How does Bontemps address stereotypes of blackness in "A Summer Tragedy?"

Bontemps presents some very distinctive elements of life
in the short story.  I think that Bontemps is using elements of the stereotype to
actually probe the depth of his characters into something more intricate.  It is
important to keep in mind that whatever elements of the stereotype is brought out, there
is much more in way of complexity within these characters.  The Patton couple acquire
great depth, even though they fulfill the condition of a stereotypical view of Southern
Blacks.  Jeff works the land and is squeezed by a system that denies him any chance of
equal compensation with his White counterparts.  The dialect that is used in the
characterizations of both husband and wife is reflective of the Southern African-
American.  The fact that both have suffered immensely and also have endured the loss of
children is both reflective of the stereotype and begins the divergence from it.  The
stereotype would show the husband and wife as enduring their difficulties.  Yet, the
unique characterization of husband and wife involves their preparedness for their
journey, as well as the apprehension experienced by Jennie as they get closer to it. 
While Bontemps plays with the idea that these two people of color have little control
over their lives, which might feed a particular stereotype, he shows their decision to
be something that both embrace almost as a form of empowerment, which certainly goes
against the stereotype.  The decision that both end up undertaking with the other by
their side as the only absolute certainly goes against the stereotype and makes them on
the level of heroic protagonists who "take fatal action with more or less awareness of
what they are doing, and more or less wisdom about the inevitability of human
suffering."