Dr. John Archer seems disgusted and depressed because a child has died due to parents’ belief in superstition. He explains to Dart about the packet of fried hair around the neck of a deceased baby. The child’s father, Solomon Bright, got it from a conjure-woman, who was to cure the baby. When the two friends are talking about the child’s death, they get a call from a certain girl. As a result, they rush to the Dewey apartment, where they find Sonny lying dead. The puzzle of Sonny’s death remains a mystery to the members of the family, detective Dart, and Dr. Archer.
Most of the characters in this short story believe in charms and omens. Dr. Archer seems to be the only character who believes in science. For instance, the parents of the deceased baby took him to a conjure-woman rather than a doctor. However, the child’s death sets off a sequence of incidents that result in the death of Sonny. The father of the deceased baby believes that Sonny died because his mother used charms to kill his baby. The characters are invoking superstitions to the problems bedeviling them.
The novel cautions people against turning to superstitions as a last resort. People should turn to physicians instead of witchdoctors when they are sick. A qualified doctor examines a patient using proper instruments and gives him or her the right medication. However, a witchdoctor uses retrogressive beliefs that can’t cure any ailments. That can be witnessed in the case of the ailing baby, whose parents consulted a conjure-woman rather than a medical doctor. Dr. Archer tells detective Dart that the child was not supposed to die. As a medical doctor, he examined the baby and discovered that he had a retained thymus. However, his parents believed that he was bewitched. The parents’ misinformation resulted in the child’s death. Therefore, people should turn to medical doctors instead of witchdoctors when they are sick.
