User:Jenni.mesa1023/Family (Cooper novel)

Family, published in 1991, is a neo-slave narrative written by American playwright and author, J. California Cooper. It tells the story of multiple generations of African American slaves from the point of view of the dead Clora, who killed herself and tried to kill her four children in order to escape slavery.

Clora follows her four children around the world through the years, but keeps a special eye on Always, her favorite child. The novel spans from 1840 through 1933, with Clora waking up and skipping to different time periods throughout the years.

Summary
Within Swallow-Land

Family begins with the ghost of Clora describing the start of slavery. Enslaved families were separated, and children were forced to have children with their owners. Clora's mother, Fammy, was constantly forced upon by the Master of the Land and bared nine of his children. These children were all sold by the time that they were three because the Mistress of the Land thought they looked too white and too much like the Master of the Land. In order to combat this, Fammy had a child with another Black slave, who she named Clora. Fammy eventually could not handle the torture of being a slave, so she killed the Master of the Land and then herself, leaving Clora behind in the hands of Miz Elliz, another slave.

Although the Master of the Land was gone, his son was now considered the Young Master of the Land. By the time that Clora was twelve, the Young Master of the Land had impregnated her and she had he first child, who she named Always because she would always love her child. Clora ended up being forced to have three more children with the Young Master of the Land, who she named Sun, Peach, and Plum. Clora constantly feared her children being taken away from her, and when it seemed that she would be killed by the Mistress and Master of the Land, Clora decided to prepare a poisonous tea so that they could all die together. Although all of the children drank the tea, Clora was the only one who died. Her spirit began to follow the lives of all of her children, but she payed special attention to Always.

Because Clora's children were all fathered by the Young Master, the Young Mistress and her two children, Loretta and Virginia, would constantly torment Clora's children. Virginia despised pretty slaves like Always and Peach because she felt that she was ugly. Loretta only liked Sun because she could tell that they were related. Loretta helped Sun both times that he attempted to run away from the farm, and throughout his enslavement, Loretta would smuggle him some extra food to eat. The first time he tried to escape, he was caught and almost tortured to death by the Young Master. The second time he attempted to escape with the help of Loretta, he was successful. Once he gained his freedom, Sun would send letters to Loretta using the pen name "Mr. Freer", and ask if she could help Peach escape. Loretta began to get jealous of the fact that Sun would constantly ask for Peach that she convinced her mother to sell Peach. The man that Peach was sold to was a nice man and eventually the two fell in love and moved to Scotland. Peach changed her name to Peachel, and her children grew in a wealthy household, became educated, and got high paying jobs. Similarly, Sun was also granted a happy life. When he was seventeen he was able to convince a business owner to let him work for only some food and a place to sleep. The business owner, Mr. DuBois, eventually recognized Sun's hard work and promotes him to work for his other businesses. Mr. DuBois's daughter also falls in love with Sun and they have children in a wealthy household.

It is 1844 and Always and Plum are the last siblings to remain on the farm, which was increasingly accumulating more debt. Doak Butler, a well-off land owner who had just become engaged, visited the farm in order to purchase a slave for his fiance, Wanda Sue. He purchased Always, but was unable to afford Plum. Plum, unable to fathom being away from her sister, managed to stow herself on the bottom of the buggy without anyone's knowledge. However, due to some form of mechanism underneath the buggy, Plum was crushed and bled to death.

Before the Civil War

Once the two arrived at Doak's land, Doak pulled Always out of the buggy and raped her. He then told Always to clean the buggy and to get rid of the remnants of her dead sister. Always was then introduced to Poon, another slave, and Jason, Doak's brother, who was paralyzed from the waist down. Always decided that she was going to take care of the farm, which had plenty of fertile land, in order to sell some of her crops and keep some money for herself. Once Doak's wife, Sue, came to the farm, she quickly became pregnant with Doak's child. Always learned that she was also pregnant with Doak's child. Although Always was prepared to hate Sue the same way she hated Doak, she never did. Sue was kind, and favored Always to the other slaves. She allowed Always to rebuild the chicken coop so that Always would have a private place to sleep with her future child, but asked Always to be present with her when it became time for her to give birth.

Sue eventually goes into labor when Doak is away for business, and after the process of giving birth to her son, she is exhausted and falls asleep. Right after she falls asleep, Always goes into labor and gives birth to her own son. Her child was born with blue eyes, like his father, and Sue's child had brown eyes. While looking at the two children, Always devises the plan to switch them so that her own child does not have to bare the realities of being a slave. In order for them to have something that connects them, she burns a mole onto his and her hip. In order for no one to notice the burn mark, she cares for both children and lets no one else touch them until the burn heals under the pretense that Sue is too weak to take care of her child. Once the burn mark healed, Always switch the children, naming the one under her care, "Soon".

Once Doak returned to the farm, he and Sue named their blue-eyed child Doak Jr. The two children grew up together and became close to one another. Master Doak was unable to sell Soon because Doak Jr. would throw a tantrum if Soon was gone. The rest of Always' children, all of them fathered by Master Doak, were sold before they were six years old. To honor them, Always names the land bought with the money from their selling after them. Meanwhile, with the land being so fertile, the farm was expanding and making plenty of money for the Doak family. Sue eventually became pregnant again, but fell ill and died with her second child. Master Doak grieved her death by sexually abusing Always, but soon he wanted another wife. He went back to Always' original owners and asked for Loretta's hand in marriage, who quickly agreed.

While Loretta was spending all of the farm's money, Always was keeping a bit of the profit from the produce that she sold. Because Loretta could never catch Always taking money, she tried to pin Soon and Doak Jr. against one another. Unlike Wanda Sue, Loretta knew that Soon and Doak Jr. were related to one another, but she wanted Doak Jr. to realize his place as a wealthy slave owner. When that did not work, she tried to sell Soon, but Doak Jr. did not allow her to. As the boys got older though, Doak Jr. began playing the role of the master and started treating Soon unkindly.

With the Civil War taking place, Master Doak decided to go and fight for the Confederacy. While he was gone, Always, Jason, and Loretta took care of the land, but a couple of months later they got news that Master Doak had died. Doak Jr. felt the need to go into the battlefield and replace his father, so Always sent Soon to go with him and to promise to protect Doak Jr. While the two boys were gone, many slaves fled and stole from the farm.

A runaway slave named Sephus visited the farm one day and Always learned that he was one of her children that was sold years ago. When Loretta saw him, everyone believed that she would kick him out, but she hired him as her carriage driver instead. Sephus stayed on the farm for three months, living in the main house with Loretta, but then disappeared one day with the carriage. Loretta was devastated by his departure and soon learned that she was pregnant with his child. She tried to keep the child a secret and asked Always for teas that would terminate the fetus, but Always fed her prenatal teas instead so that the child would be born healthy. Always helped Loretta through the birthing process and Loretta convinced Always to take care of the child, who was named Apple.

After the Civil War

Everyone on the farm soon learned that the Union had won the war and that slavery was abolished. Always decides that she is not leaving the farm yet, but she will also not be taking care of Loretta. Loretta tries to threaten her by saying that she will keep Apple, but Always disagreed with her and told her that Apple would not be going anywhere without her. Always then went to church with Apple for the first time where all the past slaves were celebrating. After the celebration, Always went back to the farm in order to care for her garden, waiting for Soon and Doak Jr. to return home.

Once Doak Jr. and Soon had returned, Doak Jr. began interrogating Always about the gold she helped his father bury. She takes him to one of the chests and tells him that there is more, but she will only show them to him if her buys her the land down the road for herself. Doak Jr. reluctantly agrees to her terms, but then Always tells him that she is his biological mother. She shows them the matching moles, but Doak Jr. goes into a rage and tries to kill her. He eventually stops because Always is the only person who knows where the gold is, and Always tells him that she will not tell anyone that they are related as long as he buys her the land.

Once Doak Jr. buys Always the land, Always hires various ex-slaves to help her tend to the land. She gets married to a quiet man from church named Time, and soon have a child together who they name "Master More". Both Doak Jr. and Always's land prospered, but Doak Jr. held resentment towards his mother because he felt like she had bested him. Soon stayed with Always and said that he would wait to get married elsewhere.

Peach and Sun heard that the war was over and both returned to the South to visit Always. The three siblings visited Plum's grave together and then talked about living arrangements for Soon and Apple. Apple left with Peach to Scotland in order to get an education and Soon left with Sun to the North in order to become a veterinarian. This was possible for them because they both passed as White. Loretta visited Sun while he was visiting Always and everyone treated her nicely because they learned that she had helped Sun escape Swallow-Land. Sun also invited Loretta to come live with him in the North.

Clora then fell asleep for about 50 years, and when she awoke, Sun was dead, Always was dying, and Peach was incredibly old. She realized that she had grandchildren and great-grandchildren living all over the world, some as White, others as Black and every color in between. She learns about the Ku Klux Klan and blames humanity for the violent repetition of history, calling to the audience and telling them that they need to change their point of view. She explains that everyone is related to one another, no matter ones race, and that it is the audience's job to realize that they are a part of the Human Family in order to stop the violence within humanity.

Major Characters

 * Clora: Clora is the narrator of the novel. After realizing that the slave master was going to kill her for protecting her child, she decided to concoct a poisonous tea for herself and her children. She did not want her children to continue living as slaves, especially without their mother. However, somehow she was the only one that died from the tea. Her spirit follows the lives of her four children (Always, Sun, Peach, and Plum), as well as their children. She is very family oriented and follows Always’ life the closest.


 * Always: Clora’s oldest and most favorite child. A very hardworking girl who cares greatly about her siblings, especially Plum. After being enslaved in on a farm in Swallow-Land, with Loretta being one of her masters, she is then sold to a well-off land owner named Doak. After he rapes her and disregards Plum’s death, Always vows to forever hate him. She tries to hate his wife, Wanda Sue, but she is too kind to her. Always becomes pregnant with Doak’s child at the same time that Wanda Sue is pregnant, and during the birth of the children decides to switch the children so that her biological child is raised in a wealthy household rather than slavery.


 * Sun: Clora’s second oldest child and described as light-skinned enough to pass as white. As a child, he and his half sister Loretta became close and devised a plan for Sun to escape Swallow-Land. After being taught how to read and write by his half sister, Loretta and Sun attempted to get Sun up North. The first time, he was caught and almost killed as punishment. Him and Loretta were successful the second time, and Sun adopted the name “Mr. Freer” when he wrote to Loretta in order to try to buy his siblings. Sun was eventually hired by Mr. DuBois, a wealthy man in the food industry, and was eventually promoted within his various businesses. Sun ended up marrying Mr. DuBois’s daughter and lived a wealthy lifestyle, never letting anyone know that he was the son of a slave.


 * Peach: Clora’s third oldest child, described as almost-white and very pretty. Sun taught her how to read and write, and her main job was within the main house, specifically taking care of Loretta’s room. Loretta eventually asked her mother to sell Peach, who was sold to a nice gentleman looking for a slave to take care of his wife. His wife died eight months into the arrangement, and eventually the gentleman and Peach fell in love and got married. They moved to Scotsland and lived in extreme wealth.


 * Plum: Clora’s youngest child, often described as a weak and very sickly. Always was her caretaker and when she learned that Always was sold, she attempted to stow away on the bottom of the buggy. However, due to the mechanism of the buggy, she was crushed and then bled to death.


 * Loretta: The daughter of the Young Master of the Land as well as Always’s, Sun’s, Peach’s, and Plum’s half sister. She is very selfish and high-maintenance, but had love for her brother, Sun. She helped him escape to the North, but was jealous when he asked her to help Peach so she got her sold. She eventually gets married to Master Doak and Wanda Sue dies, and her hatred for Always grows. She has a child with one of Always’s children, who was named Apple.


 * Master Doak: The man who purchases Always from Swallow-Land. He rapes and impregnates Always when she first arrives to his land. Described as mostly clueless to the going ons of his land and prefers for the slaves and his brother to work the land. He is the husband of Wanda Sue and the father of Doak Jr. After Wanda Sue died, he married Loretta. He dies while off at war.


 * Wanda Sue: Master Doak’s wife and the mother of Doak Jr. A kind and caring White woman who becomes very attached to Always. She dies during her second pregnancy, along with her second child. She never learns that the child she raised was never biologically hers.


 * Doak Jr: The biological child of Always, but raised by Wanda Sue and Master Doak. As a child, he is best friends with Soon, but once Loretta comes into his life, his perspective changes as he grows into the role of a slave owner.


 * Soon: The biological child of Wanda Sue, but raised by Always. He is friends with Doak Jr. and goes to war with him in order to protect him. He is raised as a slave even though he is actually White.