Dec 17, 2009

Damballah | Damballah

At a glance:

Author: John Edgar Wideman
First Published: 1981
Type of Plot: Psychological
Time of Work: The 1800's
Setting: A cane plantation somewhere in the Deep South
Principal Characters: Orion (Ryan), An unnamed slave boy, Aunt Lissy, Master
Genres: Psychological fiction, Short fiction
Subjects: Africa or Africans, Slavery or slaves, Alienation, Christianity, Death or dying
Locales: South (U.S.)

The Story

Orion is the name of a brawny giant in Greek mythology, a slayer of all beasts, who became a constellation. In this story, his namesake is a physically beaten, emaciated African disavowed by all on the plantation except one slave boy; accordingly, his proud name has been truncated to “Ryan.” The boy, contemptuous of his vapid chores and the animal stories often repeated to him, is eager to take his place alongside the field hands and to learn the subtleties of male conversation. Restless, he alternately laments both “the nothing always there to think of” in...

[The entire page is 1369 words long]

Damballah | Damballah

At a glance:

The Story

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