An Imperative Duty

An Imperative Duty is a short realist novel by William Dean Howells published in 1891. The novel explores the idea of "passing" through the racially mixed character of Rhoda Aldgate, a young woman whose aunt informs her that she is one-sixteenth African American. Rhoda lived her whole life "passing" as a white person.

An Imperative Duty
AuthorWilliam Dean Howells
Original titleAn Imperative Duty: A Novel
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
GenreLiterary realism
PublisherHarper & Brothers
Publication date
1891 (First Edition)
Pages150

List of Characters
  • Rhoda Aldgate, a woman of one-sixteenth black ancestry
  • Rev. Mr. Bloomingdale, Rhoda's first suitor, a white man
  • Dr. Olney, Mrs. Meredith's physician and Rhoda's eventual suitor, a white man
  • Mrs. Meredith, Rhoda's aunt, a white woman

Plot summary

The book is about Rhoda Aldgate, a young woman who discovers she is one-sixteenth African American, after living her whole life as a white person. Rhoda's father was Mrs. Meredith's brother, a white man, and Rhoda's mother was a southern woman of one-eighth black ancestry. In the nineteenth century, Rhoda's mother would have been referred to as an "octoroon."

Composition and publication history

The book is about a "Tragic Mulatta" character, a stereotype used by 19th-century American authors to explore racial miscegenation. [1] [2] [3]

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References
  1. Drabelle, Dennis. Book Review of Broadview Press Edition of An Imperative Duty. "Book World: W.D. Howells's 1892 race-themed novella 'An Imperative Duty.'" The Washington Post',' 10 December 2010: no pagination.
  2. Rosenthal, Debra J. "The White Blackbird: Miscegenation, Genre, and the Tragic Mulatta in Howells, Harper, and the 'Babes of Romance.'" Nineteenth-Century Literature 56.4 (March 2002): 495-517.
  3. Daugherty, Sarah B. "'An Imperative Duty': Howells and White Male Anxiety." American Literary Realism, 1870-1910 30.3 (Spring, 1998): 53-64.
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