Slavery Through the White-Tinted Lens of an Embedded Black Narrator: Séjour's "The Mulatto" and Chesnutt's "Dave's Neckliss" as Intertexts

According to Jon Smith, "the literature, cultures, and identity politics of the U.S. South are seen as important . . . because they share several traits with those of the global South - a history . . . of colonial plantations, race slavery... [and] vibrant African cultural survival" (125). The amicable white frame narrator introduces Antoine without any apparent signs of prejudice or condescension, stating that "the moment I arrived, I was accosted by an old negro, at least seventy years of age; his step was firm, his head held high, his form imposing and vigorous" (353). [...] Antoine sets the cynical tone of the tragedy he is about to relate with evident foreshadowing, pointing out that the black man is, in his words, a "most unhappy being, who hasn't even the consolation of always being virtuous . . . and [who] often goes to his grave with bloodstained hands and a heart hungering after yet more vengeance" (354).