The Sweetness of Water presents a compelling examination of life in the American South following the Emancipation Proclamation. Though the promise of a united America seems possible, the novel’s characters struggle to forge a path in a divided country and a society still steeped in injustice.

Before the start of the novel, Prentiss and Landry were freed from Tom Morton’s plantation, but the act was accomplished without any fanfare or celebration. A few men representing Union forces arrived in threadbare clothes and announced the freedom of the slaves with great monotony, devoid of any particular interest in the well-being of the formerly enslaved following their emancipation. Indeed, the dream of freedom differed greatly from the reality Prentiss and Landry soon faced. They had no resources, no means of employment, and no reliable means of supporting themselves. The brothers hid in the woods, trying to avoid a society which was still very much hostile.

This sense of displacement after achieving freedom was a common reality for many formerly enslaved people. After reaching freedom, Harriet Tubman described a similar emotional conflict: “I was free, but there was no one to welcome me to the land of freedom. I was a stranger in a strange land.” When Prentiss asks the Union troops for some direction, he is given a noncommittal response that serves no real purpose. Nevertheless, the prospect of freedom is compelling, and Prentiss and Landry set forth and commit themselves to an unknown future, believing it must hold greater promise than the life of loss and agony they have experienced thus far.

The novel shows both the promises and perils faced by formerly enslaved people who participate in white society. Indeed, fate intervenes in ways that ultimately prove both fortuitous and fatal when the brothers meet George Walker in the woods. Initially, there is mutual distrust between them, but this quickly gives way to hope. George has never owned slaves and believes that his slave-owning neighbor is a “dimwit.” George and the brothers find that they share an unlikely bond, all of them being desperately lost and in need of new hope. George’s attitudes toward racial equality are progressive and demonstrate the complex range of attitudes which emerged following the Emancipation Proclamation. Yet George also quickly realizes that his commitment to helping formerly enslaved men places him in direct opposition to most of his society, and the novel doesn’t position him as a character who is able to meaningfully counter or diminish these racist attitudes. Nevertheless, the conflict fuels a new courage within George as he seeks to create change where he can—even if that scope is limited. 

Landry, a quiet and self-sacrificing character who finds immense beauty in nature, meets his violent death before he can achieve his dreams of reaching the North. Though Landry possesses the physical advantage, he finds it impossible to fight back against August, who represents all that has tormented Landry for his entire existence. Landry’s life and death go effectively unnoticed by the largely bigoted Southern society of the novel.

Because of Landry’s death, Isabelle’s view expands to become more inclusive. Isabelle begins to imagine the world from the point of view of an innocent man whose existence was lived devoid of freedom or opportunity. She increasingly envisions a world that embraces the diversity of humankind and is adamant that she be known as a representation of fairness, even if her views contradict the accepted customs of her society. Tom Morton’s fountain, which had so fascinated Landry, comes to represent the beauty that is possible through creative vision. Isabelle is unable to acquire Morton’s fountain...