“Son, you are in the house of generations. Every African who lives in America has a part of his soul in this ark.”
The short story delves into the history of black people and the Middle Passage in the modern context. Alongside Headway, Fish-hound encounters the vessel on the river filled with human bones in the lower chambers. The ark symbolizes the slave ships that brought African captives into the Western hemisphere to be slaves. The tale is set in Mississippi pre-civil rights movement during the height of the Jim Crow era as the narrator mentions the lynching of a black man. Therefore the juxtaposition between the past and present brings everything into perspective about the black experience in America. Moreover, the history of African-Americans is linked to the Middle Passage which ties into the heritage and identity of black people.
“. . . And the hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit to the valley of dry bones.”
The tale makes Biblical allusions as well as blending folk traditions of hoodoo through the character. Headeye embraces the spiritualism of African magic such as the use of mojo bone but also has Christian beliefs. In the statement, he quotes the book of Ezekiel to refer to the vision had by the prophet of the valley of dry bones. Headeye later takes on the role akin to Ezekiel in claiming the spiritual duty and prophetic quest as he disappears with the vessel. The combination of folk tradition and Christianity alludes to black religion that focuses on the black experience in America.
“I looked and saw crews of black men handlin in them bones…They were doin it very carefully, like they were holdin onto babies or something precious.”
Ezekiel’s vision in the Bible sees God resurrect and revitalize the dry bones into full human figures. This acts as an allegory to the rebirth of the black man after the oppression and persecution of the black body in white America. The quote demonstrates the care placed while handling the dry bones which signifies the hope for black resurrection. The bone symbolizes the enduring heritage of black people that will be fully embraced in time. The story is set before the rise of the civil rights movement, therefore, alludes to the approaching disruption of the status quo in reclaiming black identity.
