Camino Ghosts

Content Warning: This section includes discussion of graphic violence, sexual violence, rape, and racism.

“When she finished the first chapter without a break, she realized that the writing was far more effective and engrossing than most of the stuff she was forced to read from her students. Indeed, the writing and storytelling were more interesting than most of the hyped debut novels she’d read in the past year.”

Reading Lovely’s memoir is crucial for Mercer because it opens a new horizon for her as a writer and an individual. While coping with writer’s block for her next book, Mercer finds literary inspiration in Lovely’s writing and storytelling, learning a story she knew little about. Rewriting Lovely’s story becomes Mercer’s goal and defines her character throughout the narrative.

“Sweat poured from their skin and puddled and dripped through the cracks of the planks. The stench of sweat, urine, and feces hung like a thick fog that was almost visible. For a few hours each day the men were taken to the deck where they filled their lungs with air and ate gruel from a dirty porcelain bowl. […] The women and children were housed in various rooms below the main deck and they were not shackled. Far fewer in number than the men, their conditions were slightly better, though they lived with the fear of sexual assault.”

Describing the traumatic history of enslavement, John Grisham uses vivid imagery to convey Black people’s horrifying experiences and suffering during their journey from Africa to the New World. The olfactory imagery of the “stench” in the room where the enslaved people were locked conveys the abominable conditions under which they traveled. Grisham particularly emphasizes the terror of rape and sexual abuse against Black women during the period, indicating that it was a key issue during the enslavement. The traumatic legacy of this experience of dehumanization and oppression is dominant throughout the novel.

“They were all barefoot and wore broad, happy smiles of grace and pity. They reached out to their new sisters and their children from Africa. They, too, had made the passage. They had endured the ships. And now they were free.”

Despite the dehumanizing experience of their passage, the enslaved African people were resilient and determined to survive. In Dark Isle, they found a new life within the self-emancipated community that constantly fought for their freedom and self-determination against white enslavers.