Ring Shout

In these initial chapters, Clark establishes the cultural context for the novella and develops the premise. The novella is set in the South of the 1920s, but one transformed by the existence of magic. A South in which monsters and magic exist allows Clark to explore racism and white supremacy’s ability to make white people monstrous, introducing the theme of The Exploration of Racism and White Supremacy Through Speculative Fiction. Countering that force for evil in Clark’s universe is a power rooted in Black folklore, history, and culture, establishing the thematic exploration of The Use of Folklore and Cultural Heritage as Tools of Resistance.

In the first chapter, Clark builds the world of the novella with exposition about the Ku Kluxes. His descriptions of the appearance of the Ku Kluxes, the strangeness of this new form of Ku Kluxes, and the leaf-shaped sword quickly establish the system of magic in this world. The visceral description of the Ku Kluxes, including the wounds they suffer, shows that the world has magic in it, but there is some horror-tinged, scientific realism to what happens in that world. The fact that Ku Kluxes are vulnerable to silver, a powerful substance in most systems of magic and folklore, helps introduce Clark’s world as one in which physical reality and magic exist side-by-side.

The novella is rooted in the mundane and magical culture of the Gullah, most represented by Nana Jean. Nana Jean speaks in Gullah, which Clark represents without commentary or translation for the reader when she speaks it. His choice to present Gullah speech that may be opaque is in keeping with Clark’s choice to blend realistic detail with magic. Although many are unfamiliar with the Gullah language and culture, Clark’s refusal to make Gullah familiar through translation also signals that he expects his audience to work to understand this world on its own terms. This is a notable reversal of the common situation in which members of a dominant culture expect people who are not members of that culture to subordinate themselves to the demands of that dominant culture. Nana Jean’s language and the culture in which it is embedded are sources of power in this world, demonstrating how cultural heritage, including maintaining one’s language, is a powerful tool of resistance against dominant hegemony.

Although Clark introduces a system of magic rooted in Gullah culture, he grounds the events of the novella in historical events such as the Tulsa Race Massacre. The inclusion of historical details and events like these makes the narrative speculative fiction, fiction that explores the implications of one of just a few changes in the world as we know it. What Clark does not change is the historical context of this period in history: namely, the traumatic history of anti-Black violence and enslavement.

This traumatic history isn’t just a phenomenon of the life of the enslaved in the United States—that history goes back to the transatlantic slave trade. The sword is itself representative of the sum of the first great betrayal that led to enslavement, the willingness of chiefs of the African continent to enslave other Black people. While the weight of such history could be overwhelming to the bearers of that history, Clark chooses instead to represent these descendants of enslaved people as powerful figures who wield their understanding of this history as a weapon, with the leaf-shaped sword as a literal embodiment of the power of overcoming that history in the hands of Maryse.

There are also other sources of power in the world of the novella, including science and folklore. The three women are, after all, in Macon on a scientific mission to get samples of Ku Kluxes for Molly Hogan. Molly’s scientific expertise yields knowledge that empowers the members of the resistance to make an educated guess about the source of the monsters and that something bad is coming. Science isn’t the only way of knowing in the world of the novella, however, as Maryse’s belief that simple evil explains the appearance of the Ku Kluxes makes clear.

The notation at the start of this section shows that knowing can come through oral tradition, represented here by the collected narrative of Uncle Will, who recounts the historical context of Shouts, a practice that allowed enslaved people to subvert the enslavers’ efforts to oppress them. Clark transforms the Shout into a conjuration that allows Nana Jean to protect her community. Clark’s speculation on what the world would look like if the Shout were an act of magic underscores the significance of folk practices to the resilience of Black communities during times of virulent racism, further establishing the theme of the use of folklore and cultural heritage as tools of resistance.

Another part of oral tradition comprises Black folktales in which the mischievous Brer Rabbit bests the stronger but dimmer Brer Bear. Books of power are a convention of fantasy worlds, but the power of the text that Maryse carries around is that the stories in it, coupled with the advice of Martin, Maryse’s brother, teach her how to behave in dangerous situations in the real world. Thinking about the world in terms of these tales makes Maryse clever and agile when she is facing danger. For example, throwing the watch allows her to come up with a strategy to escape the attention of the more powerful Ku Klux who, like Brer Bear, isn’t particularly intelligent. The first two chapters imply that Gullah culture, oral tradition, and Black folklore can empower Black people when it comes to the quest for survival and power, even when the odds are stacked against them. Through these chapters, Clark introduces how the use of folklore and cultural heritage as tools of resistance directly informs his thematic exploration of The Role of Trauma and Healing in Resistance Narratives through the novella’s characters and narrative.