Discussion: The Twelve Tribes of Hattie

[Rebecca]

Thank you Mina. Thank you Columbus for the email.
We had some great comments posted. I thank each person who participated. Michael I have to say you really added depth and helped out a lot too, and your accronyms were amazing. It's alway fun to discuss here because of the welcoming support. Now we look forward to See now Then.

[ColumbusReads]

Rebecca, what a great baton hand-off to the next runner/discussion leader. Maybe you should be an advisor to the next US Olympic Sprint Relay group!

[Rebecca]

Your too funny Columbus. How did you know I was aspiring?

[Sue]

Well, I'm a bit late as regards the official ending of the discussion, due to a busy holiday weekend just past, but, I did work on an acronym. I agree with others that it was hard to pick a favorite character because we saw most of them in varying degrees of brokenness.
I decided to do a set of acronyms for Alice, because she somehow struck me as being particularly "lost". So the first acronym is how I see her in her chapter in the novel, and the second is what I hope she can somehow find, in the "rest of her story", after the point in which we as the readers leave her in the book.

A - Affluent without enjoyment
L - Left on the margin
I - Isolated
C - Control-Seeking (toward Billups)
E - Empty of Purpose

A - Affirmation
L - Letting go (of Billups, of the past)
I - Interests of her own
C - Connection
E - Empowerment

[Sue]

And, here is what I am "carrying with me" from reading "Twelve Tribes of Hattie", thinking about it, and following the discussion in this group:

Regarding Hattie and her family in the context of the Great Migration - one way to describe what we as human beings are looking for in this world, and what we should seek for one another, is to be able to thrive. So, when we think of the Great Migration, or of immigrants coming to the United States from elsewhere in the world, a primary reason is because they are looking for a place where they may have a better chance of being able to thrive.

As far as what it means to thrive, we often think first of having more material goods. And, if you don't have enough to eat, or can't clothe your children, then it's pretty difficult to thrive in any other way. We see Hattie not thriving in the material way, and she reflects that it was harder to give her children emotional love because she had to concentrate so hard on making ends meet.

But, then, we have the characters who are affluent materially, but we see that just being well-off financially does not mean that one is thriving. We see Alice married to a wealthy husband, but his family looks down on her; she is marginalized within their household and within the family; and she is obsessed with fear/guilt from the incidents from her and Billup's childhood, which she deals with by attempting to protect/control Billups.

And we see Pearl and Benny, well-off materially, but having to endure intimidation and segregation in the South, which Hattie has somewhat escaped from in Philadelphia. Also, Pearl, I think, would have said that she was not thriving, because of her childlessness, until she was able to "adopt" Ella.

So, basically - being able to thrive - there's more to it than having material needs met.

Then, another "take-away" thought is that life is complex. Why was it so hard for Hattie, and her children, to thrive, even after the family "migrated" to a different place? Is it because of causes beyond their control (e.g. persistent discrimination, racial inequality, it's a long-road "up" for a people whose forefathers and foremothers just a few generations ago were enslaved in a particulary oppressive manner), or is it because of the choices and actions of the people themselves? And the answer is "both" - we see that August's womanizing and spending the housekeeping money makes it almost impossible for Hattie to make ends meet for the family (and we see Franklin, for example, having issues with gambling and womanizing that impact his being able to have a lasting relationship with Sissy and his daughter Lucille.) Yet, even if August had been different, it would not have been easy for Hattie and August. The loss of the babies Jubilee and Philadelphia came before August began going out and spending all the household money, and could probably have been avoided if the "externals" had been different - if the Shepherds had been able to have access to better medical care. And, in some ways, that loss contributed to August's choices later on.

So - why are we where we find ourselves in life? Not easy to answer - life is complex.

This was a really interesting book and causes one to think a lot - thanks for having the discussion!

[Michael]

Nice acronyms, Sue! I like that you left hope for Alice evolving in the future. It is true she will have to respond in some way to Billups changes, even though she did not make the decision, it was thrust upon her.

Both Sue and Mina have pondered whether August and Hattie's relationship would have been different without the twins' death. I admit I am not sure either. I do think Hattie would have been more emotionally present with her children, like she was trying to be with Sala, but did that affect how she was with August? One of the children had said August started running around because of the twins' death, so maybe that would have changed. But the money situation, I don't think so. August had very "logical" reasons for his working choices, and for splitting the money "50/50" (half for him, half for Hattie and the 9 kids...). It was definitely not clear to me from the snippets in the book how much was their personality and how much was the twins' death.

I will also chime in: great discussion everyone!

[Wilhelmina]

Another "choice" that we didn't mention was having such a large family. Although modern birth control methods didn't exist, there is no indication that they did anything to restrict the size of their family. I know that children are a sign of hope for poor people and for black people especially in the aftermath of slavery, but their lives could have been more manageable if they had had half the number of children.

[Adrienna]

Rebecca wrote: "Good Morning Everyone. Feel free to comment and discuss these questions and well as anything from chapters 1-3 or 4.

In the book's first chapter, Hattie suffers a terrible double tragedy: her inf..."

I just got here and had to read that one passage to realize that it was Hattie's son; I thought he was one she treated as a son after the twins died. This is what drawn me into the story. Then when I read Floyd, I was slightly lost on some parts; disconnected and even disjoined as some stated...and after reading he was a lady man to a man's man, I nearly was about to stop reading the book. I am not into gay relationships. I am on page 45 since now I realized that Six is her son too; had no clue. I am behind since I am prepping for LSAT these months until June. I hope to finish it tomorrow.

I haven't connected to a fave character yet early on.