Brown Girl in the Ring

Crack Monkey and Barry hold down Ti-Jeanne while Rudy slices his granddaughter’s thigh open and injects her with bufo powder, a paralyzing agent. With Ti-Jeanne unable to move, Rudy places her inside a black sack and douses her with white rum in preparation for the ritual that will make her Rudy’s new duppy. Rudy prepares four mounds of gunpowder, which will ignite once Ti-Jeanne willingly relinquishes her spirit from her body.

To convince Ti-Jeanne to release her spirit from her body, Rudy lies to her. He tells her that Mi-Jeanne came to him, believing that Mami put visions in her head. Ti-Jeanne starts to question whether Mami did the same to her to keep her tethered to her. Rudy further says that Mi-Jeanne came to him to ask for relief from the heartache of the world, that “she didn’t want the pains of the body anymore” (215). He says that Mi-Jeanne willingly gauged out her own eyes for the ritual to separate her spirit from her body. He concludes this story by offering Ti-Jeanne the same relief from the physical world. If she relinquishes her spirit from her body, she too can live in duppy form as Mi-Jeanne has done. Rudy’s lies are so convincing that Ti-Jeanne starts to believe them at first. She feels herself astral projecting from her body. One by one, the mounds of gunpowder ignite.

Ti-Jeanne finds herself floating above the CN Tower. There, she encounters the Jab-Jab again who tells her that Rudy is lying. He explains that Mami had been “serving the spirits” (218) as many had done before her. On the other hand, Rudy continues to make spirits serve him. The Jab-Jab instills her with visions of Rudy’s abuse of Mami, his forcing Mi-Jeanne to kill Dunston, and his slow torture of Melba. The visions make her realize that she must be the “Duppy Conqueror” (219) and stop Rudy. She suddenly remembers Mami’s words: “The centre pole is the bridge between the worlds” (221). She realizes that the CN Tower is a pole that connects the heavens where the African deities reside and the dead spirits below ground. She calls upon all eight of the African deities and the souls of the dead to come to her assistance.

One by one the gods come to Ti-Jeanne’s aid. Shango and Oya conjure a storm and strike lightning against the CN Tower. Where the tower has cracked, Oshun and Emanjah pour water through the fissures. Shakpana, the lord of disease, inflicts Crack Monkey and Barry with debilitating sores and boils, causing them to writhe in pain. Osain starts to heal the wounds on Ti-Jeanne’s body. Once Ti-Jeanne starts to regain her strength and movement, she slides out of the black sack and tells Rudy, “No” (223). She melts the knife that Rudy used to bind her. The deity Ogun swallows the melting knife. The final mound of gunpowder remains untouched.

As Ti-Jeanne awaits the Prince of Cemetery’s presence, she realizes that the Jab-Jab has been him all along. She laughs at her delayed realization. As the deities continue to punish Crack Monkey and Barry, Rudy tries to run away through the elevator. When the elevator opens, the Prince of Cemetery appears with the souls of everyone Rudy has murdered following behind. Ti-Jeanne is elated to see that Mami is in this company, beaming proudly at her granddaughter for stopping Rudy’s violence. With nowhere to run, Oshun and Emanjah fill the room with water, washing away the remains of Rudy, Crack Monkey, and Barry. With the perpetrators gone, the souls of dead depart too. Ti-Jeanne is alone with Osain and the Prince of Cemetery, who share their pride in her powers but warn her not to summon so many spirits again as it can be dangerous. Exhausted, Ti-Jeanne makes her way home.