“Every Negro walk in circle. Take that and make of it what you will...... And when a negro walk, light get take away from him so he never know when he hit a curve or a bend. Worse, he never see that he walking round and round and always come back to where he leave first”
Two things to note about Marlon James:
- He’s brilliant and unique with diction and
- Enthralling with his characters. They don’t go away after you put the book down or done reading.
I finished reading The Book of Night Women this morning. I read his Man Booker prize book, A Brief History Of Seven Killings long before picking this one. If you know me quite well, you’d know I love that book so much.
It’s one of my favorite books.
It takes an exceptional artist to bring to life the characters he portrayed in his book.
It’s a fantastic book. I will recommend it 100% to anyone who wants to read Marlon James.
Let’s talk about The Book Of Night Women. They were six women of the night. The seventh was an “accident”. She killed a ‘Johnny-Jumper’ (slave driver). She was so terrified of them because of the stories she had heard about them. They were brutes, rapists, wicked, massa pleasers and slave beaters. Lilith was so afraid, when it was time to send her to the field to work, she feigned illness.
That was when one of the men wanted to rape her. She killed him. Cat-eye Lilith was born to a 15 year old slave mother and a white man. She was born as a result of rape. Her mother died not long after she was born.
Lilith was ‘rescued’ by Homer after the kill. She was brought to help in the kitchen. Homer saw more in her. Once she killed a Johnny-Jumper, Homer needed her on her team. She was cooking up a revenge for all the pain the whites caused her. Homer’s story is tough-sad.
“Homer didn’t die by gunfire at the mistress window. Homer die the day she get word about her pickneys she love nonetheless”.
Homer’s children were taken away from her by her massa and sold. She was beaten severely and tamed. Slaves had no right to feel shame. They were beaten naked, spat at , chained, treated like animals and sexual objects.
Let’s honor the heroes:
Homer (Homer kill Homer and reborn herself as the struggle)
Pallas
Castillo
Gorgon
Hippolyta
Iphigenia didn’t make it because of her scars. They kept reminding her of herself and they held her back.
She wanted to fix herself thus decided to betray her sisters. She was taking care of she. It cost her her life. She was ready to sell her soul for freedom and that’s why “Turn-coat nigger Iphigenia ain’t got no song”.
Lilith read, taught her daughter to read and lived on after her death. Her daughter wrote about her and the Night Women. Lilith was the survivor. She survived for a reason; their story can’t die with them.
“You can call her what they call her. I goin’ call her Lilith” by Lovey Quinn. (Robert Quinn was Lilith’s lover)
Slavery happened and we can’t romanticize it to make you happy, neither can we make light of it. It’s heavy and we all owe it to our ancestors to read and remind ourselves constantly. Tell your children. Don’t sugarcoat it.
Homer didn’t die for us to forget her.
“There was a quilt of scar on Homer back too and some of that the mistress leave herself. But Homer bide her time. Homer watch. Homer wait and Homer plot. And Homer find the right group of women with just enough cause to join her.”
Group think is good but what do you think? You have a dream, don’t let group think overshadow it. Think for you. It’s allowed.
That was Lilith. Iphigenia thought for herself but she was wickedly selfish. Lilith think for herself outside the group. She was a different slave. She was loved( her dream was to be held softly and made love to gently by a white man). She was called “luv” by her slave master(dreams come true). If that counts for anything. Maybe because her eyes were green. Lilith saw differently. See different.
I goin’ see different like Lilith.
Chilombo for Corona Feelings
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