In "The Wife of His Youth," Charles Chesnutt presents the struggles of a mixed-blood African American group called the Blue Veins which was a little society of colored persons organized in a certain Northern city shortly after the war (Chesnutt 602). The purpose of the group was to establish and maintain correct social standards among a people whose social condition presented almost unlimited room for improvement (Chesnutt 602). The group consisted of more whites than blacks. Throughout the story, the Blue Veins seek to find their place within the society. The criteria to become a member in the Blue Veins was rather simplistic. It was based solely on a person's social standing. If one's skin was white enough to see the blue veins, they were allowed to join. Perhaps the two major themes that Chesnutt portrays in this particular story is individuality in race and society, as well as acknowledging the past. As Ryder and other members of the Blue Veins demonstrate, when an individual embraces his or her African heritage, the possibilities are endless for the culture that can be established within the society. In "The Wife of His Youth,"  Chesnutt tells the story of Ryder who is prepared to propose to Mrs. Molly Dixon, who is a widow from Washington D.C. This possible engagement between Mrs. Dixon and Ryder is intriguing because in a sense, it seems as if Ryder feels like it is his social responsibility to marry Mrs. Dixon. He sees it as the only mean for mixed race individuals to fit in to the larger white society. Ryder does tell the reader that he is not prejudice towards the black population; however, he does feel that mixed-blood individuals are unique in their own way. "Our fate lies between absorption by the white race and extinction in the black. The one doesn't want us yet, but may take us in time. The other would welcome us, but it would be for us a backward step  (Chesnutt 604). Ryder feels that the marriage between he an