I was very surprised by the ending of The Wife of His Youth. I expected that Mr. Ryder would not have acknowledged his old wife. The way that he described the society of the blue veins made it seem that he had forgotten his race all together. I'm not sure though how I would have acted in a similar situation. It is very heroic to say that you would not want to be associated with an upper class. However, it is quite tempting to belong. In Mr. Ryder's eyes belonging meant being to opposite of everything that had been formerly associated with his race. Even when I had figured out that he was the young husband I expected it to be a secret he would take to the grave. In addition, I was surprised that the people at the party, especially Ms. Dixon, were so supportive of his decision to acknowledge the older wife. I anticipated the group responding very negatively. Perhaps this is Chesnutt's way of disbanding some of the negative associations people were making in relation to societies of this sort. Maybe Chesnutt was trying to prove that these people were not turning their back on their race at all. They were merely trying to better themselves and uplift everyone. This is all very nice sounding, but I still am not sure if it is really believable. For a man that concerns himself with every outward appearance and ranking it seems unlikely that he would acknowledge his less than beautiful past. You just dont find many people who spend their entire lives trying to run away from the past wanting to revisit it. I guess Mr. Ryder was touched by the love and devotion of his former wife. Perhaps that love was enough to break him down into the real, less than perfect, man that he is.