River Sing Me Home

Mary Grace is Rachel’s daughter and a secondary character. A dynamic character like her mother, Mary Grace changes from shy and wary to confident within the text. Mary Grace does not speak but communicates through gestures and facial expressions. In Part 2, Mary Grace marries another secondary character, Nobody.

As the first child Rachel recovers, Mary Grace accompanies her mother through her search for her siblings. Skilled in sewing, she provides additional means for their survival as they journey across the colonies in the Caribbean.

Shearer uses Mary Grace to explore the depth of familial connection. Because Rachel knows what Mary Grace is saying without her speaking, their bond exemplifies an inseparable union between mother and child. Rachel dreams of Mary Grace speaking to her after wanting to know what happened to her after she was taken from her. Although a dream, the verbal exchange between Mary Grace and Rachel illustrates the power of a bond like that between a mother and child.

This bond is symbiotic. Mary Grace nurtures Rachel within her text just as her mother nurtures her. In a sense, Mary Grace mothers her mother throughout their journey, reminding her of her strength to carry on when she feels that she cannot. Therefore, as a character, Mary Grace, blurs the boundaries between mothering and being mothered.

Her silence, a means of protection, highlights the differences between external and internal resistance. It is once Mary Grace finally uses her voice that Shearer shows that she, like the other characters, has finally accomplished The Quest for Freedom.

Nobody is another secondary character who joins Rachel on her journey, yet contrary to the connotations of his name, Nobody is significant. He is a gifted storyteller whose stories attract others to him, especially Mary Grace. He is resourceful given his knowledge of waterways and the economies that rely on them, and, like Mary Grace and Rachel, he is a fugitive from slavery.

Despite being technically free, Nobody’s experiences with slavery, particularly the sacrifice that his mother makes to liberate him, leave him feeling incomplete. He searches for liberation through sea voyaging, although his travels sometimes require complicity in the slave trade. Because he is severed from familial connection, Rachel recognizes Nobody’s need to be mothered. Through Rachel, Nobody gathers the strength to remove himself from a life that comforted him through complacency. Nobody’s companionship supports the novel’s predominant theme: The Connection Between All Things.

Nobody does not change dramatically throughout the novel. Although a round character, Nobody supports Rachel’s characterization through contrast. For example, the novel contrasts Nobody and Rachel through their views on adventure. Although both Rachel and Nobody are intrigued by adventure, Nobody’s interest in the extractive aspects of it, such as finding gold, differs from Rachel’s view of adventure as the bridge to wonder. His extractive visions suggest the internalization of imperialist views. These views on adventure illustrate the varying landscape of how self-liberated people envision freedom. To Nobody, adventure is a task of proving one’s abilities rather than discovering new ways of being. He has a masculinized view of adventure that reflects adventure stories involving sea travel.

Mama B is a supporting character whose philosophy, The Connection Between All Things, is the centermost theme of the text. As an old woman who aspires to be a “mother to all” (18), Mama B reveals to Rachel the real reason why she left Providence plantation.

Although Mama B is only physically present with Rachel in Part 1, she impacts Rachel throughout the remainder of the text. Rachel refers to Mama B’s philosophy often and learns to see the world in the same manner that Mama B does. In turn, Rachel’s mimicking of Mama B illustrates how people can impact one another in such a way that they cement themselves into a generation’s memory.

Mama B fulfills the role of her guide to drive Rachel’s sense of purpose. Mama B exemplifies the wise woman archetype. Wise woman archetypes mentor the protagonist by providing spiritual guidance, such as in the case of Mama B passing on her philosophy to Rachel. Mama B’s kindness, generosity, and protection leads Rachel to discovering new ways to mother her lost children.

Micah was Rachel’s oldest son and the first to be taken. He was murdered by colonial soldiers who accused him of being a leader of a slave rebellion in Demerara. Micah’s life and death inspires Mercy to name her son after him.

Micah is characterized through Orion’s narrative as an intelligent and friendly teenager. Although he does not appear in the novel except through Orion and Rachel’s memory, his story emphasizes The Quest for Freedom. Through physical resistance, Micah showcases one aspect of what this quest can look like.

Micah’s life and death also reinforces The Power of Memory through his legacy. Since names and naming play an important role in the novel, Mercy naming her son after Micah showcases how memories can flourish in the future.

Thomas Augustus is Rachel’s second child as well as the second to be recovered. He was the last child to be stolen from her. Having self-liberated from slavery, he lives in a liberation village in the forest along the Demerara River.

Thomas is characterized as reticent and wounded by the fragmentation that slavery inflicted on his family. His trauma causes him to be cynical toward his mother’s goal of reuniting with his remaining siblings. Thomas, similar to Nobody when Rachel meets him, is complacent in his uneasy freedom. Thomas’s story and his reluctance to speak about it represents a form that The Quest for Freedom can take. This reunion allows Rachel to see the value of new memories since he is the first child whom she must leave behind. In this sense, Thomas is a supporting character. It is left ambiguous whether or not Thomas changes his views on freedom or the past.

Cherry Jane is Rachel’s daughter and the third child to be recovered. Depicted as beautiful, light-skinned, and cold, she is the second and last child Rachel leaves behind due to different opinions on freedom.

Like her brothers, Cherry Jane shows Rachel a different path to liberation, although this path unnerves her the most. Due to her light skin and hair texture, Cherry Jane passes as a wealthy mixed-race woman, thus denying her heritage for the sake of survival. Because Rachel understands her daughter’s reasoning, she reluctantly accepts it. Although brief, their reunion contextualizes how race, skin color, and class influence social mobility and highlights the way these categories are socially constructed.