Po' Sandy

“When we reached the mill, the foreman had gone over to a neighboring farmhouse, probably to smoke or gossip, and we were compelled to await his return before we could transact our business.”

This delay provides the context for Julius’s story. If the foreman were present, the lumber purchase would be transacted immediately. But John, Annie, and Julius must wait until the foreman returns, giving Julius a chance to tell Sandy’s tale.

“The sound rose and fell in a sort rhythmic cadence, which heard from where we sat, was not unpleasing, and not loud enough to prevent conversation.”

John describes the sound that Julius later says is something to “cuddle [his] blood.” John hears it as a pleasant, possibly relaxing sound. This indicates the two very different perspectives of the characters. It also suggests that experiences are interpreted through personal history.

“When the saw started on its second journey through the log, Julius observed, in a lugubrious tone, and with a perceptible shudder:—‘Ugh! But dat des do cuddle my blood.’”

This sentence represents several aspects of the story. It establishes the differences between the North and the South as represented by John and Julius. And it begins the deconstruction of the literary convention of representing characters as ignorant through their use of non-standard English. Julius gets what he wants in the end, and he gets it using a story told in his dialect.

“Some of these stories are quaintly humorous; others wildly extravagant […] while others, poured freely into the sympathetic ear of a Northern-bred woman, disclose many a tragic incident of the darker side of slavery.”

This quote warns the reader that they are about to learn about the more gruesome aspects of life on the plantation. Chesnutt’s story will not romanticize slavery in the way that was common for “Lost Cause” authors of his time.

“I can’t eben keep a wife: my yuther ole ’oman wuz sol’ away widout my gittin’ a chance fer to tell her good-by; en now I got ter go off en leab you, Tenie, en I dunno whe’r I’m eber gwine ter see you ag’in er no.”

This quote provides evidence that the reason Sandy is willing to be turned into a tree is that he had already lost one wife without being able to say goodbye and he does not want that to happen again. He would rather not be a human at all than live under slavery.

“W’en Tenie see so many things happenin’ ter de tree, she ’cluded she ’d ha’ ter turn Sandy ter sump’n e’se; en atter studyin’ de matter ober, en talking with Sandy on ebenin’, she made up her mine fer to fix up a gopher mintry w’at would turn herse’f en Sandy ter foxes, er sump’n, so dey could be free en lib lack w’ite folks.”

This passage reinforces the lack of choices Sandy and Tenie have as slaves. The only safe life they could have together would be as animals. Only then might they be able to live like “w’ite folks.” The statement is also ironic. In musing over how she could keep Sandy alive, Tenie compares Anglo Americans to animals. She and Sandy would have to turn themselves into animals to “lib lack w’ite folks.”

“De two men w’at cut de tree down say dey nebber had sech a time wid a befo’; dey axes would glansh off en did’n ’pear to make no progress thoo de wood; en of all de creakin’ en shakin’, en wobblin’ you eber see, dat tree done it w’en it commence’ ter fall.”

Julius highlights the will to live of the tree that Sandy became. He could not fight or yell, but he could resist, and he does so in every way that he could.

“W’en it come ter dat, Mars Marrabo tuk en to’ de kitchen down, en use’ de lumber fer ter buil’ dat ole school’ouse w’at you er talkin’ ’bout pullin’ down.”

The ghostly apparitions in the kitchen cause Mars Marrabo to give up and disassemble the structure. The materials go into the schoolhouse that John wants to pull down. The same ghost that led to the creation of the schoolhouse will now prevent its destruction.

“W’en de wah broke out, de school stop’, en de ole school’ouse be’n stannin empty ever sence,—dat is, ’cep’n’ fer de ha’nts.”

Julius suggests that the schoolhouse is still haunted. This claim, which he presents as an afterthought, is the key to convincing Annie that she doesn’t want John to use the boards from the schoolhouse to build the kitchen.

“‘What a system it was,’ she exclaimed, when Julius had finished, ‘under which such things were possible.’”

When Annie makes this statement John misunderstands her. He thinks she means the system of slavery impelled Sandy to turn into a tree. Afterward, Annie makes her meaning clear and says “poor Tenie.”

“On my return, after an absence of several days, my wife remarked to me,—‘John, there has been a split in the Sandy Run Colored Baptist Church, on the temperance question.’”

Jim Crow laws were meant to disempower African Americans in the politics of their county, state, and nation. The idea that there was a group of African American citizens banding together to take a stand on temperance might have been a surprise to some readers.

“Uncle Julius is one of the seceders […] and asked if they might hold their meetings in the old schoolhouse for the present.”

Annie’s statement to John provides an ironic twist at the end of the story. Julius’s efforts to help the couple tear down the schoolhouse resulted in the preservation of the schoolhouse. And now he can use it for his breakaway religious congregation.

“What are they going to do about the ghost?”

John is being facetious. He sees that he will need to pay the extra expense of buying new boards because the schoolhouse will be preserved. But how will Julius’s congregation handle the ghost who is the reason the schoolhouse survives?