The House Behind the Cedars (1900)

The House Behind the Cedars is the first published novel by American author Charles W. Chesnutt. It was published in 1900 by Houghton, Mifflin and Company. The story occurs in North Carolina and South Carolina a few years following the American Civil War. Rena Walden, a young woman of mixed white and Black ancestry, leaves home to join her brother, who has migrated to a new city, where he lives as a white man. Following her brother's lead, Rena begins to live as a white woman. The secret of her identity leads to conflict when she falls in love with a white aristocrat who learns the truth of her heredity. The ensuing drama emphasizes themes of interracial relations and depicted the intricacies of racial identity in the American South.

According to Hollis Robbins, the two major influences on The House Behind the Cedars are Chesnutt's life and Walter Scott's novel Ivanhoe. Well read in nineteenth century British literature and being of predominantly European ancestry, Chesnutt was light skinned enough to pass as a white man, although he openly identified with his African-American roots. Additionally, his portrayal of interracial romantic relations in The House Behind the Cedars was controversial. Although the novel was critically well received, its controversy contributed to poor financial performance.

Plot summary

The novel opens "a few years after the Civil War." John Warwick walks around the town of Patesville, North Carolina in which he used to live and visits his childhood home.

John joyfully reunites with his mother Molly, and his sister Rena and tells them what his life has been like since leaving home: he has become a successful lawyer; he was married, but his wife died, leaving him with their baby son Albert. He asks Rena to come live with him and help take care of Albert. The narrator slowly reveals to the reader that John and Rena are mixed-race: their mother is Black and their father, now dead and never married to their mother) was white.

Rena says goodbye to her mother and Frank Fowler, one of their workmen who is a close family friend and deeply in love with Rena. The siblings make their way back to South Carolina. Upon their arrival, they attend a tournament where men dressed as knights participate in a jousting competition. There Rena meets George Tryon, who wins the tournament, invites Rena to the ball, and falls in love with her. Rena agrees to marry George, but is anxious that he will discover her African American heritage.

John and George are called away on legal business, and while they're gone, Rena is haunted by three dreams that her mother is sick and dying. She then receives a letter from her mother revealing that she is indeed very ill, so she immediately boards a train back home. While she is gone, George returns and then is sent off on another errand—to Rena's hometown. After a couple of near-misses, George discovers Rena at home and learns that she has been pretending to be 100% white. Rena faints and George is devastated by the fact that Rena has deceived him about her identity. Unable to allow their relationship to continue, he writes a letter to John, stating that he will not marry Rena, but will keep their family secret.

John tries to convince Rena to move away with him to start a new life, but she does not want to leave their mother again. Molly's friend visits and asks if Rena would be interested in accompanying her widower cousin Jeff Wain to teach at his school for colored children. Rena travels with Jeff and takes her teacher's examination, where the administrator suggests that Jeff is not to be trusted. A visitor enters the schoolhouse one day and tells Rena that she would like to help support the school. She also informs Rena that Jeff is not a widower; he had actually beaten his previous wife so badly that she left him. After hearing this, Rena is afraid to be alone with him.

Walking home from school one day, Rena sees George approaching her from one direction while Jeff is advancing towards her from the other direction. In a panic, she runs into the woods, where she falls unconscious and subsequently becomes very ill. Family friend Frank Fowler finds her and takes her home, where she wastes away. She dies just as George arrives to repledge his love for her.

Characters

Rowena (Rena) Walden – (named after Walter Scott's Rowena), a young woman who is "strikingly handsome, with a stately beauty seldom encountered… she walked with an elastic step that revealed a light heart and the vigor of perfect health". She is the younger sister of John Warwick and daughter of Molly Walden. Although she is of mixed blood and thus considered to be a colored woman (or mulatto), her skin is light enough that she may pass as a white woman. Rena becomes engaged to George Tryon, but after he discovers her family history, their relationship ends and she moves with Jeff Wain to become a schoolteacher for colored children.

George Tryon – young man of 23, who is described as "a tall, fair young man, with gray eyes, and a frank, open face". He is a close friend of John Warwick, and falls in love with Rena when he first meets her at the Clarence tournament. His mother wants him to marry Blanche Leary, but he has his heart set on marrying Rena. When he finds out that she is not white, he leaves her, but continues to love her despite her race.

John Warwick – Rena's 28-year-old brother who moved away from home when he was younger in order to become a successful lawyer in South Carolina. John is a protective brother who wants Rena to have a new life and be afforded all the opportunities she deserves. Like Rena, his skin allows him to pass as a white man, but he must stay away from Patesville to conceal his identity. He was married, but his wife died, leaving him with their young son Albert.