Damballah

A detailed Summary of Damballah

John Wideman's "Damballah" takes place back in a time where men used to buy the lives and souls of other men with just money out of their pockets. Culture, religion, and the families of these slaves meant nothing to their captures. As long as these "niggers" got their work done, then the master was happy, since this reassured him that he got his money's worth. The master of the plantation in "Damballah" gets a lot more than he bargained for with the purchase of a slave named Orion. Orion is much different than any of the other slaves on the plantation. This idea is apparent to the reader right from the beginning. Orion is, as Aunt Lissy describes, "...a crazy nigger. One of them wild African niggers act like he fresh off the boat." Orion has refused to speak English and he has also refused to accept Christianity. He has done all of this simply because he wants to desperately hold on to his escaping culture. He views his insubordination as the only way to hold on to this culture and history that he can feel slipping away. In the opening paragraph, Orion's frustration is shown when he feels that he has never learned the "proper" way to fish. He knows that he's African, and he should fish like his fellow Afric

This boy has been warned to stay away from Orion, however, just like any boy, all this instruction not to do something has just given him more interest. This boy has heard all sorts of stories about Orion, about how wild and uncivilized he is, and also how stupid he his. However, the boy still wants to watch him, and learn why he does things. One day, while watching Orion, the boy witnesses him praying. Making, "Sounds the came from inside him that the boy had never heard...strange words, clicks, whistles and grunts." In watching Orion, the boy heard the word again, Damballah. Instead of being this bad word that his Aunt Lissy warned him of, the boy learned the true meaning of it just through observation. This lays the foundation for the boy's actions in the ending. By understanding Orion through observation, it becomes clear to the reader that not only is the boy understanding of Orion's ways, but also, he may be the only one who recognizes it as his own culture, not just some craziness from some "nigger right off the boat." At the end of the story, after Orion is killed and left dead in the barn, it is the boy that comes and fulfills Orion's wishes. According to Aunt Lissy, Orion broke half the bones in the master's body and then sat naked in front of the master's wife. Orion never explicitly told the boy what to do to honor his death, however, the boy understood what he wanted merely through observation. This is just another sign that the boy will perhaps carry on pieces of Orion's culture so that it doesn't die.

The master and his wife also play a strange role in this story, that is already strange in its portrayal of life on a plantation. The master and his wife are supposed to be perfect, which makes them garner respect from their slaves. However, in this story, the slaves repeatedly offer little pieces of gossip alluding to the disfuction of their master and his wife. Not only is the master ch

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1300
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English