48 pages • 1 hour read
Kei MillerAugustown: A Novel
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2016A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
The Smell of Ripe Jackfruit
The smell of ripe jackfruit permeates the narrative as a symbol of the autoclaps and the oppression of Babylon. Ma Taffy recognizes it in the opening scenes as Kaia returns home: “She smells it high and ripe and stink on the air, like a bright green jackfruit in season being pulled to the rocky ground below” (5). The smell foreshadows her discovery of Kaia’s shorn hair, the violence of Babylon affecting her family yet again, like when Gina and her sisters found Clarky’s body. The symbol of the jackfruit smell builds tension and a sense of fear, leading to the events of the autoclaps.
The symbol of the scent of jackfruIt is accompanied by the comparison of souls to fruit. Ma Taffy “thinks also about how each person has a soul—and how these too are fruits that ripen every day, drawing ever closer to their harvest” (108). When Babylon pulls down Bedward, it is with a “hooker stick” that is used to pull down various fruits (108). This connection suggests Babylon broke Bedward’s soul, and the smell arising again represents Babylon’s attempt to break Kaia’s soul.
Gina smells the scent herself when she arrives home to see Kaia without his dreadlocks. The narrator, Gina, asks about herself in the third person, “But does she smell the sweet, choking smell behind it all? Does she smell what is coming?” (220). In the narrative present, Gina does not know what’s coming. She does not know what she will do or that her actions will lead to her death. After the police shoot her, the narrator notes, “But how could the day smell so much of jackfruit just so [...] The stinking, clawing stench of an overripe jackfruit that has fallen to the floor and burst open” (230). The climax of the narrative is mirrored by the “burst[ing] open” of the jackfruit. Gina’s soul became ripe for harvest, taken from her body by Babylon but not crushed. Her soul was able to ascend with her body, fulfilling the prophecy of Bedward and his incomplete flight.
The Rusty Scissors
The rusty scissors are a symbol of the oppressive tools of Babylon. Mr. Saint-Josephs uses the rusty scissors to cut Kaia’s hair in his moment of rage, but when he puts them down, “the pair of scissors is now lying innocently beside the cookie tin in which he keeps his blackboard duster and chalks” (49). The tools of Babylon are not inherently evil, as a pair of scissors is not evil by itself, but when used to oppress the Rastas and the other Black Jamaicans, they become oppressive.
Ma Taffy encourages Gina to push back against their oppression and “learn how to use the tools of Babylon against Babylon” (227). When Gina confronts Mr. Saint-Josephs, “she notices the rusty scissors on the edge of the desk. Was there ever more a tool of Babylon than this?” (227). Gina’s gaze associates the scissors with the tools of Babylon, influencing her decision to take retribution for Kaia’s hair with the scissors herself.
The tools of Babylon are juxtaposed with what Babylon takes from Gina in her final moments. As she walks home from the school after stabbing Mr. Saint-Josephs, “[s]he doesn’t feel odd with the dreadlocks held like a bouquet in one hand or the bloody scissors still in the other” (229). Kaia’s hair is what the tools of Babylon took, and the blood on the scissors is representative of what Gina was able to take back. However, Gina’s wielding of the tools of Babylon costs her her life. Because she refuses to drop the scissors, the police shoot her to death, enforcing again the order of Babylon and reclaiming the tools of Babylon for themselves.
Kaia’s Dreadlocks
Kaia’s dreadlocks are a motif that represents themes of The Consequences of Racial and Social Oppression and The Role of Myth, Folklore, and Religion in Sustaining Community and Identity. When Mr. Saint-Josephs grabs Kaia by his hair, the narrator notes, “he can still feel the small weight of that little boy as he had pulled him by his dreadlocks out of his chair—so surprisingly light. He felt he could have lifted the boy right up into the air” (47). The image of the teacher pulling Kaia into the air contrasts with Bedward flying upward of his own volition, demonstrating the relationship between the two themes.
Kaia’s hair is compared to a living cluster of snakes. Mr. Saint-Josephs noticed after he cut Kaia’s hair that “it had surprised him how the clump of dreadlocks was suddenly in his hands like a slither of snakes” (47). The image of snakes conjures ideas of danger, which matches what will come for Mr. Saint-Josephs because of his violent actions. Kaia’s hair looks alive to Mr. Saint-Josephs, a reminder that he has taken something bigger than hair. By cutting Kaia’s hair, Mr. Saint-Josephs has claimed a piece of Kaia’s personhood and his religious and cultural identity that is integral to his understanding of himself and his place in the world.
While Mr. Saint-Josephs sees life in Kaia’s shorn hair, Gina sees the inverse when she finds “her son’s dreadlocks, lifeless” on the teacher’s floor (226). Gina saw life in Kaia’s dreadlocks when they were attached to his head and represented his dedication to the Nazarite vow and the embodiment of his strength. The varying perspectives on Kaia’s dreadlocks further show the divide between Babylon and Mr. Saint-Josephs, with their racist, anti-Rasta views, and Gina and the Rastas, who seek to exist in a fair society that respects them and their beliefs.
