James L’Angelle
University of Nevada, Reno
Dr. G. Escobar
11 May 2020
The Women of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ The Water Dancer
Sophia occupies the mind of Hiram throughout the novel. He just can't seem to escape the spell she has over him. Even with his new life as a freedman, an agent for the Underground Railroad and the use of his special power known as "conduction," Sophia is still Hiram's obsession. But there are other women who influence this runaway slave, several of whom, although they are not romantically woven into the fabric of the story, nonetheless, play an integral part in Hiram's life.
Having lost his mother Rose in a trade early on when she was spirited off to Natchez, bound by slave merchants, she is transfixed in his mind and is central to the power of conduction, which only really works when he conjures up those strong memories of her. Hiram is raised by Thena;
"She was not a warm woman, Thena, this other mother of mine. There was a general belief that if she wasn’t cursing you or shooing you off, she might, at least, have a good feeling for you." (Coates, 70)
Persuaded by Sophia to fulfill his desire to escape the Virginia plantation where he is the illegitimate son of the owner, Hiram is captured along with her and separated. His longing for Sophia is soon to be placed on hold when, following another escape, he becomes the primary subject under the tutelage of the white radical abolitionist Corrine Quinn. As time passes, Hiram’s attitude toward Corrine hardens into a suspicion of her motives;
“Corrine Quinn was among the most fanatical agents I ever encountered on the Underground. All of these fanatics were white. They took slavery as a personal insult or affront, a stain upon their name...Slavery humiliated them, because it offended a basic sense of goodness that they believed themselves to possess... They scorned their barbaric brethren, but they were brethren all the same. So their opposition was a kind of vanity, a hatred of slavery that far outranked any love of the slave.” (370-371) Not all of the abolitionists had that double consciousness toward slavery and the slave, as Hiram discovers when he is shanghaied out of Philadelphia by slave catchers and rescued by his double-agent mentor Micajah Bland, a.k.a. “Mr. Fields.” He is introduced to a mythical conductress;
“...she had become so beloved and famed for fantastic exploits that the coloreds of Boston, Philadelphia, and New York had given her the name Moses.” (170)
Later on, her real name, Harriet, is revealed along with many of her traits, a singular one being, as a freed slave herself, she didn’t take orders from the abolitionist hierarchy. Throughout his journey from the plantation to Philadelphia and his return as an agent for the underground, Hiram cannot escape his desire for Sophia. Following his initial capture, he even suspects her as part of the plot for his betrayal;
“Maybe Sophia was in on it. Perhaps Thena had warned them. Maybe they were all sitting up somewhere, laughing with Corrine Quinn, laughing with my father even, at my foolish dreams of freedom.” (128)
Hiram wasn’t outed by Sophia, nor by Thena and certainly not by the legendary Moses. As for Corrine, her motives were quite noble, even with her double standard of anti-slavery that may not have had much concern for the individual slave. Her rather shameful hypocrisy can be seen in her criticism of Hiram’s desire to free Thena;
“Thena was of such an age that the Virginia Underground would likely oppose her rescue, for it was felt that a life of freedom should first be given to those able to make the most use of it.” (311)
Freedom for the slave in Corrine’s mind only applied to those who were young and could benefit by a long life following their escape from the “coffin.” For her, the underground railroad began with liberation but ended with ageism. It was no wonder that Hiram, the conductor, didn’t completely submit to the organization and eventually returned to his master’s plantation in search of his ultimate desire, Sophia. By then, however, even she had tasted water from the vase of freedom and wasn’t interested in Hiram as her next master.
There were other women in The Water Dancer, none with the immediate hold of Sophia over Hiram. Surely his mother was a strong influence, but only in memory and related to his unique power. Reference to Santi Bess, Hiram’s grandmother, also had the power of conduction but is yet another distant memory. In the end it is Hiram who has to fulfill his destiny alone.
Source
Coates, T-N, The Water Dancer, One World, NY, 2019