At the end of the 19th century America was grappling with who it was as a country. The liberation of African Americans with the end of the Civil War did not make things any easier. Before the war, America was seen predominantly as a country ruled by Caucasians. While in the post-war period, African Americans were not necessarily treated better. The war did not give America a sense of identity. African Americans were no longer treated equally. The search for an identity was not just between black and white. It also involved Native American culture. Each culture alone had its own identity. However, they were mixed together. This was confusing not only from the perspective of one culture looking at another, but also from the person who doesn't know they have mixed heritage. Not only male and female, but white and black writers wrote about the difficulties of belonging to a culture one disliked. Through their stories George Washington Cable and Grace King are two writers of this era who describe the difficulties of searching for an identity. George Washington Cable was born in 1844 in New Orleans. The maternal branch of the family was New England Puritan. His father's side was German, from a Virginia slaveholding family. At the age of fourteen his father died. This forced Cable to leave school to find a job. When he was nineteen he enlisted in the Fourth Mississippi Cavalry. After the war he worked as a surveyor for the banks of the Atchafalaya River. While working he contracted malaria allowing him to begin writing. He began writing columns for the New Orleans Picayune. After her marriage she worked as a journalist and then kept the books for a cotton company. He did not go to school to receive his education. He spent his time before work reading and writing, teaching himself French and learning most of the old New Orleans records. This helped provide him with knowledge of many of his writings that would earn him national recognition. Using his knowledge of various cultures, he transformed them into stories about the different cultures of the region. The story "Tite Poulette" is set in New Orleans and focuses on race and race relations. Kristian is a white male who moves to New Orleans.