Po' Sandy

Sandy never communicates while he is in the form of a tree. However, that he can be turned back into a human allows for consideration of the role of plant life in the story. In the opening sentences, John describes “a creeping vine, which extended its slender branches hither and thither in an ambitious but futile attempt to cover the whole chimney (37). Parts of the old schoolhouse had fallen off of the building and, “lay rotting in the rank grass and jimson-weeds” (37). It seems that the plant life is trying to cover up or devour this last symbol of the Southern slaveholding culture.

Grapes and grapevines have been used in literature, historically, to symbolize fertility, wealth, and connection. The grapes and the vineyard in this story, however, can be read as a symbol of humans who believe that it is right to exploit the Indigenous people and places they conquer. The only grapes indigenous to the US grow from North Carolina to Georgia. The Scuppernong grape was cultivated by the people indigenous to the area to be eaten, traded, and used as a sweetener. This variety of grape has very thick skin and does not make for good wine, but the Anglo Americans who colonized these areas found that they were good for jams and other dishes. So, the grapevines from which John makes his living, and which Julius spent his life tending, are artifacts of a previous displacement.

Another use of nature in the story can be found in the character of Mars Marrabo, Sandy’s master. A marabou is a large species of stork that primarily eats carrion with vultures. The use of the homonym of Marrabo/Marabou may have added a comedic touch to the story for those familiar with the large bird. It also suggests that slaveowners scavenged off the bodies of enslaved people the way marabou do off the bodies of dead animals.