The Cost of Knowing

The magical realism genre allows authors to shine a light on real-world issues through fantastical elements. In Brittney Morris’s novel, the Rufus brothers’ visions symbolize the anxiety and depression experienced by young Black men. Alex sees his psychic powers as a family curse, and he draws a connection between the visions and the “[d]eep, paralyzing fear that runs all the way through every man in every generation of [his] family” (253). The author establishes a clear connection between the visions and the lasting damage inflicted by the horrors of slavery, demonstrating the generational trauma that many young Black men inherit. King Takaa, the ancestor whose wish began the visions, foresaw his descendants’ enslavement and took his own life in despair when he was unable to prevent this. While men are of course not the only people who suffered under slavery or who encounter racism, Morris chooses to focus on the experiences of Black men in this story. This is seen in her decision to make it so that only the men in King Takaa’s family inherit his psychic powers.

Through the generations, these men are impacted by racism in different ways. Likewise, their powers take different forms with some like Alex being able to see the future and others like Isaiah seeing the past.