LITR 4232: American Renaissance
UHCL, spring 2001
Sample Student Paper

Erin Gouner
American Renaissance
Dr. Craig White
April 21, 2001

Interracial Figures of the American Renaissance

The American Renaissance marks a period of social injustice and the fight of the minority to bring about social change. Women and African-Americans (who were freed or escaped from slavery) begin to gain a voice through literacy, and use that voice to start the movement to abolish slavery and gain women rights. The development of literacy makes it impossible to ignore women and African-Americans because their writing provides a permanent record of the horrors of slavery and injustice of oppressing the minority groups. Furthermore, the gain in literacy by these groups makes Anglo-Saxons face the realities of their world and challenges the American dream. Perhaps the most fascinating result of the destruction to the American dream is the introduction of the interracial character. During this period of history (and long after it) the myth existed that the races were pure. Judith R. Berzon in her book Neither White Nor Black: The Mulatto Character in American Fiction, attributes the emergence of interracial characters in the nineteenth and twentieth century to "(1) a widespread fear of miscegenation; (2) the tenacious view that mulattoes are a Îdegenerate, sterile and short-lived breedâ ; (3) the unresolved dilemma of the social and economic roles of the emancipated African-American; and (4) the unease with which Caucasians generally regarded those who carry traits of both racial groups" (19). The interracial characters exposed the reality in America, that the children of slaves on the plantation were a result of white slave owners having intercourse with their slaves. Conceivably even more tragic is that the slave children were still seen as property despite the fact that they were the offspring of the slave owners. The interracial figures of the American Renaissance are Cora from The Last of the Mohicans, Frederick Douglass, and Harriet Ann Jacobs.

In James Fenimore Cooperâs novel, The Last of the Mohicans, Cora represents the intermingling of the races and the complexity that occurs due to her interracial heritage. Her father, Colonel Munro, describes Coraâs identity to Duncan in the following lines:

There it was my lot to form a connexion with one who in a time became my wife, and the mother of Cora. She was the daughter of a gentleman of those isles, by a lady, whose misfortune it was, if you will·to be descended, remotely from that unfortunate class, who are so basely enslaved to administer to the wants of a luxurious people! (Cooper 159)

These lines reveal the secret behind Coraâs true heritage. Albeit Cooper addresses the issue of interracial relations, he still maintains an element of romanticism in that Coraâs mother comes from a foreign land and not a slave on a plantation that Colonel Munro owned. The context this conversation occurs in provides insight into the complications involved in Coraâs ethnicity. Colonel Munro reveals Coraâs race after Duncan has asked for her younger, half-sister Aliceâs hand in marriage. Munro assumes that Duncan chooses Alice over Cora because he has figured out that Cora is of mixed blood. In response to what Munro perceives as prejudice he says, "[a]nd you cast it on my child as a reproach! You scorn to mingle the blood of the Heywards with one so degraded÷lovely and virtuous though she be?" (159). Although Duncan did not intend his request for Aliceâs hand to imply that Cora was unworthy; this conversation demonstrates the sensitivity of interracial offspring in society.

The contrast between Cora and her half-sister Alice provides an interesting development in the romantic heroine. Alice embodies the traditional role of the romantic heroine; a fair, lovely damsel in distress that must be rescued by the heroic male. However, Coraâs mixed heritage allows her to break from this mold and develop traits that would traditionally fit in the heroic maleâs persona. Cora, Duncan, and Alice are faced with the dilemma of traveling with the white soldiers or with the Indian scout through the forest. Alice hesitates to travel with the scout for safety reasons, but she asks for Coraâs opinion. Alice receives this reply, " Î[s]hould we distrust the man, because his manners are not our manners, and that his skin is dark!â coldly asked Cora" (21). Although the conditions with the scout are more favorable, Alice instinctually feels inclined to stay with the white soldiers. Cora, on the other hand, because of her mixed heritage can see past the color of the scoutâs skin and assess the best plan of action through the forest. Another comparison the sisters provide is their reaction to danger. The fair Alice frets, faints, and clings to Coraâs bosom. Cora, since she does not fit into society, can reflect on the situation, stand strong in the face of danger, and make decisions to help the situation. The following exemplifies one of the many instances of Alice fainting:

"Tis impossible!" said Duncan; "fear has overcome her, and she is helpless. Alice! my sweet, my own Alice, arouse yourself; now is the moment to fly. ÎTis in vain! she hears, but is unable to follow. (262)

Alice must depend on her male companions and Cora to get her through the obstacles they face on their journey. Her white heritage forces her into the social norms, and makes her unable to break from those restraints and fight for herself. However, Coraâs racial background stands her apart from society and she can act bravely as seen in these lines:

"Name your intention, Magua," said Cora, struggling with herself to speak with calmness. "Is it to lead us prisoners to the woods, or do you contemplate even some greater evil?·At least release my gentle sister, and pour out all of your malice on me. (104).

Cora can speak to her enemies, while Alice faints, and sacrifice herself for the well being of her sister÷a traditionally male role. By having the sisters represent the pure white (Alice) and the mixing of races (Cora), Cooper provides an interesting insight into the roles of women in the romantic novel. Alice must play the part of the stereotypical romantic heroine, but Cora can deviate from those norms and portray a much more complex heroine.

Cora's relationship with Uncas and her death further exemplify the complications of racial impurities place in the ideology of the American dream. Throughout the novel there are hints of a love forming between Cora and Uncas. However, this love cannot develop because that would cause a further mixing between the races in their future offspring. Therefore, Cooper handles the situation by killing both Cora and Uncas. Cooper gives the impression that Cora and Uncas are together in the afterlife during the funeral lamentation in the following lines:

A hunter would be her companion, who knew how to provide for her smallest wants; and a warrior was at her side, who was able to protect her against danger·They advised her to be attentive to the wants of her companion· (343)

Cooper establishes that although Cora and Uncas do not have a place in society, they can transcend this world and be together in the afterlife. The results of Cora and Uncas' love differ greatly from the conclusion of the all-American, white couple Duncan and Alice. Duncan and Alice return to the white settlements and live happily ever after, as stated in these lines:

his surviving daughter far into the settlements of the "pale-faces," where her tears had, at last, ceased to flow, and had been succeeded by the bright smiles which were better suited to her joyous nature. (348)

Alice and Duncan return to where they belong in a world of comfort and where racial issues are ignored. Cooper almost takes a jab at Alice in these lines when he sets off the "at last" with commas÷as if to say she finally quit whining. Berzon remarks on the death of Cora when she states, "[h]er death is Cooperâs admission of American society's inability to provide a meaningful position for Cora and those like her" (54). Cora has to die because she does not fit into society's ideals and the only place for her consists of an intangible transcendence into the unknown.

Frederick Douglass was a slave that escaped to the north and used his experiences to fight for the abolition of slavery and women's rights. Douglass knows that his mother is a slave named Harriet Bailey, but the identity of his father remains an enigma. In Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Douglass responds to the mystery of his birth father by stating:

My father was a white man. He was admitted to be such by all I ever heard speak of my parentage. The opinion was also whispered that my master was my father; but of the correctness of this opinion, I know nothing; the means of knowing was withheld from me. (1762)

With these lines Douglass exemplifies the regular occurrence of plantation owners producing children with their slaves. Douglass also identifies the nonchalance of the slave owner's attitude toward having sexual relations with his slaves. His father did not even consider him enough to give Douglass an identity as his son. Furthermore, society would not have allowed for the slave owner to admit that he had produced a child of mixed blood. During Douglass' time as a slave, he begins to realize the dehumanization of the slave and their ranking as property. Douglass gives an account of this act in the subsequent:

We were all ranked together at the valuation. Men and women, old and young, married and single, were ranked with horses, sheep and swine. There were horses and men, cattle and women, pigs and children, all holing the same rank in the scale of being, and were all subjected to the same narrow examination. (1781)

The slave owner is evaluating his property value, and he groups his children and lovers with livestock. This shows the dehumanization of not only the slaves, but also the slave owner. Douglass inadvertently suggests that the reason for society's inability to except interracial individuals comes from their view that slaves are merely property and livestock. Therefore, the mixing of races forces the white slave owners to face the fact that they are treating human beings as animals and the injustice of slavery. After Douglass flees to the north for his freedom, he is encouraged to give speeches over his experience as a slave. One of Douglass' most famous speeches, "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" provides an insight into the realities of independence on the American fantasy of independence. In this speech Douglass states, "[t]his Fourth [of] July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn" (1824). Although Douglass is part white, he chooses to identify himself as African-American and segregate himself from his audience. This technique allows him to show that he is free and half white, but he will not have independence until the abolishment of slavery. Charles W. Mills in "Whose Fourth of July?" explains the relevance of this speech by Douglass as:

Why then should we continue to value this speech a hundred and fifty years later? Because apart from being a dazzling piece of oratory, its courage, moral outrage, and political intransigence are still inspirational·Douglass saw, correctly, that the Fourth of July belonged to white Americans rather than all Americans, and his anger at this continues to resound with us. (134)

Douglass uses his experience as a slave to show the white majority that the founding principle of America÷independence, is not a reality for all Americans. By downplaying his white heritage, Douglass segregates himself from his audience. This segregation allows him to show the whites that the freedom they fought so hard for, was something they were taking away from the African-Americans in an even more horrifying manner than was enforced on them.

Harriet Ann Jacobs was a slave that fled from her plantation for freedom and struggled to free her children from their oppressors. Jacobs in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, discusses the interracial relations between the slaveholders and the slaves, although her heritage does not come from this mixing. Jacobs sums up the frequency of this occurrence in this statement:

Southern women often marry a man knowing that he is the father of many little slaves. They do not trouble themselves about it. They regard such children as property, as marketable as the pigs on the plantation; and it is seldom that they do not make them aware of this by passing them into the slavetraderâs hands as soon as possible, and thus getting them out of their sight. (1845-1846)

Like Douglass, Jacobs demonstrates the treatment of these interracial children as mere property to be sold quickly in order to not upset society. The view of these children as property magnifies the horror of slavery. The slave women are being forced to have sex with their owners, and then their children are being sold to ease the mind of the slave ownerâs wife. James Kinney in Amalgamation! Race, Sex, and Rhetoric in the Nineteenth-Century American Novel, states that "[i]n addition to rape, murder, and incest, the exploitation of black women by white men caused other problems. Miscegenation not only damaged slave marriages, it caused the breakup of white marriages as well" (13). Jacobs also deals with this issue when her master desires her for his concubine. Jacobs discusses the problems that occurred from his desire for her with her masterâs wife, and she relates the eeriness of "[waking] up in the dead of night and [finding] a jealous woman bending over you" (1844). In an attempt to end her masterâs efforts, Jacobs begins an affair with a white neighbor, which results in her interracial children. Jacobs continues to struggle in an effort to free herself and her interracial children from slavery.

Cora from The Last of the Mohicans, Frederick Douglass, and Harriet Ann Jacobs exemplify the complications surrounding interracial figures in the American Renaissance. This time period faces the breakdown of American ideology with the realities of racial mixing. Whites had a place in society as the majority and the ruling class, African-American slaves had a place in society as the oppressed workers, but where did the people that were a mixture of these two races fit? The truth is that they did not have a place in society and were subjected to being considered property that was quickly disposed of to keep from upsetting the masses. Kinney writes of an instance that sums up the life of a slave: "In a typical case, when questioned why she had born a white overseerâs child, one slave woman replied to her mistress, Îwhen he made me follow him into the bush, what use to tell him no? He have the strength to make me" (19). This exemplifies the reason for the interracial individual being regarded as a slave because the majority had the power to make them. However, the interracial character and authors have the power to tell about their experiences and speak out against slavery.

Works Cited

Berzon, Judith R. Neither White Nor Black: The Mulatto Character in American Fiction.

New York: New York University Press, 1978.

Cooper, James Fenimore. The Last of the Mohicans. 1826. New York: Penguin Classics,

1986.

Douglass, Frederick. "Narrative to the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave."

Paul Laufer, ed. The Heath Anthology of American Literature, vol 1, 3^rd ed.

Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1998.

Douglass, Frederick. "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July." Paul Laufer, ed. The

Heath Anthology of American Literature, vol 1, 3^rd ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin

Company, 1998.

Jacobs, Harriet Ann. "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl." Paul Laufer, ed. The Heath

Anthology of American Literature, vol 1, 3^rd ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company,

1998.

Kinney, James. Amalgamation! Race, Sex, and Rhetoric in the Nineteenth-Century American

Novel. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1985.

Mills, Charles W. "Whose Fourth of July? Frederick Douglass and ÎOriginal Intent.â" Bill E.

Lawson and Frank M. Kirkland, eds. Frederick Douglass: A Critical Reader.

Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers, 1999.