61 pages • 2 hours read
Attica LockeA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Before You Read
Summary
Part 1, Prologue-Chapter 1
Part 1, Chapter 2
Part 1, Chapters 3-4
Part 2, Chapters 5-6
Part 2, Chapters 7-8
Part 3, Chapters 9-10
Part 3, Chapter 11
Part 3, Chapter 12
Part 3, Chapters 13-14
Part 3, Chapters 15-16
Part 4, Chapters 17-18
Part 4, Chapters 19-20
Part 4, Chapters 21-22
Part 4, Chapters 23-24
Part 4, Chapters 25-Epilogue
Character Analysis
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
The Blues is a musical genre that was created in the American South in the 1860s by Black Americans. It was birthed out of enslaved persons’ work songs and spirituals, and echoes those songs in tone and style with sad, often mournful dirge-like themes featuring repetition and call and response elements. The influence of the Blues has made its way into almost all forms of modern music including jazz, rock and roll, and hip hop. The narrative is infused with the sounds and emotions of the Blues from the epigraph to the end, as well as making the musical genre a crucial part of the plot. It becomes the soundtrack of a tale of love and sadness in a community torn apart by racial hatred. In the music’s lyrics and forlorn bass notes, the characters find comfort and a safe place to grieve what has been lost.
The soulful music of the blues informs the title as it comes from the lyrics of a song by John Lee Hooker, “Bluebird, bluebird, take this letter down South for me […]” (129).
By Attica Locke
African American Literature
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Family
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Fear
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