Racism and Inequality Theme Analysis

While some characters in The Longest Memory, such as Lydia and Chapel, argue that blacks should be granted the same rights as whites, most of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Virginian society proves hostile to the concept of equality, preferring instead to believe that blacks are inherently inferior. Racism determines the nature of economic and social relations between whites and blacks. Such entrenched inequality sets a fragile foundation for the nation’s present and future, as it remains uncertain how society might handle the long-lasting effects of discrimination and oppression. The novel’s prophetic interrogations of the future foreshadow the difficulties that American society will face in reconciling Northern and Southern mindsets and, more generally, in allowing blacks and whites to prosper side by side.

Despite being learned behavior, racism corrupts everyone—including members of the oppressed, black minority. Racism is not innate, but rather comes from observing and abiding by societal dynamics. As a young boy, the overseer Sanders Junior asks his father, Sanders Senior, about racial inequality: “he asked me why they were dark and we were bright. His word ‘bright.’” The child realizes that the division between people’s skin colors is arbitrary, following no logic that he can perceive. In this way, it becomes apparent that he has to learn to consider blacks not only inherently different from him, but also inferior. His later adherence to a strict code separating whites and blacks in terms of superiority and inferiority—evident in his punishment of the runaway slave, Chapel—shows that societal dynamics can shape even a previously skeptic young boy’s behavior for the rest of his life.

Racism is so prevalent that even slaves can find themselves participating in this ideology. “There are two types of slave: the slave who must experience everything for himself before coming to an understanding of anything and he who learns through observation,” Whitechapel explains, concluding that the first slave (the rebellious one) is wrong and bound to experience trouble, whereas the quieter, more obedient slave can live a peaceful life. Whitechapel does not necessarily believe in the inferiority of blacks, but he does believe that slaves must learn to accept their position in society. In this way, he effectively accepts the inferior social and economic position that is given to blacks, seemingly without questioning it on a moral level.

This understanding informs Whitechapel’s entire vision of life. Instead of considering that his son should be independent as a human being, Whitechapel believes that it is only because of Chapel’s biracial nature—the result of Sanders Senior’s rape of Cook—that he can claim the right to rebellion. “You were born half a slave, half the master of your own destiny,” he says in an imaginary dialogue with his son. “Shall I tell you about your blood? That two races are distributed evenly in it?” Whitechapel abides by the narrow division of humans into two races, which he believes determines an individual’s right to freedom. Whitechapel’s understanding of his son’s rebellious nature does not depend on universal freedom, but on an acceptance of race as a determining factor in people’s minds and attitudes.

While some people attempt to overcome such divisions between blacks and whites, their efforts often seem bound to fail. For slaves, running away and escaping slavery is likely to get them killed. Among her fellow white Southerners, Lydia’s efforts to open a dialogue about slavery with the local newspaper, The Virginian, fails from the moment she mentions the possibility of interracial relations, which the editor considers heinous and unacceptable. It becomes obvious that the only possibility for Lydia and Chapel to live happily is to escape to the North.

These various experiences underline the idea that racism is a deeply-rooted problem, affecting the social and economic fabric of society. Such entrenched divisions lay unequal foundations for society’s future. In the novel, characters reflect on the difficulty of handling the social and economic legacy of slavery, prophesizing the harmful, long-term effects of violence and discrimination against the country’s black population. Whitechapel, for example, foresees a depressing future in which society simply reproduces the same dynamics of oppression and inequality over time: “The future is just more of the past waiting to happen.” His very name—Whitechapel, the same as his master’s—suggests that oppression is inherited, generation after generation, and that little can be done to change it.

Other people believe that change will only happen through tension and conflict. Responding to a letter that Lydia sent to the newspaper, the editor worries about the legacy of interracial relationships: “what will become of the offspring from these heinous alliances? Where is their place in these States when they see themselves as our equal and feel it too because the blood courses through their veins?” The racist editor proves prophetic in his anticipation of racial tensions, as he imagines that the fight for African-Americans’ equality and socio-economic “place” in society will involve grappling with centuries of violent discrimination.

However, other characters are more optimistic. Despite benefiting directly from slavery, Mr. Whitechapel believes that the expansion of slaves’ rights, perhaps to the point of freedom, “might be possible in the future.” Even the intolerant, racist editor in The Virginian admits that racial dynamics might change. Commenting on Lydia’s views, he writes: “Whatever we may think of this young lady’s opinions we must grant that she demonstrates intelligence and certain advantages that go with being young, namely an unmitigated idealism. This is as it should be. It is the young, after all, who hold dominion over the future.”

As bleak as the present or the future might seem, the novel concludes, society is capable of changing, however slowly or violently these changes might occur. As history proves, through the later Civil War and the ongoing struggle to achieve equality between blacks and whites, no change is ever perfect or complete. Rather, each generation—the idealistic “young”—must fight to solve the problems of their time and defend their dream of a better future.