The Negro in American fiction

by Sterling A. Brown

1. Why was the earlier plantation tradition fiction less persuasive than that written in Reconstruction?

2. What were reasons why the “brute” Negro was seldom mentioned in antebellum fiction, and so frequently mentioned in Reconstruction?

3. What in the testimony of Page’s three Uncles supports the fact that Virginia was a slave-breeding state?

4. Compare Harris and Page.

5. Why is Edwards closer to the “frontier humorists” than to Allen?

6. Since instances of mutual affection in slavery could undoubtedly be found, why should not literature celebrating it be considered a trustworthy guide to the Old South?

7. List the runaways and “bad Negroes” mentioned in this chapter, with the authors’ characterizations of them.

8. Account for the absence of characters of mixed blood.

CHAPTER V

RECONSTRUCTION: THE NOT SO GLORIOUS SOUTH