Lydia Marie Child’s The Quadroons is a case study of what it means to be caught between races in the 1800’s. In the story, both Rosalie and her child Xarifa eventually fall into misfortune because of their race. The progression of both their lives goes from good to bad, or, if you will, light to dark, which could be seen as a symbol of how they are viewed throughout the story in terms of race. Rosalie begins in the “white” stages; she is happily married to a white man and has a beautiful daughter. However, her life soon begins to darken when her husband takes a fancy to a white woman. It is then that her race becomes an issue, and also is what causes her and her husband to separate. The same character arc can be seen in Xarifa’s story: she is beautiful, admired and adored by all until race brings about her enslavement, and eventually her demise. Both of these women illustrate precisely the idea of the Tragic Mulatta. Though they are virtuous, kind, and even beautiful socially respectable women, their race holds them back from happiness, and through no fault of their own, is eventually what causes their destruction.
One thing that I took away from this reading was how Rosalie and Xarifa’s status as a Mulatta kept them from engaging fully on either side. Being part African American, Xarfia could never truly be a part of the white society due to the deep, inherent racism of the time. Also, because of her upbringing in a predominantly white society, she was not treated as a slave until she was repossessed, and therefore obviously unfamiliar with the harshness of such a life. In a way, I saw that Xarifa was doomed to insanity from the start, as she was unable to escape or either part of her identity. In addition to the shock of becoming a slave horrible treatment she endured, a crisis of identity could have been another of the many contributing factors to her insanity at the end of the story. The tragedy of this story is that the people of this time saw only the side of a Mulatta that they wanted to see. In the end, choosing to recognize her as a slave's offspring rather than a white man's daughter benefitted them more, regardless of her beauty, character and poise.
I really connected with your "from light to dark" analogy of Rosalie's and Xarifa's lives. As you mentioned, these two women were caught in between two races, neither of which they could completely identify with. While it seemed that Rosalie just might get the chance to live a prosperous life accoring to "white standards," her situation darkens, almost literally, when she is replaced by a white woman in the eyes of her husband. Her daughter Xarifa follows suit when she is reclaimed by her grandmother's past master and she is forced to submit to him even though she had lived her entire life without the bondage of slavery. I agree that these women are both examples of the Tragic Mulatta, and their stories tell us just how tragic being caught in the middle can be.
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