The Water Dancer, by Ta-Nehisi Coates

 

Characters
Tasked	Quality	Low Whites
Hiram – Walker’s son with Rose Rose – mother – sold   Roscoe -butler Ella – head cook Pete   Sophia – knitter, belonged to Nathaniel Caroline “Carrie” – daughter with Nathaniel Mercury – husband, sold   Santi Bess – Hiram’s grandmother, escaped with 48 slaves   Thena – raised Hiram   Hawkins – saved Hiram from drowning Amy – sister   Parnel Jones – stealing from master, entire Tasked population on plantation punished, wanted to run away – met Underground in woods Lucy – came along unannounced	Howell Walker – owns Hiram Maynard – son, drowned   Mr. Fields – tutor   Corinne Quinn – Maynard’s intended   Nathaniel – Howell’s brother   Lockless – plantation   Daniel McKiernan – owns Otha’s family	Desi and Boss Harlan Desi – in charge of big house Boss Harlan – enforcer   Ryland’s Hounds – hunted for runaways
	Free Blacks	Underground
	Georgie Parks Amber - wife	Hawkins Corinne Mr. Fields – Micajah Bland Amy   House agents Field agents   Raymond White – free, met Hiram in PA Otha White – born a slave Lydia – wife, still in slavery   Harriet Tubman “Moses” - Conduction

 

NOTE: Page numbers are from the 2020 paperback edition.

1.      There were a lot of characters in the novel. I had a hard time deciding who to put in the chart and who not to include.  Which ones were the most memorable to you and why?

2.      What did you think of the Conduction, Hiram’s experience with the blue light and water?  As you were reading earlier in the novel, what did you think was happening?

3.      Hiram was very well educated thanks to Mr. Fields and with Howell Walker’s permission.  He also was quite talented as a furniture restorer.  Did the Underground make the best use of his skills when he trained to be a field agent instead of a house agent who read, studied, and forged papers?

4.      There was a hint that Hiram was the author of the story.  When he was studying with Mr. Fields, he was given one hour after his sessions with free use of the office and library.  He wrote “I think now that my own volume, the one that you now hold here, began in those moments” (page 164).  Was that important to your reading?

5.      Were you surprised that Hiram went back to Lockless to serve again as a slave and try to help Thena escape?

6.      One part that stayed with me was when Hiram was running for the first time with Sophia and had a difficult conversation with Thena.   She said to him, “Boy like you should be more careful with his words.  Never know when they the last ones he might put upon that person” (page 115).  That haunted Hiram until he was able to make amends with Thena.  What parts of the book were more memorable to you?

7.      Did you understand the strong and mixed emotions the Tasked had?  For example, when Hiram wanted to help Thena escape to be with her daughter, Thena yelled at him and said, “Why you bring this back to me?,,,Do you know what it took for me to make peace with this?” (page 383)

8.      There seemed to be several unfinished stories – what happened to Parnell Jones (the book said he was to be taken back to master for stealing [page 179]) and on page 184 it said “with my actions against Georgie Parks.”   When was Jones given back to his master and what actions did Hiram take against Parks?

9.      Were you surprised at the end when Sophia decided to stay at Lockless with Hiram and work in the Underground instead of escaping with Carrie?  Did you find the ending satisfying?

10.  Why did the author choose to use the terms “tasked” and “quality” instead of slave and owner?

11.  Why do you think the author included Harriet Tubman, the only real person, in the novel? 

Did the book live up to the statements on the back cover?  The book was described as a “propulsive, transcendent work that restores the humanity of those from whom everything was stolen.”   It also was on numerous Best Books of the Year lists including NPR, The New York Public Library, and The Washington Post.