Chapter summaries Good Dirt Charmaine Wilkerson

Chapter 40: Moses – Summary and Analysis

⚠️ 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

In 1843, Moses, Flora, Uncle, and Willis share laughter over a story about a flying alligator that supposedly fell from the sky during a storm. That joy is short-lived when a viper bites Flora in the fields. Despite traditional remedies using plantain weed poultice, Flora dies two days later. Moses is devastated and finds comfort only in working with clay. He begins carving thin clay disks with flower outlines, then a relief of Flora’s profile. Willis notes that no one will ever see the bottom of a large jar, which gives Moses the idea to hide writing there. For the first time, he incises a full sentence: “Lord Have Mercy,” acknowledging the danger of writing under laws that forbid literacy for enslaved people. The act eases his grief.

Key Events

  • Moses, Flora, Uncle, and Willis laugh together after hearing a story about a flying alligator.
  • Flora is bitten by a viper while working in the fields.
  • Traditional healing methods (chewed plantain weed poultice) fail to save her.
  • Flora dies two days after the bite; Moses is overcome by grief.
  • Moses struggles to speak and begins experimenting with clay to cope.
  • He carves a relief of Flora’s face and attaches it to the bottom of a jar.
  • Willis points out that no one will see the jar’s underside.
  • Moses decides to carve a written message there: “Lord Have Mercy.”
  • He recognizes the risk but feels his pain lessen as he writes.

Character Development

  • Moses: Moves from a man who treasures shared laughter with his wife to a grieving widower. His grief drives him to innovate his pottery and risk secret writing.
  • Flora: Her laughter and resilience are shown; she jokes about the snakebite, but her death deepens Moses’s loss.
  • Willis: Observes Moses’s work and questions its practicality, then recognizes his sister’s likeness, showing his closeness to the family.
  • Uncle: Represents the elders’ knowledge by directing the plantain treatment, though it ultimately fails.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

  • Laughter and Shared Joy: The story of the flying alligator provides a rare moment of levity, which Moses later remembers after Flora’s death.
  • Sudden Loss: The snakebite symbolizes the arbitrary and swift nature of death that enslaved people faced.
  • Pottery as Secret Expression: Moses uses the hidden bottom of jars to carve images and words, a form of resistance and personal preservation.
  • Forbidden Literacy: Writing a full sentence is dangerous because enslaved people were barred from learning to read and write. Moses chooses to do it anyway, placing the message where only future handlers might find it.
  • Grief and Craft: The physical act of shaping clay becomes Moses’s primary comfort after Flora’s death.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter traces the emotional turning point that shapes Moses’s later life and his pottery legacy. The hidden inscription on the jar bottom foreshadows how objects in the novel carry concealed histories. It also establishes the risk of writing under enslavement, connecting to broader themes of memory, identity, and resistance.

Study Questions and Answers

  1. Why does Moses choose to incise the phrase “Lord Have Mercy” on the bottom of a jar?
    Moses is grieving Flora’s loss and finds relief in working with clay. Carving a full sentence, though dangerous, eases his emotional pain. Placing it on the unseen underside keeps it hidden from overseers while preserving his secret expression.

  2. What role does the story of the flying alligator play in the chapter?
    The absurd tale generates rare, shared laughter among Moses, Flora, Uncle, and Willis. That moment of joy becomes a cherished memory after Flora’s death, highlighting the value of levity in hard lives.

  3. How does Willis’s comment about the jar’s bottom influence Moses’s actions?
    Willis remarks that no one will ever look at the bottom of a large jar. This practical observation gives Moses the idea to use that hidden space for something meaningful, leading him to inscribe a written message there.

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