28 pages • 56 minutes read
William Melvin KelleyA Visit to Grandmother
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1964A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Authorial Context: William Melvin Kelley
William Melvin Kelley, born in New York in 1937, was a renowned Black author. His novels and short stories are known for dealing with the complex nature of racial identity and explored American attitudes toward race in the wake of the Civil Rights and Black Arts Movements. Praised for his innovative approach to social commentary and criticism along with elements of satire and irony, Kelley is often compared to authors such as William Faulkner and James Baldwin due to his experimental and humorous literary style.
Faulkner’s influence is most clear in Kelley’s choice for building recurrent characters in his works, as the writer often explored the different facets of characters’ personalities and life experiences. Like many of Kelley’s characters, the Dunford family is built in a complex and multifaceted manner, and, although they first appear in Dancers on the Shore (1964), some of the characters are also present in Kelley’s subsequent novels. Charles “Chig” Dunford Junior is the main character in Kelley’s final work, Dunfords Travels Everywheres (1970). Dis/integration, one of two unpublished novels Kelley left unfinished after his death in 2017, explores Chig’s continuing exploits as an adult.
Kelley’s literary and academic work rendered him numerous awards throughout his career. He received the Dana Reed Literary Prize in 1960 for a short story titled “The Poker Party” while still a student at Harvard University. His debut novel, A Different Drummer, won the John Hay Whitney Foundation Award and the Rosenthal Foundation Award in 1963. Other awards include the Transatlantic Review Award in 1964 for his short stories in Dancers on the Shore (1964) and honors from the Black Academy of Arts and Letters for his last novel. Finally, nine years before his death, he was awarded the 2008 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Lifetime Achievement.
Sociohistorical Context: Racial Dynamics in the 1960s
When “A Visit to Grandmother” was first published in 1964, the United States was experiencing a period of significant social and political change. The early 1960s were a particularly pivotal time for the Civil Rights movement, a moment in American history marked by widespread protests and political activism aimed at ending racial discrimination and segregation. Civil rights leaders advocated for change in numerous areas of social life, from access to public spaces to education and employment, as American society struggled with the magnitude of racial prejudice. One of the era’s chief pieces of legislation, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, was passed the same year “A Visit to Grandmother” was published. This act outlawed “discrimination based on race, color, religion, or national origin in public facilities [and] hiring practices” (“Milestones of the Civil Rights Movement.” PBS.org). The following year, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 guaranteed suffrage for African Americans.
Many works by 20th-century African American authors addressed racism and societal oppression. “A Visit to Grandmother” is not as straightforward in addressing racial issues and tensions as some of William Melvin Kelley’s other works. Even though colorism and fear of racial violence are present in the story in Charles Dunford’s perception of his mother’s favoritism toward his light-skinned brother and Eva’s unease during the buggy ride, the lack of a more explicit theme tackling racism rendered Kelley some criticism. Perhaps anticipating this type of critique, Kelley addresses the complicated position of an African American writer in the preface of Dancers on the Shore, in which their identity, particularly their skin color, can impact how their work is perceived by readers. While many read the work of Black authors solely for their commentary on race and social issues, Kelley worked to portray his Black characters’ lives as rich and multifaceted rather than being solely shaped by oppression: “A writer, I think, should ask questions. He should depict people, not symbols or ideas disguised as people” (Kelley, William Melvin. Preface. Dancers on the Shore, Howard University Press, 1984).
Literary Context: African American Literature in the 1960s
The early 1960s also saw the rise of the Black Arts Movement, a cultural movement that emerged intending to celebrate and promote Black art, literature, and music. Its main aim was to challenge the mainstream representations of African Americans by providing platforms that amplified Black voices and perspectives.
One of its most notable contributions was the exploration of “double consciousness.” This concept, first introduced by W. E. B. Du Bois in the early 1900s, refers to the experience of living with two conflicting identities: being both Black and American. Writers of the Black Arts Movement explored it as a means of examining how African Americans often had to conform to white norms and values while trying to maintain their own cultural identity. In “A Visit to Grandmother,” Charles struggles with his identity and self-worth as an African American, feeling that his mother favored his lighter-skinned brother. This leads to feelings of inferiority and resentment. Charles is not only aware of how he is perceived by the dominant culture but also by his own family, which ultimately results in a sense of alienation and internal conflict.
Another common approach was to highlight aspects of Black life that were often frowned upon, such as vernacular language. Kelley’s use of vernacular language in “A Visit to Grandmother” not only challenges the societal notions that such language is uneducated but also provides a more vivid and authentic portrayal of Black life and culture in the story. For many writers in this movement, vernacular was a political statement that validated the Black experience; as James Baldwin later wrote, “People evolve a language in order to describe and thus control their circumstances, or in order not to be submerged by a reality that they cannot articulate. (And, if they cannot articulate it, they are submerged)” (“If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?” New York Times, 29 Jul. 1979). Writing thoughtfully in vernacular was also a method of claiming Black language for the community, in contrast to white writers who contributed to stereotypes by writing Black dialogue in exaggerated dialect.
