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"Because this is the story of those lost young men, and because this is my family’s story just as it is my community’s story, it is not straightforward. To tell it, I must tell the story of my town, and the history of my community. And then I must revisit each of the five young black men who died: follow them backward in time . .  At the same time, I must tell this story forward through time . . . between . . . I must write about my family and how I grew up. . . . my marches forward through the past and backward from the present meet in the middle with my brother’s death” (8)

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"Because this is the story of those lost young men, and because this is my family’s story just as it is my community’s story, it is not straightforward. To tell it, I must tell the story of my town, and the history of my community. And then I must revisit each of the five young black men who died: follow them backward in time . .  At the same time, I must tell this story forward through time . . . between . . . I must write about my family and how I grew up. . . . my marches forward through the past and backward from the present meet in the middle with my brother’s death” (8)

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In the prologue, Ward explains why she chooses two narratives that move in different ways through time to meet in the middle. She structures it in a way that is "not straightforward," she explains because the story is not hers alone but the story of her town and the men she lost. The structure of using two narratives that "march" forward and backward in time is similarly "not straightforward."

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“We Are in Wolf Town Distant Past -- 1977” (9) Description ( - 10) Mother’s family (11 - 12) Father’s family (13 - 14) mother and father (14 - 19)

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“We Are in Wolf Town Distant Past -- 1977” (9) Description ( - 10) Mother’s family (11 - 12) Father’s family (13 - 14) mother and father (14 - 19)

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The chapter is titled "We Are in Wolf Town," which shows the reader where we are. The subtitle "Distant Past -- 1977" shows the reader when we are. Starting with the old name of the town and the ambiguous start date create a beginning that feels as old as time, like there is no information before this that can be shared.

date

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“Roger Eric Daniels III Born: March 5, 1981 Died: June 3, 2004” “My cousin Aldon flew into Detroit to help me drive from Michigan to Mississippi for the summer of 2004” (20).

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“Roger Eric Daniels III Born: March 5, 1981 Died: June 3, 2004” “My cousin Aldon flew into Detroit to help me drive from Michigan to Mississippi for the summer of 2004” (20).

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The next chapter does just what she said it would do in "The Prologue"--it tells us of the most recent death: Roger Eric Daniels III, who dies in 2004. We have moved from 1977 in the previous chapter all the way to 2004 in the next chapter. She tells us in the subtitle when Roger lived and then in the text of the first page that she is heading back from Ann Arbor in the summer of 2004. This is the end of the 5 deaths.

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"Camille was the only one in a staccato succession of tragedies in those days"(Ward 16)

This is a reference to the storm of hurricane Camille, and how the storm effected the town in a "Tragedy" That actually succeded.

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"As Joshua said when we were kids hunting down ghosts: somebody died here" (Ward 7)

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"As Joshua said when we were kids hunting down ghosts: somebody died here" (Ward 7)

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The motif of ghosts was shown for the first time on this page. And even though the author and her friends were children it still shows some meaning because it is the first sign of the ghosts.

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"In death, they transcend the circumstances of this place that I love and hate all at once and become supernatural" (14)

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"In death, they transcend the circumstances of this place that I love and hate all at once and become supernatural" (14)

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She is literally saying that the men that died have become ghosts and haunted her memory. Ghosts were introduced in the beginning and now continue to come up as she gets more in depth about those who died.

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¨...The reality of Joshua's absence was soothed by Rog, his easy smile, his arm casually slung over my or my sister's shoulders" (28).

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¨...The reality of Joshua's absence was soothed by Rog, his easy smile, his arm casually slung over my or my sister's shoulders" (28).

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This quote demonstrates characterization of the 5 men, specifically Rog, by defining the natural ease Rog's presence brought Jesmyn Ward, even during difficult times following her brother's death. She has expressed how much her brother's death has affected her, so to see her pain soothed by the company of his bright soul further demonstrates the characterization of Rog.

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"Sometimes when that parrot screams, sounding its rage and grief, I wonder at my neighborhood's silence. I wonder why silence is the sound of our subsumed rage, our accumulated grief. I decide this is not right, that I must give voice to this story" (Ward 8). 

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"Sometimes when that parrot screams, sounding its rage and grief, I wonder at my neighborhood's silence. I wonder why silence is the sound of our subsumed rage, our accumulated grief. I decide this is not right, that I must give voice to this story" (Ward 8). 

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The author has repeatedly clarified that their reason for writing the book was to share her memories and story of growing up in DeLisle but affirmed that it is also the story of her community. And this is her way of enabling the "silenced" in a town that has permitted the extension of segregation and poverty of Black people.

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"But my ghosts were once people, and I cannot forget that."(7) 

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"But my ghosts were once people, and I cannot forget that."(7) 

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This quote talks about how the 5 men she wrote about were once walking on the same streets as she was. She explains how telling their stories was the hardest thing she had ever done but she felt like their stories needed to be heard. She felt like her ghosts needed an applicant to speak for them.

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¨When my brother died in October 200, it was as if all the tragedy that had haunted my family's life took shape in that great wolf of DeLisle, a wolf of darkness and grief, and that great thing was bent on beating us¨(pg. 21)

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¨When my brother died in October 200, it was as if all the tragedy that had haunted my family's life took shape in that great wolf of DeLisle, a wolf of darkness and grief, and that great thing was bent on beating us¨(pg. 21)

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This example shows that the memories of her brother and his death haunt the authors family.

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"Men’s bodies litter my family history. The pain of the women they left behind pulls them from the beyond, makes them appear as ghosts." (14)

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"Men’s bodies litter my family history. The pain of the women they left behind pulls them from the beyond, makes them appear as ghosts." (14)

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This is an example of the ghost motif because it describes why the men in her family that have passed reappear as ghosts. Ward explains they reappear as ghosts because the pain of the women they have behind pulls them. This gives a bit of additional context behind the ghost motif, while the ghost motif serves as a bridge for her to talk about those who have passed.

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"He danced around the trunk that night, kept us laughing. His smile never disappeared from his narrow face. While the other boys huddled in their cars, having conversations that we were not privy to" (29)

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"He danced around the trunk that night, kept us laughing. His smile never disappeared from his narrow face. While the other boys huddled in their cars, having conversations that we were not privy to" (29)

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Cars in DeLisle seem to be a big part of their community. It is a way of transportation, as well as something community is built around. In this instance, Ward is comparing Rog's use of the car to dance and entertain all night, to the other boys' more secretive and polarizing use of the cars. The use of cars in this instance gives the readers important insight into Rog's fun and uplifting personality.

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"Maybe he wasn't thinking about any of these things, but I like to imagine that he was thinking about all of them when the seed of the bad heart that had killed his father sent out roots and bloomed violently in Rog's chest. Sometime that night Rog died of a heart attack" (36).

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"Maybe he wasn't thinking about any of these things, but I like to imagine that he was thinking about all of them when the seed of the bad heart that had killed his father sent out roots and bloomed violently in Rog's chest. Sometime that night Rog died of a heart attack" (36).

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Here Ward writes about the death of Rog and how she imagined it had happened. She used her previous knowledge of Rog and his personality to infer what might have been occurring the night of his death since no one was there to witness it happening.

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"Each friend's subsequent death was a hard blow as that wolf haunted us. But, I didn't say this to Aldon. Instead, I said, 'I can't breath, cuz. It's the air.'"(Ward 21)

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"Each friend's subsequent death was a hard blow as that wolf haunted us. But, I didn't say this to Aldon. Instead, I said, 'I can't breath, cuz. It's the air.'"(Ward 21)

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The verses Ward speaks out loud are controlled and censored, words that are safe and end with closed-off answers. This is done to reflect the difficulties in discussing such topics about the lives lost in DeLisle, and how some conversations remained undiscussed. She does not say it then because she is scared and does not know where to begin.

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"I'm ready to change, ready to go... And as he spoke, a boy from the neighborhood who was notorious for using drugs,... drove up in his Cutlass. Parked. Walked up and said: "Whats up?"" (32)

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"I'm ready to change, ready to go... And as he spoke, a boy from the neighborhood who was notorious for using drugs,... drove up in his Cutlass. Parked. Walked up and said: "Whats up?"" (32)

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Cars seem to vary in meaning depending on the mood and tone of the passage. In this passage, cars seem to be a inhibitor of Rogers drug issues. They make getting and selling drugs easier as well and transport similar people of drug abuse to roger to hang out with and get high together. Just a couple pages back, car were a fun resource for partying or hanging out but now, its like a gateway to something more sinister.

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"The creature loped out of the woods before us, and we startled and shouted, and it looked at us and loped back into darkness, and it was darkness, colored black, and had a long, fine snout, and it was soundless, this wild thing that looked at us like the intruders that we were before we drove away from it to more well-traveled roads, away from that place was everything but dead end, that place that seemed all beginnings, a birthplace: Wolf Town" (10). 

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"The creature loped out of the woods before us, and we startled and shouted, and it looked at us and loped back into darkness, and it was darkness, colored black, and had a long, fine snout, and it was soundless, this wild thing that looked at us like the intruders that we were before we drove away from it to more well-traveled roads, away from that place was everything but dead end, that place that seemed all beginnings, a birthplace: Wolf Town" (10). 

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This is a good example of a specter in the novel. The section above is describing the form of a terrifying wolf. In the novel as a whole this could represent what the town was before others came and invaded the land. It goes back to the culture that was once rooted in the town before other moved in and changed the tradition in the town.

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This chapter traces Ward's first 8 years. It is another "We Are" chapter, so we know that it is part of the first narrative that "marches forward" in time. It begins with "I was born early at six months, on April Fool's Day . . ." and then ends with the night her parents "broke" (60) in 1984 when Ward has probably just turned 8.

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"DEMOND COOK: Born: May 15, 1972 Died: February 26, 2004"

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"DEMOND COOK: Born: May 15, 1972 Died: February 26, 2004"

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This is another death chapter where Ward has now moved in time to the 4th death (second to the last) and "it was 2003" (63 - 64). This chapter shows Ward and her sisters and friends grieving 3 deaths and then describes Demond as a hard worker who is lucky to have married parents and a job at a local factory. He is shot at the end of the chapter and it seems related to his position as witness in two drug-dealer criminal cases.