Author: Claire Lustig

I’ll admit, before starting this course, I had many assumptions about Black Art and the types of novels we would be reading in the course. I have always strived to be anti-racist, but what this course has taught me is that any assumption one makes about Black Art limits their experience of it. The literature I read over this semester smashed any assumptions I had to pieces. Specifically, while reading The Water Cure by Percival Everett and African Fractals by Ron Eglash I have come to realize that not only are these books the ultimate examples that Black Art proves all of the Western World’s assumptions to be false, but the ultimate examples that prove my assumptions to be false. 

African Fractals by Ron Eglash goes into great depth on the subject of the mathematical complexities of African cultures. But, after reading, I think the real throughline of African Fractals is the sheer amount of evidence provided by African cultures that proves Western World assumptions about them to be misguided and racist. 

African Fractals disproves two main assumptions that the Western World has held about African societies and their capacity for complex mathematics. The first is that the fractal geometry displayed by African societies is a result of an accident or a mimicry of nature. Eglash reminds us that “most indigenous societies seem quite interested in differentiating themselves from their surroundings.” (Eglash 51) This supports the fact that the displays of fractal geometry in African societies are not the result of trying to mimic the natural environment like people in Western societies think they do.) African societies are just as complex and competent as Western societies are, and that complexity is a result of the profoundly deep minds of African people. “The fact that African fractals are rarely the result of imitating natural forms helps remind us that they are not due to “primitives living close to nature.” (Eglash 53 To think they are “primitive” is to assume a racist ideology that Black people are less than White people. 

The second assumption that African Fractals proves false is the one that claims that the Western World invented/discovered fractal geometry first. African Fractals draws attention to an important timeline of the world’s “first fractal”. The Cantor Set, or the so-called “first fractal” was created by Georg Cantor in 1877. But what African Fractals points out is that a fractal pattern that looks awfully similar to the Cantor Set can be seen atop ancient Egyptian temples, which of course are much older than the 17th century. Eglash makes the inference that Georg Cantor may have even taken inspiration from ancient Egyptian architecture to create his Cantor Set. (Eglash 207) I can selfishly ease my conscience a bit by reminding myself that I did recognize the fact that African societies are much older and thus wiser than Western ones… I am not as racist as I could be. It was fascinating and new to me, to read such explicit examples that prove this fact in African Fractals. I found it even humourous to see such blatant examples (like the use of the Cantor Set in Egypt) of how misguided the Western World’s view of African Societies is. 

Something else in this class I found humorous because of just how ridiculously and shamelessly racist it was, was Thomas Jefferson’s assertion in his Notes on the State of Virginia: Query 14 that “But never yet could I find that a black had uttered a thought above the level of plain narration…” (Query 14) Again, to me, this seems like such a ridiculous notion. Of course, Black people are capable of telling intricate and sophisticated stories that include perplexing examples of narration that span beyond streams of consciousness. I had known deep down that this was possible and did not hold this same assumption, I still had my own assumptions about Black literature. I had assumed that the literature we would read in this course and thus the majority of Black literature would be mostly “fugitive slave narratives”, folk tales, and abolitionist songs/poems/essays. Luckily, I was wrong and have never come across such a great display of this fact as I did by reading The Water Cure by Percival Everett. 

The Water Cure could be read as the diary of a man named Ishmael Kidder. His young daughter has been brutally murdered and Kidder is crippled by his grief. In order to cope with these incapacitating feelings, Ishemeal decided that his daughter’s murder needs to be punished. As the book progresses, the reader comes to realize that Ishmeael “may or may not” be holding a man hostage in his basement and torturing him. 

The Water Cure is anything but “plain narration”. Throughout the book, the story is intercepted by various modalities of interruptions. Some of which include drawings. There are drawings of the narrator’s daughter (Everett 19), Picassoesque self-portraits of the narration (Everett 30 ), and a curious slow-built drawing of a cat that is not fully completed until the end of the novel. (Everett 213) These drawings help the book to function more as a journal of the narrator’s mind. The wild drawings help the reader to grasp just how unsettled and sick the narrator is. The main story of The Water Cure is also disrupted by textual interruptions. There are sections of text in other languages (Everett 8), handwritten poems by the narrator (Everett 61), and riddles (Everett 18). I will admit these textual interruptions are even more distracting to the reader than the visual interruptions. But I think that may be precisely the point. Kidder, as the narrator, is trying to distract the reader from what is occurring in his basement. 

To me, it seems that Kidder recognizes that what he “may or may not” be doing could be considered wrong by some people, and while he is trying to confess his inner thoughts to us as the readers he is also trying to be cautious. I think this is exactly why cases of “plain narration” are few and far between in The Water Cure. Kidder wants the readers to focus on what really matters in his situation, not the man in his basement, but the death of his daughter and the grief he is feeling as a result. One of the few examples of “plain narration” that does come up in the book is when Kidder reads his daughter’s coroner’s report to the possible hostage in his basement. This is a detailed account of his daughter’s injuries, the state and place her body was found in, as well as her suspected cause and time of death. (Everett 200) The report is gruesome and devastating. It is at this point, almost at the end of the book, where The Water Cure grinds to a halt. The readers are forced to ignore everything else that has been told to them. Ignore all the previous interruptions, ignore all of their assumptions about what Kidder is doing, and just simply focus on the death of his young daughter. After finishing The Water Cure, I realized that this book is the ultimate example of Black Art that proves both Jefferson’s assumptions of Black Literature and my assumptions wrong.

The fact that Everett even references Thomas Jefferson in The Water Cure (Everett 35) proves that this book was a direct reaction to Jefferson’s racist statement and intended to serve as proof that he was wrong. Jefferson claimed that Black authors and their writings were not capable of producing complexities or works that included anything other than simple streams of consciousness. The Water Cure absolutely destroys this assumption by telling a deeply moving, emotional, and intelligent story all the while hardly using any “plain narration” at all. 

Looking back at my thoughts on Black literature from the beginning of this course, although I am proud to say that my assumptions were not as awful as Thomas Jefferson’s, I still had them. I had assumed that Black literature consisted only of the traditional “fugitive slave narrative” genre. Historically, that was the only example of Black literature I had read. The Water Cure was the first piece of Black literature where the focus was not slavery. Of course, there are still undertones of this in The Water Cure, but after reading I think that the main point of this book was the grief that parents must deal with after they have lost a child, and how much grief can drive a person to extremes. The Water Cure is not only different from any other book by a Black author that I have ever read, but different from any other book I have read period. It completely obliterated the assumptions of Black literature that I had held and helped me realize that Black literature is so much more diverse than I had previously thought. It’s sad to think that in the past I had been limiting myself and my reading to books and literature that fit into my false and misguided schema. I am so grateful to this course for expanding my knowledge and expectations and teaching me to think critically about my assumptions. While African Fractals by Ron Eglash and The Water Cure by Percival Everett seem to have nothing in common, they both have had very similar functions in my learning about literature over the semester. Both books have functioned as counter-stereotypes and provided evidence that completely shattered any assumptions that I or other people in the Western world have historically had.

Simply put a fractal is an infinite, recursive shape often occurring in nature. But if one were to look deeper, they would discover that there is much more to fractals than meets the eye. There are five essential components that make a shape a fractal. Likely the the most important self-similarity. Self-similarity is the central seed shape that the rest of the figure is branched off of. (Eglash) The seed shape as described in its name is the start of every fractal and branch of the fractal. It is the commonality that connects every aspect of the very complex and diverse shape. English 337: African American Literature is an in-depth course that examines a multitude of texts written by several Black authors. The course just so happens to follow the rules of fractal geometry. 

Although we have explored many texts and various forms of art, gone down many different paths, and branched off into many different directions, there is a central seed shape that connects the texts throughout the course and provides a connection between them. Interestingly enough, I think that seed shape is the diversity and complexity of literature written by Black authors. Every text that we have read, every folk song we have listened to, and every poem that we have investigated displays a different life and experience with Blackness in America. There is a diversity of styles, genres, and opinions within the literature as well. That variety is in itself the connection between all Black literature and is the seed shape that connects the concepts of the English 337 course. 

Frederick Douglass is perhaps one of the most famous authors of all time, not to mention one of the most famous Black authors. His autobiography The Narrative Life of Fredrick Douglass: An American Slave was an instant success as soon as it was published and has remained one of the most popular books in America. In the book, he tells the story of his enslavement as a child and a young man. One of the most key scenes in the narrative is when Douglass fights his enslaver, Mr. Covey. Douglass himself says that the “battle with Mr. Covey was the turning point in my career as a slave.” (Douglass 302) It is this conflict that makes him realize that his freedom is something he wants to fight for. Not only is his battle with his enslaver about his freedom as a human being but it can be interpreted as a fight for his manhood. Douglass says “It… revived in me a sense of my own manhood. It recalled the departed self-confidence…” (Douglass 302) By fighting and winning against the most classically masculine figure in his life, he not only claims his freedom but reclaims his own masculinity. 

The Narrative in general could be categorized as a more traditionally masculine presenting story. It is a plot-driven narrative that focuses more on the physical actions and steps Douglass overcame to fight his way to freedom. There is not much focus on deep inner monologue or overcoming thoughts of self-doubt. Also, Douglass did not have to worry about any children or other members of his family while escaping, and there isn’t much discussion from him about them. All of this is in contrast to another story of escaping enslavement we read in the course. 

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl written by Harriet Jacobs is at first glance a similar story to that lived and written by Frederick Douglass. It is a story of a young Black person risking and dedicating their life to escaping enslavement. On closer inspection, however, one starts to notice massive differences between the two. So much of Jacob’s writing focuses on the intersectionality of “the disadvantages of being an attractive black female and a slave.” (Call and Response 433) Jacob’s story of escaping slavery is long and drawn out because she could not easily run away. Her enslaver was regularly sexually abusing her and would come to her house often asking for sexual favors. Also, Jacobs had two young children to think about. She couldn’t simply pack her things and run away on her own. The solution that she finally arrived at was to hide in the crawl space of her grandmother’s house for seven years until her enslaver finally stopped looking for her and her children were old enough to travel. It was this incredible feat of dedication and sacrifice that led readers and historians alike to dismiss “her narrative as fictionalized when she recounted the incident.” (Call and Response 433) So much of the way Incidents was written and received by the public was because Jacobs was a woman.

 A vast part of what makes Incidents so intriguing is the amount of stream of consciousness that is displayed. We get to hear, understand, and become well acquainted with Linda/Harriet’s inner thoughts. It is a deep character study and introspective look at the life of an enslaved black woman rather than an action-focused narrative. It was also the fact that Jacobs was a woman that made her story unbelievable to the public. When Incidents was published, it was not an instant success and it took until the 1980s to be authenticated and treated as such by the public. This is a common phenomenon in literature written by women and it contrasts with literature of the same type written by men.

The differences in both the content of the writing as well as the reception of the two slave narratives are glaringly obvious despite their similarities. It is this that provides us with insight into the vast diversity of Black literature. Both The Narrative by Fredrick Douglass and Incidents by Harriet Jacobs are classic slave narratives that tell the stories of young enslaved Black people who do everything in their power to escape enslavement. But even so, there is so much that is different about the two narratives and the writers that created them. Douglass was an action-based man and his writing followed suit. His story is suspenseful and exciting to read. He describes in great detail the gore he witnessed while being a slave. The Narrative is fast-paced and comes to a satisfying close where Douglass has gained his freedom in the North. Incidents functions completely differently. Jacobs is deeply retrospective and spends a lot of time in her story with her inner thoughts and feelings while experiencing enslavement. She heavily discusses the emotional pain of being sexually abused and experiencing the loss of multiple friends and family members. While both slave narratives pull at the heartstrings of their readers and function as abolitionist works, they do so in very different ways. 

One can see through the vast differences in The Narrative and Incidents that Black literature is full of diversity and variety. It is so important to not only recognize this diversity but to respect it. Unfortunately, among White people, there is the assumption that everything made by Black artists has the same meaning and message. Not only is this assumption false, but it is hurtful and damaging. The Black experience is very diverse and therefore the literature written by Black people is just as diverse. To ignore or diminish this diversity is to delete and disregard the Black experience itself.  This is the seed shape of English 337… identify and validate diversity in Black literature and in doing so to respect and identify as many Black experiences in America as possible.