Daughters of the Dust Essay Questions

Who are the narrators of the film?

Julie Dash went against her film professors' urging that a film cannot have two narrators and included two in Daughters of the Dust. One is Nana Peazant and the other is the Unborn Child. Nana narrates less, but she is given the first line of the film. The bulk of the narration belongs to the Unborn Child, who narrates the film as if in a realm of being that transcends time and space. The effect of having these two narrators is to align them as characters and bestow them with a special kind of wisdom. We trust in them and believe their take on things, as they are the youngest and oldest of the Peazant family.

Why is Eli so upset when he goes to meet with Nana?

Eli has recently learned that Eula is pregnant with another man's child and that she was raped. He is so upset by the news that he goes to Nana for council. When she tells him to trust in the magic of the world and connect with a more spiritual perspective, he becomes angry and says that he doesn't believe in magic anymore. In a world where his wife got raped, he says, how can he connect with magic or believe that he is being protected by some unseen force? The rape is not only earth-shattering for Eli because of its personal implications, but because it seems like proof that there is no magic protecting him and his wife, and that the structural violence of post-slavery racism can take the form of concrete and personal violence in horrifying ways.

What is Yellow Mary's emotional journey in the film?

At the beginning of the film, Mary arrives back at the place she grew up with a certain amount of condescending disdain for its narrow-mindedness. She has had many worldly experiences away from the island, has made some money, and taken a female lover, all things that are met with both awe and judgment on the island. While she is happy to reconnect with her elders and spend time on the island, she is also anxious to keep traveling and plans to go to Nova Scotia. By the end of the film, however, she has a change of heart about her course in life and decides to stay at Ibo Landing to be with Nana Peazant, who is heartbroken that her descendants are leaving. Mary goes from being the one who went away and got ruined, to the most loyal of the Peazant grandchildren, committed to holding on to the special land and connecting future to past.

How is Haagar hypocritical?

While Haagar is outspoken about wanting to go to the mainland to become cultured and educated, and denigrates people like Nana for their "backwards" thinking, she is exceedingly closed-minded. While she wants to expand herself and her perspective, integrating with society, she is actually very limited in her thinking by her own prejudice. Thus, while she demeans Nana for being "backwards," she herself maintains a very politically "backwards" stance.

The film won an award for cinematography. What is notable about the way it is shot?

Throughout, the film is shot beautifully, with many long shots of naturally beautiful locations and dramatically lit tableaus. The film was shot on location on an island off the coast of South Carolina by Arthur Jafa, an esteemed cinematographer known for his work in film and in the art world. Jafa shoots striking images of the characters in nature. Notable shots include Mary and Trula lounging in the willow trees in pale, ethereal dresses, the trio of women sitting beneath an umbrella on the beach, a man riding a bicycle on the beach, and many others.