48 pages • 1 hour read
Kei MillerAugustown: A Novel
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2016A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Part 2, Chapters 12-16 Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 2: “This Is How It Starts”
Part 2, Chapter 12 Summary
Ian Moody was young when he fell in love with Clarky. He used to work washing cars, but business slowed down as he started to hit puberty at 13 and wasn’t as cute as the other kids. Clarky took him under his wing and made Ian his apprentice. For six years, they worked together selling fruit and vegetables. Ian denies to himself that he loved Clarky romantically, but there was “an intensity of feeling” between the two, even though it went unspoken (121). One night, when Ian followed Clarky home with the handcart, he spent the night with Clarky in his hut. Though they were both physically aroused, they did not have any sexual contact and simply slept side by side.
Ian was with Clarky at the market when the police came and harassed him, falsely accusing him of selling marijuana. He watched as the police threw the callaloo out of Clarky’s cart before beating him violently with their batons and dragging him off to jail. Ian found Clarky after he hung himself when the police cut off his dreadlocks. He cut Clarky down and held his body.
After Clarky’s death, Ian committed fully to Rastafarianism and now calls himself Bongo Moody. On the day of the autoclaps, the loss of Clarky weighs heavy on Bongo Moody.
Part 2, Chapter 13 Summary
The news of the loss of Kaia’s dreadlocks spreads quickly. Doreen, an HIV-positive sex worker, shares the news with Bongo Moody. Bongo Moody takes this news very hard, shouting “fire” over and over, triggered by the memory of the loss of Clarky’s dreadlocks and his death (131). The bobo shantis, the other Rastas, come out and comfort him, but he does not quiet until the elders soothe him. He rails against Babylon, the evil they have done to the Rastafari community, and their failure to respect or recognize the Nazarite vows. Doreen then tells the news to the other bobo shantis, and they decide to march and stand up to Babylon.
Part 2, Chapter 14 Summary
The narrator states that Augustown has patterns, and even certain odd events can be construed as banal or mundane. The march of the bobo shantis, however, is outside of the usual rhythm of the town. The bobo shantis are silent as they march, dressed in gowns and beads, and adorned with the colors of Ethiopia and the symbol of the lion of Judah. As they march, others in the community join them, and the march becomes less a march of the bobo shantis and more a march of Augustown. The march resembles an 1838 event, when Jamaicans marched off the estates in which they were enslaved to found Augustown after slavery was finally outlawed in the British territories.
The bobo shantis and the townsfolk march to the school, where they pound on the fence and demand that Mr. Saint-Josephs come out. Bongo Moody drums and leads the crowd in song. Mr. Saint-Josephs cries at his desk, aware of the gravity of the situation he has put himself in. Ma Taffy cries at the sound of the singing. Then, Sister Gilzene joins in, singing the same song she sang when Bedward flew.
Part 2, Chapter 15 Summary
A woman who has schizophrenia works as a cleaning lady at the school. She shouts at her dog, who died 30 years ago, as she works on cleaning the floors. Entering Mr. Saint-Josephs’s classroom, she sees him at his desk and notices the cut dreads still on the floor. She asks why he is still there, and he tells her that it’s too far to go back to Trelawney, even though he now lives in Augustown. She continues cleaning and waits for Mr. Saint-Josephs to leave.
Part 2, Chapter 16 Summary
Sister Gilzene feels sudden strength and is able to get out of bed. She knows that she is going to die soon, and this is a temporary burst of energy, but she embraces it all the same. She looks out the window and notices how modernity has changed Augustown since her youth. The little girl whose mother sends her to check on Gilzene is shocked to see her out of bed. The girl’s name is Lloydisha because her father is named Lloyd. Lloydisha tells her what happened to Kaia, and Gilzene then prophesies her own death and the death of another. She tells Lloydisha the story of Bedward’s flight. She then sings the same song she sang on the day Bedward flew. She dies, and Lloydisha calls for her mother. Sister Gilzene is the first to die on the day of the autoclaps.
Part 2, Chapters 12-16 Analysis
The Rastafari identity is integral to these chapters as the community rallies around Kaia. The loss of Kaia’s hair is felt not just by him and his immediate family, but also by all the bobo shantis, most strongly by Bongo Moody. The pain is communal due to the importance of the Rastafari beliefs to the community, demonstrating the importance of The Role of Myth, Folklore, and Religion in Sustaining Community and Identity. Rastafari is a large part of the Augustown community. Lloydisha, in conversation with Sister Gilzene, thinks that there are “so many Rastas” in Augustown and knows enough about the religion due to cultural osmosis that she understands Marcus Garvey and Garveyism (150). Even those outside of the direct Rastafari community, like Lloydisha, are influenced by their beliefs, even if they do not fully understand them.
The Impact of History and Memory on Contemporary Life appears again as a theme when Sister Gilzene shares the story of Bedward’s flight with Lloydisha. Gilzene’s perspective is that when she dies, part of history dies with her, as she has a singular knowledge of the community and its stories. To prevent the loss of Bedward’s memory, she shares the story with Lloydisha, who is young enough to carry it with her for many years and share it with the community; the history lives on in a new generation. Gilzene does not take this responsibility lightly, and nor does Lloydisha: “Lloydisha understands that she is being assessed, and she stands up straight with her hands at her sides, hoping to be found worthy” (149). Gilzene deems her worthy of carrying the history and keeping the story of Bedward alive. This historical transfer mirrors Ma Taffy’s sharing of Bedward’s story with Kaia. Though Ma Taffy does not die on the day of the autoclaps, this fact does not negate the importance of her storytelling. The autoclaps will become history, and one day, Kaia will be the one keeping the history of the march and the loss of his mother alive. For that history to make sense, Kaia needs to know about Bedwardism.
Clarky’s death makes clear The Consequences of Racial and Social Oppression. The violence done to him by Babylon robs him of his desire to live. Though the police did not kill Clarky themselves, the narrative suggests that they are responsible for his death: When the police robbed him of his dreadlocks, they knowingly and intentionally took a key part of his religious identity away from him. Babylon sought to oppress Clarky and inflict pain upon him to send a message to the Rastafari community of Augustown. Years after Clarky’s death, Bongo Moody wants to believe that Babylon’s violent agenda against the Rastas is over and that the Rastas are free to live by their own creed. Yet, after the loss of Kaia’s hair, Bongo Moody realizes that this is not true and that the racial and social oppression faced by Clarky still exists, nearly 20 years later. Rastafari still poses a threat to Babylon because it gives Black Jamaicans hope for resisting colonial structures and pushing back against their oppression by white society.
