51 pages • 1 hour read
Jesmyn WardMen We Reaped
Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2013A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapter 6
Chapter 6 Summary: “CHARLES JOSEPH MARTIN”
Chapter 6 recounts the life and death of Ward’s paternal cousin C. J., the boyfriend of her youngest sister Charine. From a young age, C. J. is small but athletic and powerful. Ward recalls capturing C. J.’s athleticism on camera one day on the basketball courts, as he “flew so high that he dangled from the rim by the crook of his elbow, giggling madly, swinging slowly from side to side” (107). At 14 years old, C. J. begins dating Charine and, although their families disapprove because they are cousins, they fall in love. Ward notes that “cousins dated, had children, and married all the time in DeLisle and Pass Christian. They had for generations. In such small towns, in communities confined by race and class, this was inevitable” (109). The child of a single mother, C. J. rarely stays in his home and lives a nomadic life in the homes of various relatives.
Ward admits to judging C. J. for selling drugs. In retrospect she confesses, “What I did not know at the time was […] that he wanted more for himself, but he didn’t know how to get it” (110). C. J. drops out of school at 17, a reality that Ward connects to the negligence of the school administration that labeled academically struggling students like C. J. “as a problem” (111). Over time in her interactions with him, Ward notices C. J.’s acute knowledge of cocaine, his bizarre behavior, and his changing moods. Eventually, during a spontaneous trip to New Orleans, C. J. shares that he has experimented with cocaine, confessing, “I wish I’d never did it the first time” (120). Multiple times C. J. foreshadows, “I got a feeling I ain’t going to be here long” (120). In the present Ward ponders whether C. J. was aware of the dire realities of living as a Black man in the South and muses that “maybe he looked at those who still lived and those who’d died, and didn’t see much difference between the two; pinioned beneath poverty and history and racism, we were all dying inside” (121). In the future Nerissa shares a rumored story of C. J. scaring a friend by waiting until the last minute to jump out of an incoming train’s path.
Ward spends the day before C. J.’s death with him. They smoke weed and make plans to go to the movies later that night before Ward’s departure back to Michigan the next day. As a heavy fog rolls in, they cancel their movie plans so that Ward can pack for her departure. After spending time with Charine, C. J. leaves to meet up with his cousins. Later that evening Ward answers a call from C. J.’s mother informing her that C. J. died in an accident. A train hit the car he was in with his cousins. There was no reflective arm or alarms to alert and protect cars from moving trains. While his cousins were able to escape, C. J. remained stuck in the passenger side of the car until it caught on fire. Ward quietly contemplates the details of C. J.’s death.
Chapter 6 Analysis
Ward features the community park at both the beginning and end of Chapter 6. Ward comments on the importance of the park in their Black working-class community as a space that allows teenagers to commune without fear of “heat: police attention” (106), a real fear that forces their anxious parents to discourage gatherings in their homes. While Ward documents the details of C. J.’s life in words within her memoir, she recalls a memory of capturing C. J. on film as he skillfully plays basketball in the park. Ward marvels in C. J.’s capable athleticism. Ward describes the park itself as “markedly different from those in other towns in neighborhoods across the coast that were White or more moneyed” (106). The park is sparse because “the county hadn’t invested much into its construction” (106). The wooden bleaches rot in the Southern humidity as “the county […] circled us like vultures, suspecting us of using and selling drugs wherever we gathered” (106). Ward notes how, even in the respite of the park, they are not free from the preconceived notions and harassment of the police.
Through her tribute to C. J.’s life, Ward criticizes the initially “benign neglect” of the public school system, which morphs into an active assault against young Black male students like C. J. who struggle academically (111). Ward confronts how students like C. J. face malicious labeling as drug dealers and troublemakers. These labels track with them through their schooling and, as a threat to the school’s reputation, result in the many students dropping out of school just as C. J., Josh, and Rog do.
Ward concludes the chapter with a return to her criticism of the local government’s investment in the neighborhoods and lives in her community. Ward reveals how, just like the rotting park, the train tracks where C. J. died were not maintained. Although “there were flashing lights and bells that should have warned of the passing train […] they didn’t consistently work” (125), a fact that results in C. J.’s tragic death in his cousin’s car. Ward argues that “because it was located at a crossing out in the county in a mainly Black area, no one really cared about fixing them or installing a reflective gate arm” (125). According to Ward, C. J. died at the hands of malignant neglect.
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