Title & author
The Revisioners by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton
Synopsis
Lyricality fills The Revisioners-- not just in the prayers and songs echoed by the title’s namesake group, or the lines of contemporary music woven throughout, but also in the call-and-response style of narration. Through the voices of Josephine and her great- great- great- granddaughter Ava and their quests for security and autonomy, Sexton’s novel explores womanhood, ancestral connections, and the negative impact whiteness-- particularly white women-- can have on both.
Who should read this book
Fans of Conjure Women and Afterlife
What we’re thinking about
How novels can be impactful for disassembling stereotypes
Trigger warning(s)
Physical violence, slurs, racism
Lyricality fills Margaret Wilkerson Sexton’s second novel The Revisioners (Counterpoint, 2019)-- not just in the prayers and songs echoed by the title’s namesake group, or the lines of contemporary music woven throughout, but also in the call-and-response style of narration. The novel alternates perspectives, switching between Josephine and her great- great- great granddaughter Ava. And while the novel begins and ends with Ava’s point of view, it all starts and ends with Josephine, with what Ava learns from her ancestor without ever actually knowing her. Both narrators lean upon their lineage and identity for guidance, rooted in belief and faith, which helps to shape their futures for the better. Through the voices of these two protagonists and their quests for security and autonomy, Sexton’s novel explores womanhood, ancestral connections, and the negative impact whiteness-- particularly white women-- can have on both.
Despite living almost 100 years apart, Josephine and Ava are connected. Josephine “started seeing that woman” from a young age (Sexton, 47). “She was from another world, but she felt like me; I mean, when she spoke, it felt like the words came out my own mind” (47). Growing up as an enslaved child, Josephine sees Ava’s mother, Gladys, in her mind. She feels connected to her ancestor, as if they are the same person. And Gladys tells Ava so much, that she has “‘the power of [her] ancestors coursing through [her] veins,’” (57). The two women are strengthened by their generational connection, the support it provides.
But that connection and the safety it brings is threatened by the novel’s white protagonists and their expectations of Black women (a fact Sexton poignantly foreshadows through lyrics in the first chapter, “You say I’m crazy / ‘Cause you don’t think I know what you’ve done” preceding Ava’s nightmare about Josephine’s future sorrows at the hands of white people) (16). As a child, Josephine enjoyed spending time with her enslaver’s daughter, Sally. And as an adult, lonely without her daughters, she begins to care for her new white neighbor, Charlotte. But both white women make her feel as if she “belongs to someone else,” as if she is “on Wildwood again standing beyond the missus’ table, waiting for Miss Sally to finish eating so I can devour her scraps” (242). The white women take advantage of Josephine’s care, taking from her but providing nothing in return. Similarly, after moving in to take care of her white grandmother Martha, Ava witnesses Martha physically damage her lamp, “the only thing of Josephine’s that [Ava] own[s,]” and fool around with the one photograph of her ancestor (20). Both Josephine and Ava, despite the care they give for these white women, are taken advantage of-- they provide support, but are given nothing (nor expected to expect anything) in return.
This racist expectation is visible throughout the literary universe, a reflection of the world displayed throughout novels. However, while some novels do so in consciousness like Sexton’s (Conjure Women, for example), most, given the systemic inequalities in the publishing industry and world at large, do so in ignorance (take Gone with the Wind and The Help). The latter do nothing but perpetuate the systemic, racist, and degrading treatment of Black women at the hands of white women. The parallels between Josephine and Ava’s two narrations that span a century aptly depict how although “times have changed,” the actions perpetuated by many white women have not.
And the novel does not excuse or overlook the behavior of these white women. “If she wants forgiveness, I’m not ready to extend it,” Ava says about Martha (12). Though she cares for her grandmother, she is not willing to excuse her past behavior. No, instead, both Ava and Josephine do what they can to care for and protect themselves, within the boundaries set by a racist society. They rediscover that connection to one another, Josephine “see[ing] that woman” and “wak[ing] up knowing no matter what the day held, [she’d] already passed through it” and Josephine “lending [Ava] a confidence [she] wouldn’t have possessed on [her] own” (95, 273-4). Even in times of sorrow and doubt, they lean on one another to try and move forward, their calls to one another being heard, their questions answered.
The Revisioners depicts an ancestral bond that runs deep, highlighting trauma, survival, and identity. It paints endurance, but not by way of the “Strong Black woman” trope, rather with pain and beauty, moments of grief and fulfillment. It disassembles the one-dimensional stereotype created and reinforced by white supremacy and, though Josephine and Ava in the end thrive without the help of white women, never excuses the behaviors of those who try to leave Black women behind.
“‘Don’t get so caught up in the surroundings. Remember who you are. What did I used to tell you? Brilliant, beautiful girl. You have the power of your ancestors coursing through your veins.’”
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Why do you think Sexton chose to integrate modern music (such as Sam Smith) into the story? How did this shape your understanding of the novel?
Did you find the connection between Ava and Josephine to be rooted in faith, magical realism, or both? Why?
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