Demythologizing Plantation Fiction
Chesnutt’s dialect stories are a direct response to the “plantation fiction” of white writers who had created a false impression that life during the slavery period in the South was an idyllic time for all involved. Slaves were for the most part treated well and enjoyed all the benefits of free shelter and free meals without the attendant responsibilities society imposed upon free citizens. Early in the story, the framing narrator, John, observes that Uncle Julius—the narrator of the actual story—never demonstrates “regrets for the Arcadian joyousness and irresponsibility which was a somewhat popular conception of slavery.” The irony is sharp and stinging: of course, Julius has no regrets for the end of the slavery. What former slave possibly could? The answer to that question becomes another theme of the story.
The Dehumanization of Slavery
According to Julius, Dave was a fellow slave on the plantation who was highly regarded as a hard worker, honest man and intelligent. He secretly learned how to read the Bible and escaped punishment by pointing out to his master that learning to read the Bible had instilled in him an appreciation for Christian moral precepts such as “Thou shalt not steal.” The implication is that Dave thinks even more highly of himself than others do since others might not realize that how he craftily outwitted a white man and his “master” to boot. With this in mind, it possible to interpret that the worst punishment he receives for his unwarranted conviction as the thief of a ham is not the forty lashes he first receives and not the fact that he is must wear the actual stolen ham around his neck attached to a chain. The worst punishment is that the master is quick to believe his guilt followed by his fellow slaves and ending with even his beloved and intended bride finally accepting the inevitability of his guilt.
After the punishment is lifted, Dave seems to love his mind by insisting that he is turning into a ham himself. He eventually hangs himself in the smokehouse along with the other hams being cured. The symbolism of human degradation in which a man who is held—and who holds himself—in a high esteem not usually conferred upon those in his position insisting that he has become not just an animal, but the meat which that animal becomes when consumed by humans is one of the most brilliant conceived in the entire history of slave fiction.
Emancipation Without Manumission
The story of Dave and his ham necklace has had the aftereffect of causing Julius to get emotional every time he eat the food. He never directly states why he is moved to tears and the reader will most likely immediately assume that it is due to the tragic ending of the story in which Dave kills himself just before he would have been exonerated. Another interpretation exists however and it is the one that ties the part of the “Dave’s Neckliss” which takes place in the past to that which takes place in the present. After the punishment is lifted and the ham is removed from the chain, Julius describes Dave as having gotten so used to it being around his neck that he started to actually miss it being there. So much so that he would secretly attach a lighter knot to the chain in order to pretend the ham was still there.
From there, Dave goes a step further into madness with his claims of having actually become a ham. These acts serve to answer the question what former slave could possibly come to look back upon his days of bondage with regret. The answer is that Julius is like the rare exception to the rule. The pernicious effects of slavery are revealed through his story to live on longer after emancipation. Abolition ends only the actual physical bondage; the psychological harm lives on. The story shows that a person can become so used to anything that that it will be missed when it is taken away. Julius very like tears up when eating ham because it reminds him of that very ugly truth which he likely sees in other former slaves every day.
