The Sport of the Gods by Paul Laurence Dunbar
"The Sport of the Gods" is a novel by Paul Laurence Dunbar, published in 1901, that explores themes of race, family, and societal expectations in post-Civil War America. The story centers around the Oakley family and their African American servant, Berry Hamilton, whose life unravels following a wrongful conviction for theft. When Berry is sentenced to prison for allegedly stealing money from Maurice Oakley, the repercussions of this event ripple through both the Oakley and Hamilton families, highlighting the harsh realities and prejudices faced by African Americans during this period.
The narrative takes the Hamilton family from the South to New York City, where they confront the temptations and challenges of urban life. The struggles of Berry's children, Joe and Kitty, illustrate the impact of social stigma and the pursuit of a better life in a world rife with discrimination. Simultaneously, the story examines Maurice Oakley’s moral descent as he grapples with a family secret that ultimately leads to his own ruin. Through its poignant portrayal of these intertwined lives, "The Sport of the Gods" delves into the complexities of identity and the societal forces that shape individual destinies amid the backdrop of racism and familial loyalty.
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The Sport of the Gods by Paul Laurence Dunbar
First published: 1901, serial; 1902, book
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Naturalism
Time of plot: Late nineteenth century
Locale: Southern United States and New York City
Principal characters
Berry Hamilton , an African American servantFannie , his wifeJoe , his sonKitty , his daughterMaurice Oakley , his employerFrank , his employer’s half brotherHattie Sterling , an African American performer
The Story:
After the Civil War, Maurice Oakley, a southern businessman, was able to recover his fortune quickly because of his prudence. Maurice is more than generous in supporting his younger half brother, Frank, who is studying art in Paris; he is also generous to his African American servant, Berry Hamilton.
On the last night of one of Frank’s brief visits home, a jolly going-away party is held, but the party is spoiled for the brothers when Frank discovers that the money for his trip has been stolen; he had left the money, $986, in his room. Maurice says that the crime does not embarrass him financially—he can resupply Frank with funds—but he is hurt by the fact that a friend or employee would steal from his house. Suspicion falls on Berry, who is the only person other than Frank who had been alone in the room. When it is discovered that Berry deposited a large sum in the bank on the day after the theft, Maurice and the police feel that the case against Berry is proved. Although Berry’s years of loyal service show that such stealing is very out of character for him, the servant receives a ten-year prison sentence.
Among the town’s whites, Berry’s alleged criminal behavior confirms their belief in the natural depravity of blacks. Ironically, the town’s African Americans are almost as prejudiced against Berry as are the whites. Berry’s son, Joe, is fired from his barbershop job, and no one else will hire him because of the family disgrace. For the same reason, no fellow African American will rent rooms to Berry’s wife, Fannie, when she needs quarters. Berry’s family members make the momentous decision to relocate to New York City. Although Fannie is afraid that her children might succumb to the temptations of urban life, the family has to start anew in order to survive.
Fannie’s fears prove all too justified. Joe is the first to fall. As a first-class barber in a whites-only establishment in the South, he had listened enviously as the town’s young blades had recounted their high-living exploits. In New York, he finds that even African Americans can aspire to such aristocratic dissipation. Becoming friends with the sporting character William Thomas, Joe is quickly initiated into the wild goings-on in cabarets, gambling dens, and cheap saloons. He meets and falls for the aging, hardened showgirl Hattie Sterling, who, charmed by his youth and, particularly, by the good money he makes as a barber, becomes his mistress.
Meanwhile, Fannie and her daughter, Kitty, maintain their respectability by working in a factory. Their humdrum life is shattered, however, when Minty, a hometown acquaintance, arrives and spreads the story of Berry’s imprisonment. As a result of the scandal, Fannie and Kitty lose their apartment and their jobs. Lacking other economic prospects, Kitty auditions for a job as a vaudeville singer. Once hired, she soon follows her brother into blind devotion to the sensations of the moment.
Concurrently, at the Oakley mansion, an equally somber story is unfolding. Maurice receives a revelatory letter from his brother in which Frank confesses that the money had never been stolen; he had gambled it away and had been ashamed to admit it. Stunned by this admission, Maurice becomes a changed man. Rather than damage his family honor, he refuses to divulge the secret, thereby leaving Berry in prison. Growing almost psychotically fearful of exposure, Maurice changes from an affable man-about-town into a reclusive misanthrope; he keeps the letter with him at all times, in a hidden breast pocket.
Five years pass. The New York Hamiltons having gone further down the road to ruin, the despairing Fannie has been talked into marrying a racetrack character, Gibson, who has convinced her that her first marriage is void. Now, however, Berry’s fortunes, at least, change for the better. A white newspaper reporter named Skaggs is interested in Joe Hamilton’s story of how his father was railroaded into jail. His curiosity piqued, Skaggs travels to the Hamiltons’ hometown. Posing as a friend of Frank, he tricks the half-mad Maurice into handing him Frank’s letter, which he then publishes in his New York newspaper. Public outcry over this miscarriage of justice forces Berry’s pardon, and the paper sponsors his trip to New York.
While these events are going on, Joe is being driven to despair by Hattie’s repeated rejections; eventually he strangles her. He goes on trial for her murder, and Kitty is so estranged from her family that she pays no attention to her brother’s problems. When Berry at last reaches his wife’s home, he finds her married to another man and his children jailed or out of touch.
Berry has nothing left but one desire: to kill the man who has taken his wife. For a second time, however, fortune smiles. When Berry has worked up the courage to confront Gibson, he discovers the man’s house in mourning. Gibson has been killed in a brawl, and Fannie is ready to reunite with Berry. The couple return to their old cottage on the Oakley place, where they are welcomed back by Maurice’s repentant wife. Maurice himself has gone insane, and Berry and Fannie occasionally hear his ravings as they go about living their simple life.
Bibliography
Alexander, Eleanor. Lyrics of Sunshine and Shadow: The Tragic Courtship and Marriage of Paul Laurence Dunbar and Alice Ruth Moore—A History of Love and Violence Among the African American Elite. New York: New York University Press, 2001. Biographical work focuses on the couple’s six years of courtship and marriage, which began happily but ended in despair.
Best, Felton O. “Paul Laurence Dunbar’s Protest Literature: The Final Years.” Western Journal of Black Studies 17 (Spring, 1993): 54-64. Argues that Dunbar uses plantation settings to counteract the plantation myth that was prevalent at the start of the twentieth century. Maintains that Dunbar was more active as a writer of protest literature than some critics have asserted.
Brawley, Benjamin. Paul Laurence Dunbar: Poet of His People. 1936. Reprint. Port Washington, N.Y.: Kennikat Press, 1967. Biographical work provides context for Dunbar’s fiction. Discusses how the emotional roots of The Sport of the Gods are to be found in Dunbar’s feelings after the breakup of his marriage, and argues that Dunbar’s verse is superior to his prose.
Dowling, Robert M. “Marginal Men in Black Bohemia: Paul Laurence Dunbar and James Weldon Johnson in the Tenderloin.” In Slumming in New York: From the Waterfront to Mythic Harlem. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2007. Examines how “mainstream outsiders” such as Dunbar and Johnson wrote slum narratives about “marginalized urban insiders.”
Gayle, Addison, Jr. Oak and Ivy: A Biography of Paul Laurence Dunbar. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1971. Critical biography deals equally with Dunbar’s life and his works. Presents extensive discussion of the tragic results of Dunbar’s efforts to free his work from racial stereotypes while dealing with powerful white publishing firms.
Revell, Peter. Paul Laurence Dunbar. Boston: Twayne, 1979. Critical biography covers all of Dunbar’s poetic and fictional works. Emphasizes the naturalistic elements of Dunbar’s fiction and discusses Dunbar’s work in relation to French naturalism. States that The Sport of the Gods is Dunbar’s most successful novel and places it at the center of the African American tradition of novel writing.
Rusk, Nancy Von. “Coon Shows, Ragtime, and the Blues: Race, Urban Culture, and the Naturalist Vision in Paul Laurence Dunbar’s The Sport of the Gods.” In Twisted from the Ordinary: Essays on American Literary Naturalism, edited by Mary E. Papke. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2003. Essay devoted to Dunbar’s novel is part of a collection focusing on redefining American literary naturalism. Demonstrates how Dunbar’s novel can be classified as a work of this genre.
Thomas, Lorenzo. “Dunbar and Degradation: The Sport of the Gods in Context.” In Complexions of Race: The African Atlantic, edited by Fritz Gysin and Cynthia S. Hamilton. Munich, Germany: Lit, 2005. Essay on The Sport of the Gods is included in a collection of pieces that examine how concepts of race have informed readings of the African American experience.