Salt Eaters
Encyclopedia
The Salt Eaters is a 1980 novel, the first such work by Toni Cade Bambara
. The novel is written in an experimental style and is explicitly political in tone, with several of the characters being veterans of the civil rights
, feminist, and anti-war movements of the 1960s and 1970s. It is set in the fictional town of Claybourne, Georgia
.
by slitting her wrists and sticking her head into a gas oven. Velma, a community activist who has worked in various leftist movements, has suffered a nervous breakdown due to the increasing factionalism
in the activist community of Claybourne as well as her failing marriage to Obie, another activist, and the pressures of her job as a computer programmer at Transchemical, a chemical plant in the neighboring town.
Minnie, an unmarried eccentric, calls on her spiritual guide, a "haint" she called Old Wife, to guide her through the healing as she feels Velma is resisting her efforts. (Old Wife was the elderly woman who helped Minnie deal with the emotional breakdown she experienced after she ran away from the bible college
that her well-to-do parents sent her to and headed to New York City.) Many chapters of the book feature long internal dialogues between Minnie and Old Wife, with the two of them having spirited debates about the "loas" that Old Wife refuses to acknowledge. The healing, which is conducted in the infirmary that Velma helped to establish to serve the community is witnessed by several visitors, most of whom have some sort of connection to Velma.
The entirety of the novel's action revolves around the healing, with the planning of the upcoming Spring Festival serving as backdrop. The point-of-view of the novel shifts numerous times between characters. "At once spiritual, apocalyptic, mysterious, cacophonic, and destabilizing, The Salt Eaters offers a unifying epiphany of creation and community."
Toni Cade Bambara
Toni Cade Bambara, born Miltona Mirkin Cade was an African-American author, documentary film-maker, social activist and college professor.- Biography :...
. The novel is written in an experimental style and is explicitly political in tone, with several of the characters being veterans of the civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
, feminist, and anti-war movements of the 1960s and 1970s. It is set in the fictional town of Claybourne, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
.
Plot
The novel opens on Minnie Ransom, the "fabled healer of the district", performing a healing on Velma Henry who has attempted suicideSuicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
by slitting her wrists and sticking her head into a gas oven. Velma, a community activist who has worked in various leftist movements, has suffered a nervous breakdown due to the increasing factionalism
Political faction
A political faction is a grouping of individuals, such as a political party, a trade union, or other group with a political purpose. A faction or political party may include fragmented sub-factions, “parties within a party," which may be referred to as power blocs, or voting blocs. The individuals...
in the activist community of Claybourne as well as her failing marriage to Obie, another activist, and the pressures of her job as a computer programmer at Transchemical, a chemical plant in the neighboring town.
Minnie, an unmarried eccentric, calls on her spiritual guide, a "haint" she called Old Wife, to guide her through the healing as she feels Velma is resisting her efforts. (Old Wife was the elderly woman who helped Minnie deal with the emotional breakdown she experienced after she ran away from the bible college
Bible college
Bible colleges are institutions of higher education that specialize in biblical studies. Curriculum is Bible-based and differs from that of liberal arts colleges or research universities. Bible colleges generally exclude the study of philosophy, unlike seminaries and theological colleges...
that her well-to-do parents sent her to and headed to New York City.) Many chapters of the book feature long internal dialogues between Minnie and Old Wife, with the two of them having spirited debates about the "loas" that Old Wife refuses to acknowledge. The healing, which is conducted in the infirmary that Velma helped to establish to serve the community is witnessed by several visitors, most of whom have some sort of connection to Velma.
The entirety of the novel's action revolves around the healing, with the planning of the upcoming Spring Festival serving as backdrop. The point-of-view of the novel shifts numerous times between characters. "At once spiritual, apocalyptic, mysterious, cacophonic, and destabilizing, The Salt Eaters offers a unifying epiphany of creation and community."
Secondary characters
- James "Obie" Henry--Velma's second husband and the father of her son, Lil James. He runs the 7 Arts Academy also known as simply "The Academy", "a brain trust farm" that would educate politically aware blacks located in Claybourne. While Obie is also concerned with the splintering of the black political movement, Obie is much more conciliatory that his wife, a bone of contention that causes the estrangement between Obie and Velma. Obie later begins an affair.
- Doctor "Doc" Serge--Runs the infirmary where Velma is being treated. Arrogant, flashy, and materialistic, Dr. Serge worked as gamblingGamblingGambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...
house operator and a pimpPimpA pimp is an agent for prostitutes who collects part of their earnings. The pimp may receive this money in return for advertising services, physical protection, or for providing a location where she may engage clients...
in his younger days, going by names such as "Faro", "Candy Man", and "Sweet Bear". He objectifies women, sexually harassingSexual harassmentSexual harassment, is intimidation, bullying or coercion of a sexual nature, or the unwelcome or inappropriate promise of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. In some contexts or circumstances, sexual harassment is illegal. It includes a range of behavior from seemingly mild transgressions and...
some of the nurses who work under him. He reports having a difficult time getting along with the younger blacks he comes into contact with.
- Dr. Julius Meadows--Works under Doctor Serge at the infirmary. Northern-born and light-skinned enough to pass as white, Dr. Meadows has a difficult time fitting in with the blacks he meets in Claybourne, struggling with alternate feelings of loneliness and anger. Old Wife teases Minnie for having a crushPuppy lovePuppy love is an informal term for feelings of love or infatuation felt by young people during childhood and adolescence, so-called for its resemblance to the adoring, worshipful affection that may be felt by a puppy. 'Simple infatuation is often called a "crush" or "puppy love"...
on him.
- Jan--An associate of Velma's. She gets a job teaching at The Academy after losing her job at the public school. Velma is also a student in her potteryPotteryPottery is the material from which the potteryware is made, of which major types include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. The place where such wares are made is also called a pottery . Pottery also refers to the art or craft of the potter or the manufacture of pottery...
making class. A New AgeNew AgeThe New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
enthusiast, Jan carries around TarotTarotThe tarot |trionfi]] and later as tarocchi, tarock, and others) is a pack of cards , used from the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play a group of card games such as Italian tarocchini and French tarot...
cards in her purse and casts astrological charts. Despite her lack of interest in politics, she is interested in "nation-building", even go so far as to ask a young black man to advise another black man not to date white women. She reveals Velma's act of workplace sabotageSabotageSabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening another entity through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. In a workplace setting, sabotage is the conscious withdrawal of efficiency generally directed at causing some change in workplace conditions. One who engages in sabotage is...
to Ruby.
- Ruby--Another associate of Velma's who nursed her back to health after she faints at a march back in 1960s. She makes jewellery for a living. Hot-tempered, sharp-tongued, and somewhat insensitive, Ruby has no use for the more spiritual aspects of the black political movement. Ruby resents the attempts of their male colleagues to restrict women to the grunt work of the movement. Described as a "ball-busting bitchy so-and-so", Ruby resents Jan's "standing-by-the-men-good-supportive-sister crap."
- Palma--Velma's older sister. A bit of a flirt, Palma works as a painter. Although Palma is politically active, she did not participate in marches, something that angered Velma. Witnessing Velma's slide into mental illnessMental illnessA mental disorder or mental illness is a psychological or behavioral pattern generally associated with subjective distress or disability that occurs in an individual, and which is not a part of normal development or culture. Such a disorder may consist of a combination of affective, behavioural,...
, Palma spends much of the novel worrying about her sister's well-being.
- Cecile, Inez, Mai, Chezia, Nilda--Leftist political activists who are heading to Claybourne to protest the nuclear power plant that operates in a neighboring town. They are all women of color, hailing from places like JamaicaJamaicaJamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
, New York CityNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, and San Francisco. Friends of Palma, they know Velma from the times she accompanied them on piano at concerts that they gave to raise funds.
- Campbell, an investigative reporter who works undercoverUndercoverBeing undercover is disguising one's own identity or using an assumed identity for the purposes of gaining the trust of an individual or organization to learn secret information or to gain the trust of targeted individuals in order to gain information or evidence...
at the local restaurant. He spies on the six men who work at the plant. He is sexually interested in Jan.
- Sudsy Sam, Rising Sun, Piltdown Pete, Krupp's Kreep, The Grim Reaper, and The Whiner--workers at the nearby nuclear plant. Sudsy Sam always orders beerBeerBeer is the world's most widely consumed andprobably oldest alcoholic beverage; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of sugars, mainly derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat...
in a steinSteinStein is a German and Norwegian word meaning "stone" and may refer to:* Beer stein* Stein , a beer brewery in Bratislava, Slovakia* USS Stein , a frigate in the U.S...
. Rising Sun is a JapaneseJapanese peopleThe are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...
man who attempts to flirt with Mai, wondering about her ethnicity. Piltdown Pete, who to Campbell "seemed to dumb to be nuclear engineer", is only tolerated by the others because he always pays the check. Krupp's Kreep is "forever lecturing about the necessity of beating out the RuskiesRussiansThe Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
." The Grim Reaper is a kill-joy who only wants to talk about work. The Whiner is an unhappily married man who feels overwhelmed with the responsibilities of paying his bills and caring for his children. All the men, except for the Grim Reaper, get their nicknames from Campbell.
- Fred Holt--an embittered busBusA bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...
driver who encounters the women protesting the power plant. Fred is mourning the loss of his best friend, Porter, another bus driver. Much of the chapter concerning Fred involves the imaginary conversations with Porter, who died after a mentally unstable passenger stabbed him in the neck with a pair of knitting needles. Fred, a former musician who grew up in the St. Louis area during the Great DepressionGreat DepressionThe Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, is what his estranged son called "old-fashioned". He is not particularly interested in racial politics, although he prides himself on not being a "TomUncle TomUncle Tom is a derogatory term for a person who perceives themselves to be of low status, and is excessively subservient to perceived authority figures; particularly a black person who behaves in a subservient manner to white people....
". He dislikes white people despite being married to Margie, a slovenly white woman.
- Nadeen and Buster--A teenage couple who is expecting a baby. They take teen parenting classes at The Academy. Nadeen is only about sixteen years old and widely regarded as not being particularly bright despite her attempts to become more assertive. Nadeen feels a kinship with Velma despite not knowing her very well. Buster, a cousin of Ruby's, is journalismJournalismJournalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
student who is eager to find out what a break-out faction of The Academy's Brotherhood is planning to do for the upcoming Spring Festival. He isn't sure that the baby that Nadeen is carrying is his. However, he allows Doctor Serge to talk him out of trying to convince Nadeen into having an abortionAbortionAbortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
and decides to claim the child as his.
- Sophie "M'Dear" Haywood--Velma's protective godmotherGodparentA godparent, in many denominations of Christianity, is someone who sponsors a child's baptism. A male godparent is a godfather, and a female godparent is a godmother...
. She has always been there for Velma, often intervening for her when Velma's mother, Mama Mae, attempted to discipline her rebellious daughter. A direct descendant of the boardinghouse keeper who bankrolled John BrownJohn Brown (abolitionist)John Brown was an American revolutionary abolitionist, who in the 1850s advocated and practiced armed insurrection as a means to abolish slavery in the United States. He led the Pottawatomie Massacre during which five men were killed, in 1856 in Bleeding Kansas, and made his name in the...
's assault on Harpers Ferry, Sophie has been the chapter president the Women's Auxiliary of The Sleeping Car Porters for the past twenty years. A spiritual person, Sophie was "forever reading signs before they were even so." Sophie was the mother to Smitty, a man who was killed during an anti-Vietnam WarVietnam WarThe Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
protest. Sophie herself was beaten in jail during a related incident.