Spirit

Gabriela Ortiz

English 1B

Professor Lennon

March 23, 2011

         

            Spirituality, family, and karma. These three themes is what make up the short story, "Watch the Spirit Move" in the book Big Mamas Stories by Shay Youngblood. In the selection which location took place in Princeton Georgia in the 1960's, we learn about Aunt Vi, a woman who is dedicated to her spirituality and kind of egocentric in regards to keeping out certain individuals that are non-beneficial to her way. As the selection continues Aunt Vi, took the narrator on a flashback story where she introduced  her first husband, Franklin. Franklin was a man who learned a lesson of karma when he tried to put revenge on his cousin's husband, Brewster, after selling Franklins valuable suit.

            Theme is what the author leaves us with to contemplate about the human experience. For this, the main themes of the selection would be religion and community customs and traditions. In the selection Aunt Vi speaks many times about the way she sees religion and how culture is mixed in with it. For example chile, the narrator describes Aunt Vi and says, ""Aunt Vi mystified me Like Big Mama, she was a Christian woman.Yet she believed in roots and spirit work where she depended on ancestor spirits to advise, herb and root medicines to heal and protect, and dazzling candlelit rituals to make the spirit move." The setting of the story was a physical setting where mostly a third person point of view took place. The way the setting was described set the mood for Aunt Vi to began her flashback story like this: "I'll never forget it as long as I live, the day that led Franklin my first husband, to go see Sister Cora Walker Saint for a reading."  "Aunt Vi said kicking off her house shoes and curling up on her big iron bed with a cup of bay leaf tea. She sifted her weight on one elbow and leaned back into the soft feather pillows with her eyes closed. I lay facing her propped on one elbow with a jelly glass of my own."

            Two main values that appear to be important to aunt Vi would be: spirituality and self protection. These two values are mentioned various times throughout the story, aunt Vi spends most of her time creating altars for the spirits and herb roots to heal and protect. An example of why this value characteristics is when the narrator asks  "Aunt Vi why you need protection. Don't God hear you when you pray?" and aunt Vi says "yeah baby, he can hear me but even God need a back up?"  Two African American motif that are pointed out in the story would be Religion and the consuming vernacular, Oral tradition.  A motif is a symbol, theme, image, phrase, object, and character that recurs in work. The word religion was mentioned often in the selection and demonstrated importance in Aunt Vi's life, an example would be when the narrator described Aunt Vi's bedroom she said "An altar was set up there in front of the three angled mirrors, colored candles, trays of ashes, and herbs, incense, river rocks and sea shells, bones from small animals, a small brass bell to call the spirits."  The second motif,  talks about tradition. A tradition is a ritual, belief or object passed down within a society, still maintained in the present, with origins in the past. Aunt Vi  speaks about tradition to the narrator  when she says " when I was a little a girl we didn't have money to be buying all them fancy highly expensive doctor medicines. Root medicine work better anyhow. Root medicine older than dirt."

            This being a growing up story I did not feel that I learned anything from it. To me, It was more of a reminder about keeping stories present and practice what you believe. I can relate to this selection because I myself have aunt Vi, she is as dedicated to her traditions and  just like aunt Vi she would always sit me down  to tell a story with hopes that I would be entertained and learn something from it. "Only an Aunt.. can give hugs like a mother,can keep secrets like a sister,and share love like a friend."