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Jeremy Furlow
A white man who sells materials to Seth and then buys them back once he’s made them into pots, pans, or dustpans. Taking Seth’s goods, Selig goes door-to-door, selling the wares and giving Seth a cut of the profits. Because he travels so widely as a salesman, he’s known as a “people finder,” somebody capable of tracking down lost love ones for people who pay him to do so. Bynum, for example, has paid Selig to find his “shiny man.” When Herald Loomis arrives in Seth’s boarding house, he hires Selig to track down Martha, his wife. In the play’s final scene, Selig makes good on his promise and brings Martha into the kitchen. Another important thing to know about Rutherford Selig is that he comes from a long line of “bringers and finders.” Indeed, his great-grandfather brought Africans to America to sell them into slavery, his father used to track down escaped slaves or plantation owners, and now—in the decades after slavery has been abolished—he himself finds black people for other black people.
Rutherford Selig Quotes in Joe Turner’s Come and Gone
The Joe Turner’s Come and Gone quotes below are all either spoken by Rutherford Selig or refer to Rutherford Selig. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Act One: Scene One
Quotes
My daddy called me to him. Said he had been thinking about me and it grieved him to see me in the world carrying other people’s songs and not having one of my own. Told me he was gonna show me how to find my song. Then he carried me further into this big place until we come to this ocean. Then he showed me something I ain’t got words to tell you. But if you stand to witness it, you done seen something there. I stayed in that place awhile and my daddy taught me the meaning of this thing that I had seen and showed me how to find my song. I asked him about the shiny man and he told me he was the One Who Goes Before and Shows the Way. Said there was lots of shiny men and if I ever saw one again before I died then I would know that my song had been accepted and worked its full power in the world and I could lay down and die a happy man. A man who done left his mark on life. On the way people cling to each other out of the truth they find in themselves. Then he showed me how to get back to the road.
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I can’t promise anything but we been finders in my family for a long time. Bringers and finders. My great granddaddy used to bring Nigras across the ocean on ships. That wasn’t no easy job either. Sometimes the winds would blow so hard you’d think the hand of God was set against the sails. But it set him well in pay and he settled in this new land and found him a wife of good Christian charity with a mind for kids and the like and well…here I am, Rutherford Selig. You’re in good hands, mister. Me and my daddy have found plenty Nigras. My daddy, rest his soul, used to find runaway slaves for the plantation bosses. He was the best there was at it. […] Had him a reputation stretched clean across the country. After Abraham Lincoln give you all Nigras your freedom papers and with you all looking all over for each other…we started finding Nigras for Nigras. Of course, it don’t pay as much. But the People Finding business ain’t so bad.
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Rutherford Selig Quotes in Joe Turner’s Come and Gone
The Joe Turner’s Come and Gone quotes below are all either spoken by Rutherford Selig or refer to Rutherford Selig. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Act One: Scene One
Quotes
My daddy called me to him. Said he had been thinking about me and it grieved him to see me in the world carrying other people’s songs and not having one of my own. Told me he was gonna show me how to find my song. Then he carried me further into this big place until we come to this ocean. Then he showed me something I ain’t got words to tell you. But if you stand to witness it, you done seen something there. I stayed in that place awhile and my daddy taught me the meaning of this thing that I had seen and showed me how to find my song. I asked him about the shiny man and he told me he was the One Who Goes Before and Shows the Way. Said there was lots of shiny men and if I ever saw one again before I died then I would know that my song had been accepted and worked its full power in the world and I could lay down and die a happy man. A man who done left his mark on life. On the way people cling to each other out of the truth they find in themselves. Then he showed me how to get back to the road.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
I can’t promise anything but we been finders in my family for a long time. Bringers and finders. My great granddaddy used to bring Nigras across the ocean on ships. That wasn’t no easy job either. Sometimes the winds would blow so hard you’d think the hand of God was set against the sails. But it set him well in pay and he settled in this new land and found him a wife of good Christian charity with a mind for kids and the like and well…here I am, Rutherford Selig. You’re in good hands, mister. Me and my daddy have found plenty Nigras. My daddy, rest his soul, used to find runaway slaves for the plantation bosses. He was the best there was at it. […] Had him a reputation stretched clean across the country. After Abraham Lincoln give you all Nigras your freedom papers and with you all looking all over for each other…we started finding Nigras for Nigras. Of course, it don’t pay as much. But the People Finding business ain’t so bad.
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Explanation and Analysis:
