wife youth wife youth short story american author published july later served title story collection wife youth stories book published year published short story collection woman wife youth features mobile light skinned man respected member city preparing marry light skinned woman darker woman comes seeking husband seen years story met positively publication work story read analysis race relations black white black community exploring color class main character dreams white ultimately accept black history african americans united_states ending story called ambiguous leaves questions unanswered plot wife youth follows racial man born free civil war heads social organization colored people northern town membership consists people high proportion european ancestry look white black organization stemmed joke white member veins seen skin sought town women begins light mixed race woman washington named plans propose ball giving speech talk meets older plain looking black woman searching husband seen years says married sam civil war enslaved hired apprentice family master despite taylor free black family tried sell slavery assisted sam escaping promised return free sold different master says taylor died remarried saying husband remained faithful refuses stop looking advises slave marriages count war marriages officially legal shows old picture sam leaves ball addresses members tells story conclusion asks attendees think man acknowledge wife urges yes brings says ladies gentlemen woman man story told permit introduce wife youth publication response wife youth published july issue reference author racial background african american majority white ancestry reviews positive read friends newspaper reviews wrote editor taking slight glimpse means imagine successful author later review influential critic particularly praised wife youth impressed main character offered christ like sacrifice african american 20th century wife youth short story published august issue atlantic nationally distributed story published marking beginning year association magazine contacted successor publishing book tales revealed african american heritage advised trying book time suggested wait earned broader reputation seven years later endorsed page taken role editor atlantic support mifflin published included passing turned slave narratives year published collection dialect local color stories year novel house published company advised editor intentions wife youth stories color line book written distinct hope influence directing attention certain aspects race question familiar unfortunate glad view emphasized opinion book strong stand sermon labeled sermon good hearing years later corresponded included character novel heaven reads wife youth accompanying stories character realizes write book lifted wife youth place table opened pages time admired cool style sense form mind man surveyed problems race height turned living artistic drama escaped attention life worker southern plantation near whites north surveyed entire field setting saw thought felt analysis wife youth explore relationship whites instead story concerned race consciousness mixed race north south scholar notes story like including matter principle unprecedented broke ice american fiction manners like dreams white writes absorption white race reading dream fair women alfred lord wife appears story white readers considered realistic portrayal mixed race americans revealed insider paul shown whites lyrical blacks wrote known world comical negro terrible tragic negro white observer outside black character lyrical moods known inside witness remained regions paler shades relation whites negro ultimately challenging idea races story serves changing relationship mixed race blacks differences expressed language characters reflects differing education class levels speaks high rhetoric white english reads uses thick black dialect difference emphasized writing address book story switching soft dialect suggests story questions legality marriage decision choosing accept old plantation past writes moral obligation romantic desire considers story social satire concerned class based skin color promotes advancement lighter skinned people educated war wife revealed dark skinned cook sic notes ambiguity certainly writes drawing room image beginning story like plantation worker described taylor questions reader certain right decision uncomfortable tension attempt abandon past racial definitions order future story traditionally read having happy ending emphasizes final lines response husband forgotten notes significance referring simply wife wife youth acknowledges
The Wife of His Youth