John and Annie
The white couple from the North who now own what was a slave plantation are symbolic incarnations of one of the things which this and Chesnutt’s other “dialect stories” are directed against. Plantation stories written by white authors who revised history to produce an unrealistic portrayal of slave life as a idyllic period subject to nostalgia had become incredibly popular and thus were having the effect of demeaning former slaves yet again. The first and last lines of dialogue are spoken by Annie as written by John in his role as the framing narrator. Dave’s story is told secondhand by Julius and presented to a mostly white readership once more removed by his own narration being recalled by John. Thus the singularly black slave experience becomes a narrative written by whites.
The Stolen Ham
The ham is actually symbolically relevant on a number of different reasons, but primarily as metaphor. As a simple symbol of great meaning, it attains its greatest significance as the item with which Dave is punished. It hangs around his neck like an albatross of his alleged guilt; a constant reminder to himself and everyone else of his transgression. In this instance, the ham is symbolic as the remnants of a living creature stripped of its essence and reduced to its one lowest purpose: meat. By the end of the story, this is how Dave has come to view himself, dehumanized into a piece of meat with nothing left of the essence which made him a man.
The Lighter Knot
The lighter knot is a piece of wood that Dave attaches to his chain after the ham has been removed. Julius asserts that Dave had grown so used to the ham being there that when it was removed, he started missing it. This lends the item the he uses as a substitute great significance rather than the fact that the item is specifically a lighter knot. The symbolism is harsh enough to deeply affect Julius many years later: it a desire to return to the bondage to which Dave has gotten used rather than face the freedom he fears. Such a regret for miserable circumstances remains so painful to Julius that the act of eating ham can lead to tears.
The Dinner Ham
The dinner ham is a little bit of self-reflective ironic symbolism that Chesnutt is lucky enough to admit serves several purposes. The ham that Uncle Julius is eating at John’s house becomes the narrative throwback to Dave’s story. The fortunate element for Chesnutt is that his mostly white readership would instantly identify that particular choice of meat with the racially charged plantation fiction associating blacks with an almost fetishized love for the meal. He could just as well have been eating fried chicken or watermelon to achieve the same effect, but once against Chesnutt is fortunate in the contradictions within racist attitudes. Fried chicken and watermelon would be difficult to hang from a chain as punishment, but even more importantly, neither of those foods carry the deeply ingrained symbolic taint of association with subhuman subjugation that pigs must endure.
The Smokehouse
The smokehouse where Dave eventually is found hanging is a strange symbol because it is not the structure that is significant, nor even the process taking place inside, but rather the language associated with it. What is the purpose of a smokehouse? To cure ham. Where does Dave’s madness lead? To believing he is actually becoming a ham. So, effectively, the smokehouse is where Dave goes to cure himself. But there is no cure, of course. A cured ham is consumed.
