62 pages • 2-hour read
Sky Full of Elephants
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Chapters 36-43Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 36 Summary
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of bullying, racism, rape, death by suicide, and suicidal ideation.
Inside the garage, Hosea tells Charlie that the land they’re on first belonged to his great-grandfather. He built the first house on it. The house was small, so his wife, Hosea’s great-grandmother, taught him to strive for something bigger.
Vivian enters the garage and asks Charlie, Hosea, and the sons about the purpose of the work. Herald wants to communicate with ancestors, Tau wants to empower Black people, Hosea wants to heal Black consciousness, and Charlie wants to build a relationship with his daughter. Sailor enters the garage. He wants to help so planes can fly across Alabama. To get the machine running at maximum force, Charlie believes they’d have to cut out a piece of the sun.
Tau brings up Elizabeth and claims white women are always undercutting Black men. Yet Tau doesn’t hate white people: He’s angry at the world for allowing their racism to persist. Sailor asks about the future. Herald mentions the trade routes they’ve created with countries like Cuba and Haiti. Sailor thinks countries will try to invade the United States and curtail the healing of Black people. Herald notes that there’s no such thing as a perfect circle since pi, the equation for a circle’s circumference, continues indefinitely. Hosea thinks Herald needs “feminine energy.”
At night, Charlie dreams about the machine. In the morning, he and Herald discuss the machine and its power. Herald didn’t anticipate that it’d lead to mass death. He thinks Charlie should discuss the potential consequences of the machine with the “source”—Vivian.
Chapter 37 Summary
Charlie goes to the king and queen’s bedroom. He tells Vivian that he must stop working on the machine—it’s unmanageable and too forceful. Vivian knows the machine isn’t adjustable. She tells Charlie she started out as a social worker. She realized no amount of “welfare” could help her clients with what they endured. She went into psychology, and that led to their trauma, which pushed her to history. She estimates Black people in the United States have suffered for around 400 years. She compares Black people to a mountain. To move it, she had to rattle the earth. She also believes Haitians beat the French because they’re rallied around a single frequency.
Charlie still doesn’t understand why she wants to turn the machine on again. Vivian claims the situation in Haiti is bad, and Black people still aren’t fully healed. Nona arrives and refers to Charlie as “everybody’s uncle.” She thinks Charlie should decide if they turn the machine on again. Vivian agrees. Charlie wonders where Sidney is.
Chapter 38 Summary
Tau tells Charlie that Sidney and Fela went to Orange Beach. Commandeering a bus full of teens, Tau drives Charlie, Nona, and Zu to the area. Tau refers to the people in Orange Beach as “Carltons” and phony “Meg Ryans.” Nona says they give the people food for free, and then the people sell it to each other. When they arrive, the preacher says Sidney isn’t here, and if they don’t leave, the police will force them. Tau says they don’t want trouble, but they’re not leaving.
Agnes appears and tells Charlie about Thomas and his “lying face.” Agnes now admits that she was “passing.” Growing up, there was one Black boy at her school, Little, the son of the janitor. The other boys beat him up and spit on him. They’d kidnap him and act like they were going to hang him. Crying, Agnes tells Charlie that she read Elizabeth’s letter. Agnes apologizes. Agnes still wants the world to return to its pre-event configuration. Charlie claims the world has changed forever: There’s no going backward—if healing the wounds of Black people breaks the world again, then let it.
Charlie wants to find Sidney, but Tau reminds Charlie that the bus is full of young people. Nona thinks Sidney needs space. If Charlie gets the machine to work, then he can communicate with her from a distance.
Chapter 39 Summary
Charlie rededicates himself to the machine. It works efficiently, but no power source can make it function at full power. Seraphin tells Charlie to take a break, so Charlie goes outside, and the “expressions of blackness” uplift him. He notices a mural of Black icons, like the playwright Lorraine Hansberry and the activist Malcolm X. The mural features the sentence, “In the end, black is the sun, and so we rise” (445).
The mural is on the side of a 10-story building. Using the fire escape, Charlie climbs to the roof. He imagines Sidney washing her foot in the Nile River. He thinks of Africa as a mother figure. Referring to Black people as “feeling folk,” he figures out how to power the machine.
Chapter 40 Summary
Sidney drives out of Alabama and through Louisiana. She thinks about her mother’s unconditional love and her “kind” family. Her mother’s ancestors arrived in the United States and sold lavender to support themselves. Conversely, her father’s ancestors were stolen. Her knotty feelings make her cry.
Sidney stops at a rundown Walmart. She finds a gun and sees a young woman in a tent reading poetry. The girl refers to Walmarts as havens for people on their way to someplace else. The Walmarts have food, supplies, and electricity. The young woman reads Sidney a poem, “Fantasy” (1927) by Gwendolyn Bennett. The poem features a garden of “lavender hues” (Bennett, Gwendolyn. “Fantasy.” poets.org).
Chapter 41 Summary
Charlie sees Seraphin; using her voodoo items, Seraphin tells Charlie that his ancestors are present. Charlie hears the voice of his grandmother. She wants the real Charlie to “come out.” He then hears his mother’s voice, who says Charlie must see Charlie. Within his heart of “darkness,” Charlie discovers his creativity and joy. He realizes Blackness is textured, not “monolithic.” He believes he can be the conduit for the machine. The device won’t break the world, because Charlie knows that he fixes things—he doesn’t break them.
Chapter 42 Summary
Driving through Texas, Sidney listens to Marvin Gaye and Bill Withers on the radio. Night arrives, and she sees stars. She remembers how her father called the stars messages, so she tells the stars that she’s fine—she just needs space.
In the morning, she drives through New Mexico and to Arizona, where she spots more walkers. She thinks about how she has an enemy that she can’t defeat. Elizabeth tried to give her a “better life,” and Charlie tried to diversify her experiences, but the enemy stayed. Sidney thinks the enemy will always be there, but she can learn to soften its edges.
She drives till she reaches the Pacific Ocean. She walks into the water. She lets the current carry her mother’s letter away, and hearing trumpets, she floats.
Chapter 43 Summary
Charlie wants to fix the machine in time for Mardi Gras, so he and Herald create a system that produces electricity through the stars and the vibration of Black life. In other words, Charlie wants to use the “dark” to power the machine. Charlie will serve as the source.
Workers bring the machine to a hillside and plant it firmly into the bedrock. When Charlie arrives at the hill, the workers clap. Sailor is there, and he thinks it’s time for every Black person “to fly.” Mardi Gras begins, and different floats go by. When the king and queen appear, the ground shakes with music and dancing. Tears blur Charlie’s vision, and he turns on the machine. He sees Sidney. He tells her everything will work out, and she’s always been a part of “us.” As Charlie’s darkness flows out of him, the world hears trumpets.
Chapters 36-43 Analysis
The final section centers on magical realism, combining familiar scenes with fantastical moments. To sort through her mixed feelings, Sidney goes on a normal car trip. The magic occurs when she sends a message to her father using the stars. Charlie has a practical problem—getting the machine to work. The solution is magical, as Charlie wants to draw “power from the very vibration of the stars and the dynamism of [Black] lives” (475). This transformation of darkness into energy subverts traditional Western narratives that equate darkness with fear or evil, reinforcing the novel’s message that Blackness is a source of immense power and creativity. In other words, Charlie, with help from Herald, manages to create an electrical system that harnesses the electricity of the stars and Black humanity. The surreal conclusion is didactic, suggesting that Black people can empower themselves. The end also indicates that darkness is as powerful as the light. Since Charlie figures out how to use the darkness, he turns darkness—Blackness—into a benevolent force. This shift directly challenges the colonialist and white supremacist frameworks that have historically associated Blackness with negativity, instead framing it as the ultimate source of liberation.
To create the theatrical end, Campbell uses the literary device of hyperbole, so the narrator describes the scene in dramatic terms, “Charlie let his conflict, his darkness, flow out across the world. The sky has never been empty. History has never been silent. Finally, everyone, everywhere, tilted their heads to the sky and heard our trumpets” (483). The catharsis is sweeping, impacting not a specific area but the entire world. Similarly, the release doesn’t captivate a segment of society or a group of people but “everyone.” The visibility is total, with everybody recognizing the voice of Black people. The voice is not plain: It’s musical, accompanied by the triumphant sounds of the trumpet. This final moment recalls the biblical concept of the trumpet as both a call to action and a sign of revelation, reinforcing the novel’s belief that reckoning with the past is both a painful and necessary step toward renewal.
Black Trauma Versus White Guilt becomes less binary in this section. Sidney’s resolution involves accepting conflict as a part of her identity, highlighting The Search for Unified Identity. Sidney feels, “Her mother had tried to give her a better life. Her father had tried to give her a wider perspective. But that enemy and its conflict remained [….] The enemy would always remain, but her life could wrap its ragged edges with her softness one day” (468). Sidney’s conclusion doesn’t require her to choose one race—or idea—over another. It’s not centered on good versus bad. Instead, she comes to understand that her identity will always contain tension, but this tension does not have to be destructive. What Sidney can do is learn to cope with the “enemy”—the problems that arise due to her mixed past and identity. She can control and weaken the “conflict” without feeling like she must abolish it or bond herself to a specific side. This nuanced resolution challenges simplistic narratives of racial identity, suggesting that real belonging comes not from choosing a side but from learning to exist within complexity.
The misnomer about perfect circles symbolizes Mobile, Alabama. In the garage, Herald mentions the idea of a perfect circle, saying, “Perfect circles are all around us. But mathematically, a perfect circle doesn’t exist.” Herald adds, “The equation for the circumference of a circle makes a number that goes on forever, which means, mathematically, the circle never closes” (411). The quote indicates that perfection is an illusion, but it is also a process. A place, like Mobile, might seem perfect, but nothing is perfect. Like the equation, people and the societies they create constantly grow. They never stop or come to a “close.” Though Mobile symbolizes a model society, it’s not a utopia, because it’s not perfect. Similar to the circle, Mobile is an open-ended project that aims at Creating Holistic, Inclusive Systems. This concept aligns with Mobile’s design—while it is structured to be self-sustaining and equitable, it is not static. It is an ever-evolving experiment in self-governance and healing.
The novel’s conclusion also presents a paradox: Liberation and loss occur simultaneously. Charlie successfully harnesses the machine’s power, but Sidney walks into the ocean, symbolizing both a departure and a rebirth. The ocean has long been a site of trauma in Black history, representing the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade, yet here, it becomes a space of agency and surrender. Sidney’s decision to let her mother’s letter drift away signals her willingness to release the burdens of the past, but her floating in the current leaves her next move unknown. This moment complicates the novel’s overarching theme of The Search for Unified Identity: Though Sidney says she is okay but needs “space,” the conflict, both internal and external, that arises from her mixed identity is something she must process alone. She doesn’t belong in Ocean Beach, and though she appreciates Mobile, even there, she was told by Tau that she didn’t belong. By leaving her trajectory unresolved, Campbell resists offering an easy resolution, reinforcing the novel’s central argument that racial reckoning is an ongoing process rather than a singular event.
Campbell also employs juxtaposition to highlight the ideological divide between Mobile and Orange Beach. While Mobile is built on communalism, Black empowerment, and a rejection of capitalist structures, Orange Beach is a space of stagnation. The fact that Nona established Orange Beach as a safe space for those who couldn't adapt to Mobile’s vision suggests that even within revolutionary movements, there are those who cling to old systems. Charlie recognizes that the world cannot return to its pre-event state, yet Orange Beach embodies a desperate attempt to do just that. By contrasting the dynamic evolution of Mobile with the static nostalgia of Orange Beach, Campbell critiques the allure of past structures, even when they are proven to be harmful.
The role of jazz and improvisation in the final scene serves as a metaphor for the novel’s broader themes. Charlie’s vision of the world hearing Black trumpets evokes the legacy of jazz as an art form rooted in resilience, adaptation, and collective expression. Jazz, like Mobile, is an evolving structure that thrives on flexibility and reinterpretation. It does not follow rigid scripts, much like the new society Hosea and Vivian are attempting to build. The musical imagery suggests that survival and progress rely on the ability to blend the past with the present, to take inherited pain and transform it into something new.
In the end, Campbell does not offer a single solution to the questions the novel raises. Mobile may be the best model for the future, but it is still imperfect. Sidney may have reached a personal reckoning, but her story does not end in certainty. Charlie may have fixed the machine, but what it truly accomplishes remains open-ended. This refusal to provide definitive answers reinforces the novel’s final lesson: Racial healing, personal identity, and systemic transformation are ongoing, unfinished processes.
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