Freedom for the Unshriven

“Some lost direction and their neighbors, feeling the confused pull of the chain, snatched them around. For one lost, all lost. The chain that held them would save all or none, and Hi Man was the Delivery. They talked through that chain like Sam Morse and, Great God, they all came up. Like unshriven dead, zombies on the loose, holding the chains in their hands, they trusted the rain and the dark, yes, but mostly Hi Man and each other.”(130)

Slavery has driven many slaves to take drastic measures to escape the horrible life of imprisonment. Paul D was chained in the “box” with other men due to heavy rain which later turned into a storm. As the storm raged, they noticed that ground below them softened and turned into mud. They all tried to signal each other that they can escape if they all dig out of that box. As they continued to dig, the ceiling above them slowly started to collapse to a point where the mud was up to their waist. Communication was limited when they were digging their way out of the box. They could only use the chain to signal the person either behind or infront of them, so they had to rely on one another to get the message from one end to the other with minimal confusion.

As they emerged from their underground prison, they rose “like unshriven dead, zombies on the loose, holding chains in their hands, they trusted the rain and the dark”(130). To be unshriven is to be clean or someone without sin. Back when Slavery was legal in the United States, there was the common idea that slaves were lesser beings closer to animals or objects. It is interesting that Toni Morrison describes the runaway slaves as unshriven zombies which would be two very different descriptions. To be unshriven means to be without sin or innocent yet a zombie would be seen as filth or impure. Since they were described as filth, they felt and “trusted the rain and dark”(130). There is a common saying in where April Showers bring May flowers where this relates to Paul D because of the rain bringing in new life or a rebirth. It cleanses them from the “filth” they once were to new beings with a mystery of a life that awaits them.