Chapter summaries Call Us What We Carry Amanda Gorman

Chapter 35: Vale of the Shadow of Death or Extra! Extra! Read All About It!

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

The chapter opens with a definition of the Latin word vale from Anne Carson's Nox, glossed as both a leave-taking of the dead and a measure of worth. Gorman then traces how the 1918 influenza pandemic was misnamed the “Spanish flu” even though the first recorded case appeared in Kansas, using this to show how truth can become entangled with fiction when nations use disease names to blame others. She connects this to the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, which codified anti‑Asian stereotypes that portrayed Chinese immigrants as disease carriers. The poem moves to the 1918 Chicago Daily Tribune headline “Half a Million Darkies from Dixie Swarm to the North to Better Themselves” and the city health commissioner’s false accusation that Black migrants caused the flu. A later passage quotes Surgeon General Walter Wyman calling bubonic plague an “Oriental disease, peculiar to rice eaters.” Gorman argues that racial slurs “beast” people by reducing them to animals and that ignorance is not bliss but a vine that blocks out light. She then contrasts the Spanish word vale (meaning okay, understood, all right) with the English value, and observes that the same Spanish word valor means both value and bravery. The chapter closes with a vow to tell the whole truth, a farewell to everything that makes us less than seeing or seen, and an image of walking through the shadow of night toward the sky.

Key Events

  • The chapter begins with a definition of vale from Anne Carson’s Nox, setting up a duality of farewell and worth.
  • The true origin of the 1918 influenza is presented: first case in Kansas, misnamed “Spanish flu” because Spain did not censor reports.
  • The 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act is cited as the first U.S. federal law distinguishing legal from illegal immigration, rooted in cholera and smallpox stereotypes.
  • The Chicago Daily Tribune headline from July 8, 1918, blaming Black migrants for the flu is quoted, along with Commissioner John Dill Robertson’s remarks.
  • Surgeon General Walter Wyman’s 1900 description of bubonic plague as an “Oriental disease” is referenced.
  • Gorman reflects on the effect of racial slurs, stating that a slur “beasts” a person.
  • The Spanish word vale (okay, understood) is compared to the English value, and valor (bravery) is linked to the idea that courage must cost something.
  • The poem ends with a collective vow to write the whole truth, a farewell to oppression, and an image of emerging from the shadow into light.

Character Development

  • The Speaker: The poetic voice evolves from a historian exposing past injustices to a determined truth‑teller who calls for courage. The “we” of the poem becomes a community that has walked through the shadow and refuses to be silent.
  • Scapegoated Communities: Chinese immigrants and Black migrants are not developed as individual characters but are represented as groups who have been wrongly blamed for diseases and treated as less than human.
  • Oppressive Authorities: Figures like John Dill Robertson, Henry M. Hyde, and Walter Wyman are used as examples of those who weaponize language to scapegoat and dehumanize.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs Actually Evidenced Here

  • Scapegoating and Xenophobia: The chapter demonstrates how disease is used to blame and exclude entire peoples (Spanish flu, Asiatic cholera, Chinese Exclusion Act, Chicago Tribune headline).
  • Language as Power: Words like “Spanish flu,” “darkies,” and “Oriental disease” are shown to carry historical violence. The repeated analysis of the word vale illustrates how meaning can shift between languages and contexts.
  • Ignorance vs. Truth: Gorman directly refutes the saying “ignorance is bliss,” calling ignorance a vine that blocks light. The chapter advocates for costly, courageous truth‑telling.
  • Value and Bravery (Valor): The connection between value and valor suggests that real worth requires sacrifice. The poem insists that speaking truth is an act of bravery that costs something.
  • Light and Shadow: The “shadow of death” (from Psalm 23) is reinterpreted as the historical darkness of oppression and ignorance. The closing lines describe exiting that shadow to see the sky, symbolizing hope and clarity.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter is one of the book’s most direct historical analyses of how language has been used to fuel racism during public health crises. By connecting the 1918 influenza, the Chinese Exclusion Act, and anti‑Black rhetoric in Chicago, Gorman shows that scapegoating is not a new phenomenon. The chapter also provides a key thematic link between past and present, reminding readers that the same patterns recur. Its focus on the Spanish word vale and the idea that courage must cost something offers a way forward: acknowledging the pain of history while committing to truth and visibility. It reinforces the book’s central argument that words matter and that we must choose them carefully.

Study Questions and Answers

1. How does Gorman use the word vale to frame the entire chapter?

Gorman opens with Anne Carson’s definition of vale as both a leave‑taking of the dead and a measure of worth. Later she compares the Spanish usage of vale (meaning “okay,” “understood”) with the English concept of value. This duality allows her to explore how acceptance of historical wrongs can be costly—we must understand the truth and be willing to pay the price of courage. The closing lines echo the farewell and the commitment to write “the whole truth, as at the close of a letter.”

2. What historical examples does Gorman provide to illustrate the scapegoating of immigrant and minority groups?

She cites the 1918 influenza being misnamed “Spanish flu” despite its first case in the United States; the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, which was justified by stereotypes of Chinese immigrants spreading cholera and smallpox; the 1918 Chicago Daily Tribune headline blaming Black migrants for the flu; and Surgeon General Walter Wyman’s description of bubonic plague as an “Oriental disease, peculiar to rice eaters.” Each example shows how language was used to shift blame and legitimize discrimination.

3. How does the chapter define ignorance, and what alternative does it propose?

Gorman rejects the phrase “ignorance is bliss,” writing instead that ignorance is “a vine that sneaks up a tree, killing not by poison, but by blocking out its light.” Later she calls ignorance “to miss” or “to block ourselves from seeing sky.” The chapter proposes that true courage—valor—requires us to confront the truth, even when it is painful. Speaking truth, even at a cost, allows us to emerge from the shadow and see the sky.

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