Let us Descend
Annis, sold south by the white enslaver who fathered her, is the reader’s guide. As she struggles through the miles-long march, Annis turns inward, seeking comfort from memories of her mother and stories of her African warrior grandmother.
Throughout, she opens herself to a world beyond this world, one teeming with spirits: of earth and water, of myth and history; spirits who nurture and give, and those who manipulate and take. While Annis leads readers through the descent, hers is ultimately a story of rebirth and reclamation.
Source: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Let-Us-Descend-(Oprahs-Book-Club)/Jesmyn-Ward/9781982104504
Keywords/Themes
Slavery, inherited trauma, resistance, freedom, spirituality, the supernatural, mother-daughter relationships, identity, endurance, memory.
Book Review & Recommended Use in Classroom
This novel balances its very crude account of the life of a young female slave with the realm of the natural and supernatural. While Arese endures the horrors of being sold, starved, and forced into labour (among others), the world around her oozes with guiding forces. She follows Dante’s metaphor the title alludes to, down into her personal hell, accompanied by swarms of bees and adaptations of Yoruba spirits, who lead her through the Southern swamps but often demand a piece of her in return.
I think this novel’s way of approaching the topic of slavery, both from a very realistic and metaphorical/supernatural viewpoint, could make it an interesting read for upper school. I think working with it should follow the same duality: slave narratives and authentic material on the one hand, and on the other, an exploration of those “cultural memories” that survived the Transatlantic Slave Trade and merged into the U.S. American South—Voodoo/Hoodoo, music, food.
(Alexandra, April 2025)
Sensitive Content
This novel addresses the historical realities of slavery. It includes depictions of physical and sexual violence, incest, emotional abuse, racial terror, imprisonment, the slave trade, and suicidal thoughts.
About the Author
Jesmyn Ward, born on April 1, 1977, in Oakland, California, is one of the most celebrated writers of the 21st century, known for her lyrical and authentic portrayals of poor African American communities in coastal Mississippi. Raised in DeLisle, Mississippi, after her family returned from California following Hurricane Camille, Ward experienced economic hardship and was deeply influenced by her mother’s resilience as a house cleaner. An avid reader as a child, she later attended a private Episcopal school on a scholarship, becoming its only Black student. Ward went on to earn both a BA in English and an MA in media studies from Stanford University. She made literary history as the first woman and first Black American novelist to win the National Book Award for fiction twice, in 2011 and 2017.
