefs and superstitions that shape our perceptions of the world around us.
The Goophered Grapevine by Charles W. Chesnutt
Read for my African American Literature class at University. The citation above will include either 2 or 3 dates. He wuz er ole nigger, er de color er a gingy-cake, en ball ez a hoss-apple on de top er his head. De nex' day Aun' Peggy come up ter de vimya'd. The second is the date of publication online or last modification online. Co'se he 'cuse' de niggers er it, but dey all 'nied it ter de las'. His new owner told Mars Dugal about his troubles and how Henry has rheumatiz, and Mars Dugal agreed to buy him back for 500 dollars.
The vineyard and Henry died, complaining of rheumatiz. Indeed, one may want the narrator to leave Julius in peace to enjoy his grapes, but the narrator's no-nonsense business acumen wins the day. So you des lemme know, en ef he gits any wusser I'll be willin' ter gib yer five hund'ed dollars fer 'im, en take my chances on his livin'. It's a creative story—one that almost seems to convince the narrator's wife, Annie. When Henry come ter de plantation, he wuz gittin' a little ole an stiff in de j'ints. They saw an African American girl who was carrying a piggin of water on her head.
He fotch de noo nigger home wid 'im. I believe, however, that the wages I pay him for his services are more than an equivalent for anything he lost by the sale of the vineyard. We alighted from the buggy, walked about the yard for a while, and then wandered off into the adjoining vineyard. When de vimes fresh up a bit Henry 'ud git peart agin, en when de vimes wither agin Henry 'ud git ole agin, en des kep' gittin' mo' en mo' fitten fer nuffin ; he des pined away, en fine'ly tuk ter his cabin ; en when de big vime whar he got de sap ter 'n'int his head withered en turned yaller en died, Henry died too,—des went out sorter like a cannel. He held on his knees a hat full of grapes, over which he was smacking his lips with great gusto, and a pile of grape-skins near him indicated that the performance was no new thing. She buried the bottle under the root of a red oak tree.
He believes that the wages he gave Uncle Julius for his services as coachman and the employment was more than equal to what he lost by them buying the vineyard. But dat summer he got des ez spry en libely ez any young nigger on de plantation; fac', he got so biggity dat Mars Jackson, de oberseah, ha' ter th'eaten ter whip 'im, ef he did n' stop cuttin' up his didos en behave hisse'f. But de beatenes' thing you eber see happen ter Henry. We drove between a pair of decayed gateposts—the gate itself had long since disappeared—and up a straight sandy lane, between two lines of rotting rail fence, partly concealed by jimson-weeds and briers, to the open space where a dwelling-house had once stood, evidently a spacious mansion, if we might judge from the ruined chimneys that were still standing, and the brick pillars on which the sills rested. She went around the vines, taking a leaf, a grape-hull, a grape seed, a twig, some dirt, a snake's tooth, a hen's gall, and hairs from a black cat's tail and put them in a big black bottle with scuppernong wine. ABOUT ten years ago my wife was in poor health, and our family doctor, in whose skill and honesty I had implicit confidence, advised a change of climate.
However, it is sometimes frustrating to understand certain things. He proceeds to tell the narrator a story about the old Master McAdoo, a man who realized that slaves were eating up a bunch of his crop and so asked a local conjuring woman to "goopher" the place, to curse anyone who would eat his grapes. Some children ate them and died the next week. En I 'spec' he would a done it, too, ef de Yankees had n' s'picioned sump'n, en killed him fus'. Each spring McAdoo sold the youthful Henry for a high price to an unsuspecting buyer and each fall he bought the old Henry back for a song.
The Goophered Grapevine: A Story Of Unintended Consequences
He believes that Julius might have discouraged him from buying the property because he enjoyed being the only person with access to the grapes! The master was enraged by the loss of the vines and his slave and vowed to assault the Northerner if he ever saw him again. Julius claims that the vineyard is "goophered, cunju'd, bewitch. I dunner how it happen, but it happen des like I tell you, en de grapes kep' on a-goin' des de same. Is you de Norv'n gemman w'at's gwine ter buy de ole vimya'd? It took 3 to 4 years to grow any more grapes. He respectfully rose as we approached, and was moving away, when I begged him to keep his seat. When Henry come ter de plantation, he wuz gittin' a little ole an stiff in de j'ints.
There was a red brick market-house in the public square, with a tall tower, which held a four-faced clock that struck the hours, and from which there pealed out a curfew at nine o'clock. I found, when I bought the vineyard, that Uncle Julius had occupied a cabin on the place for many years, and derived a respectable revenue from the neglected grapevines. Our route lay partly up hill and partly down, for we were in the sand-hill county; we drove past cultivated farms, and then by abandoned fields grown up in scrub-oak and short-leaved pine, and once or twice through the solemn aisles of the virgin forest, where the tall pines, well-nigh meeting over the narrow road, shut out the sun, and wrapped us in cloistral solitude. Uncle Julius is a great character and a perfect example of the trickster archetype, something I really enjoy seeing. De niggers soon 'skiver' dat he wuz a Yankee, en dat he come down ter Norf C'lina fer ter l'arn de w'ite folks how to raise grapes en make wine. See eNotes Ad-Free Start your 48-hour free trial to get access to more than 30,000 additional guides and more than 350,000 Homework Help questions answered by our experts. A cordial invitation to visit him while I looked into the matter was accepted.
McAdoo began to prune the grapevine, he would scrape the sap from the vine and anoint his bald head with it. Combin' it didn' do no good ; he wuk at it ha'f de night wid er Jim Crow, "But dat wa'nt de quares' thing 'bout de goopher. In his desperation, McAdoo appealed to a free black conjure woman, Aunt Peggy, to help him out. This transformation took place regularly over the next few years. He sent fer a mighty fine doctor, but de med'cine did n' 'pear ter do no good ; de goopher had a good holt. When Henry come ter de plantation, he wuz gittin' a little ole an stiff in de j'ints. What Does Henry Do To Stay Alive The Goophered Grapevine? This, doubtless, accounted for his advice to me not to buy the vineyard, though whether it inspired the goopher story I am unable to state.
That night, the horse ran away and killed the coachman. Price, accessed January 01, 2023. She was shy but told them where to go. The Yankee is clearly very practical. The unnamed narrator is a white Yankee who is interested in purchasing a Southern property so that he can move there with his wife to improve her health. I doan know; dey wa'n't no hams on de plantation 'cep'n' w'at 'uz in de smoke-house, but I never see Henry 'bout de smoke-house.
The vines—here partly supported by decayed and broken-down trellises, there twining themselves among the branches of the slender saplings which had sprung up among them—grew in wild and unpruned luxuriance, and the few scattered grapes they bore were the undisputed prey of the first comer. The second date is today's date — the date you are citing the material. However, one day, the master hires a new slave named Henry. It was a sufficient time after the war for conditions in the South to have become somewhat settled; and I was enough of a pioneer to start a new industry, if I could not find a place where grape-culture had been tried. Henry nebber say nuffin 'bout de goopher ter his noo marsters, 'caze he know he gwine ter be tuk good keer uv de nex' winter, w'en Mars Dugal' buy him back.
