The Colonel's Dream
'The Colonel's Dream ' Summary
The novel begins with Colonel Henry French and his partners selling their company, making the colonel financially independent. He decides to head back south with his son, Phil. He intends to stay for only a couple of months, but once he arrives, he remembers with nostalgia the landscape, the building structures, and his youth in his hometown. He runs into his old slave, Peter French, who is finding it difficult to make a living due to his skin color and age under the post-war conditions.
During his stay, the Colonel sees continuing economic isolation and repression of the black population and is bothered by the racism that is still very prominent in Clarendon. The editor of the local newspaper talked to him about Clarendon having "so many idle, ignorant Negroes that something must be done to make them work, or else they'll steal, and to keep them in their place, or they would run over us".
It became evident to the Colonel that there was a racial problem in Clarendon. When the Colonel visits a black school, he hears from a black school teacher, Mr. Henry Taylor, how unfairly the school system treats blacks by segregation and difference in condition of the schools. Behind most of this wrongdoing is William Fetters, a convict labor contractor in Clarendon who influences most affairs in the town. The Colonel takes on the injustice of Fetters and tries to change Clarendon into a more socially equal town.
Book Details
Language
EnglishOriginal Language
EnglishPublished In
1905Genre/Category
Tags/Keywords
Author
Charles Chesnutt
United States
Charles Waddell Chesnutt was an African-American author, essayist, political activist and lawyer, best known for his novels and short stories exploring complex issues of racial and social identity in...
More on Charles ChesnuttDownload eBooks
Listen/Download Audiobook
- Select Speed
Related books
The Last Drive by Rex Stout
The story revolves around the murder of a wealthy businessman and the investigation conducted by Nero Wolfe, a brilliant detective, and his assistant,...
A Lady of Quality by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Set in late 1600's England, the story follows the life of a woman living an unconventional life. The loves of her life and all of its ups and downs ar...
The Guermantes Way (Le Côté de Guermantes) by Marcel Proust
Marcel is a young man who is fascinated by the Guermantes family, one of the most prestigious families in Parisian high society. He dreams of being ac...
Lord Beaupre by Henry James
What is a young man to do, when because of his pleasant disposition, and (of course) his considerable wealth, he finds himself besieged by bevies of e...
So Big by Edna Ferber
The story follows the life of a young woman, Selina Peake De Jong, who decides to be a school teacher in farming country. During her stay on the Pool...
The Girl from Hollywood by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Girl from Hollywood is an Edgar Rice Burroughs contemporary fiction novel. The Girl from Hollywood was published as a serial by Munsey's Magazine...
Rilla of Ingleside by Lucy Maud Montgomery
Rilla of Ingleside (1921) is the eighth of nine books in the Anne of Green Gables series by Lucy Maud Montgomery, but was the sixth "Anne" novel in pu...
Blind Love by Wilkie Collins
Embark on a captivating journey into the depths of human emotion and the perils of misplaced affection with Wilkie Collins's enthralling novel, "Blind...
The Deluge Volume 2 by Henryk Sienkiewicz
The Deluge is a historical novel by the Polish author Henryk Sienkiewicz, published in 1886. It is the second volume of a three-volume series known to...
El juguete rabioso by Roberto Arlt
"Adéntrate en las calles crudas de Buenos Aires y embárcate en un salvaje viaje a través de la mente turbulenta de un joven desilusionado en la cauti...
Reviews for The Colonel's Dream
No reviews posted or approved, yet...