A Visitation of Spirits
Encyclopedia
Plot introduction
Horace Cross, a black, gay teenager from North CarolinaNorth Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
, wants to turn himself into a bird after he experiences discrimination from his community. Jimmy Greene, Horace's cousin, is a minister with no true convictions who struggles to know God.
Plot summary
Horace Cross is a gay black teenager from Tims Creek, North Carolina. He is fascinated with science and comic books, and his family is convinced that he is going to make them proud. Horace grows up in a fundamentalist BaptistBaptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
church family which condemns homosexuality, forcing Horace to stay in the closet for sometime, and constantly wrestle with his self identity. The story starts with an internal dialogue about Horace's desire and quest to turn himself into a bird. When his ritual for this transformation fails, he is apparently possessed by a demon. Armed with his grandfather's gun and mostly naked, he wanders around his hometown, experiencing flashbacks and revelations which tell the story of his life, his struggles with homosexuality, and the failures of his closest friends and family to save him from his fate.
Mixed into the telling of Horace's journey is "present" and past events explaining more about how Horace's elder cousin, Jimmy Greene, becomes a minister and the principal of the local high school. Jimmy can't give any real advice of his own, and has to turn to the Bible when confronted with a problem (he references the Old Testament
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
when Horace comes out to him and, in fact, advises Horace to, paradoxically, "Search your heart. Take it to the Lord. But don't dwell on it too much. You'll be fine. Believe me."). In the present to the story thread of this book, Jimmy drives his great-aunt Ruth and his uncle Ezekiel to see one of their relatives, Asa Cross, in the hospital. At a diner, Ruth has an argument with Ezekiel; Jimmy attempts to quell it but he remains unsuccessful, in spite of his being a church minister. In the end, Ezekiel tries to teach Jimmy that he can't turn to the Bible to solve all of his problems.
Story-telling elements
Randall KenanRandall Kenan
Randall Kenan is an American author of fiction and nonfiction. Raised in a rural community in North Carolina, Kenan has focused his fiction on what it means to be black and gay in the southern United States. Among his books is the collection of short stories Let the Dead Bury Their Dead, which was...
uses a few unconventional story-telling elements in this story.
For example, 3 pivotal scenes from Horace's and Jimmy's past are done in a screenplay style of writing.
Further, the book starts and ends with detailed scenes of community from the past, namely the "hog killing" scene individually titled "Advent (or The Beginning of the End)" at the beginning and the individually titled "Requiem For Tabacco" at the end.
Cultural references
- Reverend Barden mentions Little House on the PrairieLittle House on the PrairieLittle House is a series of children's books by Laura Ingalls Wilder that was published originally between 1932 and 1943, with four additional books published posthumously, in 1962, 1971, 1974 and 2006.-History:...
and The WaltonsThe WaltonsThe Waltons is an American television series created by Earl Hamner, Jr., based on his book Spencer's Mountain, and a 1963 film of the same name. The show centered on a family growing up in a rural Virginia community during the Great Depression and World War II. The series pilot was a television...
.