The Salt Eaters

“It takes something out of you, Velma, to keep all them dead moments alive.”

Velma’s husband, Obie, says this to her before her mental health crisis and attempt to die by suicide. Dwelling on past traumas is part of her mental health condition. She will need to look forward to the future instead of dwelling on the past if she is going to heal, and the same is true for the Black community and Black activist groups.

“Dancing in the mud with cowries.”

Minnie says this to her spirit guide, Old Wife. She describes Velma’s mental health condition using the symbol of mud. Mud is associated with being wild and ancient, as opposed to being responsible. It is also associated with birth and creation in African diasporic religions.

“‘Sometime the original mother is too much the mother, if you know what I mean.’ ‘I don’t be catching your drift at all much, Min.’”

This is part of a conversation between Minnie and Old Wife in the realm of the Mind. Minnie discusses uterine issues, specifically motherhood, here. She tries to make a point about men being babied by their mothers, but Old Wife, correctly, thinks Minnie is stalling.

“Turning to watch the young doctor, Dr. Meadows, stroll over toward the stereo where the loa were setting up [...] walking right through them.”

This is an example of Haitian gods, or loa, appearing at Velma’s healing. Dr. Meadows is from the country and is not familiar with the spiritual healings at the infirmary. However, the narrator asserts that the gods are present, even if they are intangible. 

“What’s the delay?”

One of the passengers on the bus asks Fred, the driver, why he is delaying moving the bus. Fred is caught up in thoughts of the past. Overall, the novel is about moments of delay and stalling rather than steady forward motion. Steady forward motion does not come until the novel’s end.

“They might’ve been twenty-seven miles back in the moment of another time when Fred Holt did ram the bus through the railing and rode it into the marshes.”

This alternate future that Fred imagines is an example of the novel’s nonlinear structure. His ideation around death can be compared to Velma’s suicide attempt. However, Fred’s issues are with his physical health and his struggle over his close friend’s death. Bambara illustrates the harm of dwelling on the past and “what ifs” like this, as the bus does not move when Fred is in his reveries.

“‘Have to be whole to see whole,’ Mrs. Heywood had counseled them.”

This is something Obie recalls Sophie saying when they discussed Fracturing in Black Activism. The splintering in the academy between the spiritual and political factions can be healed by someone who embraces wholeness. Velma, at the end of the novel, brings together parts of herself, and this quote implies that her feeling of wholeness means she will be able to help the community come together.

“Miz Ransom rocking that woman like the mothers of all time hold and rock however large the load, never asking whose baby or how old or is it deserving, only that it’s a baby and not a stone.”

Cora, a member of the Master’s Mind—a collection of 12 people who attend Minnie’s spiritual healings—describes a healing that occurred before Velma’s healing. The grown woman’s mental health condition is represented by needing to be rocked like a baby.

“Music? Music. She had thought she’d heard some music. Well, what was this anyway, a healing or a jam session?”

This is one of Velma’s thoughts during the healing. Music connects various people, places, and times throughout the novel, bringing together different streams of consciousness. Even the loa are attracted to music—it connects humans with gods.

“Health is my right.”

Velma says this when Minnie asks if she can afford health. This phrase was put in the infirmary’s archway when it was built in 1871 and leads to a tangent about the location’s history, changing the stream of consciousness. This also suggests that Velma is feeling empowered as a woman and taking control of her health, both spiritually and later in a reproductive sense. Additionally, this situates the novel in its political context, as both mainstream white feminists and Black feminists were seeking reproductive autonomy, though sometimes in different contexts.

“For she’d found a home amongst the workers who called themselves ‘political.’ And she’d found a home amongst the workers who called themselves ‘psychically adept.’ But somehow she’d fallen into the chasm that divided the two camps.”

Sophie thinks this about Velma. Velma’s internal split state reflects the fracturing in Black activism. Finding wholeness within herself, or working on her mental health condition, enables Velma to bring together the two different camps.

“But the classes were fun and Geula was a welcomed madness.”

Geula Khufu (aka Tina Mason) can be contrasted with Velma. Geula does not have the same kind of issues that Velma has. Rather, she is eccentric and brings entertainment to the community. This develops the theme of personal and public health conditions in the Black community by separating the acceptable conditions—those that do not harm people—from unacceptable ones that result in self-harm.

“Tightening the shawl around her, vaguely listening to the music, feeling the healer’s hands on her arms, she remembered that the marsh visit had failed to inform her days and her nights, it had failed to inform her mind the minute she got up from the tree.”

This passage helps develop the symbolism of the shawl. Velma is not ready to be reborn and toss off the shawl like a cocoon. She is haunted by her trauma, and the shawl’s presence comforts her. She will later shed it and be a spiritual guide for the Black community.

“Next thing you know, some white boy in top hat and tails, or maybe a dreads wig, will come along and pied pipe all the folks to the lobotomy wards.”

Ruby says this to Jan in the café. This quote develops the theme of personal and public health conditions in the Black community, pointing out how traditional institutions of psychiatric care discriminate against Black people. This also points to Velma and the Black community taking control of their own health.

“Mrs. Heywood said: Keep the focus on the action not the institution; don’t confuse the vehicle with the objective; all cocoons are temporary and disappear.”

Jan thinks this at the café when she and Ruby are discussing the fracturing in Black activism. This passage foreshadows how Velma throwing off Minnie’s shawl symbolizes her leaving a cocoon at the very end of the novel. It will be a rebirth for herself as well as for the Black community. The emphasis on cocoons as temporary reiterates the idea that delay can be harmful; a caterpillar that remains in its cocoon will die.

“Dante didn’t tell the half of it.”

Ruby says this when she and Jan are talking about the nuclear power plant. Dante is the author of Inferno, which is about a journey through hell. This allusion, or literary reference, demonstrates that Ruby is well-read and has a dark sense of humor.

“Jan remembered that Velma had played piano for the group and had gone touring with them the summer before. ‘In all the years I’ve known Velma, it wasn’t until then that I realized what a serious musician she was.’”

Jan shares this memory with Ruby. It is part of the musical motif that links different times, people, and places together. Velma, as a musician, can be contrasted with Fred’s desire to be one and with the musicians who ride his bus. She is a serious artist.

“You could see they’d been at it awhile, the salt line on their shins like a hem Mama Mae might puff with chalk.”

This memory of Velma’s develops the motif and symbol of salt. She remembers a joyful moment when Sophie and Dolphy carried a tub of salty oysters. Salt, here, has a positive association as oysters represent sustenance, prosperity, and virility.

“‘We’re into nature,’ not hiding out in Wordsworth or Kerouac, excusing the self from social action, but running to the woods in hopes of an audience with the spirits [...] toward a likely sanctuary of the saints, the loa, the dinns, the devas.”

This is a discussion of Black spirituality in America. White men spending time in nature to avoid being around people is contrasted with people going into nature to commune with saints and spirits. The spirituality of nature is highlighted throughout the work, and Bambara emphasizes that the Black community needs to connect with its own history and traditions.

“She might have died.”

This sentence begins a list of hypothetical situations in which Velma could have died before her attempt to die by suicide. In order to overcome her mental health condition, she has to give herself over to psychic death to be reborn whole. She does not die, of course, but is reborn and will rebirth the Black community.

“M’Dear taught the alphabet in a way that made Mama Mae leave the room and shut the door. She couldn’t remember Y, the forked glyph whose vibe was holy to seekers.”

Velma recalls how her godmother, Sophie (aka M’Dear), made Mama Mae blush. This highlights the interconnectedness of the people in Velma’s life—the people who love and care for her and who want to see her overcome her mental health condition. The letter Y is significant because it references Yoruban deities.

“Velma would remember it as the moment she started back toward life.”

Different characters are connected by a thunderbolt during the rainstorm. This passage describes how Velma feels like her healing is just a beginning. It also is an example of the experimental style of the novel—this is a moment of Velma looking back at the healing, as a moment in the past, before the healing has been completed.

“Had Velma found herself?”

Sophie thinks this while sitting in Doc Serge’s office, wondering if the healing has been successful. The process of healing for Velma brings together different parts of herself and helps her understand who she really is—someone with psychic powers. The quote references personal and public health conditions in the Black community.