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The Citadel
Joël, a field worker and a friend of Sebastien Onius, is killed by Señor Pico in a car accident. Señor Pico does not take responsibility for the death, and the Haitian community is left to mourn the loss without a sense of closure or justice. Joël’s father, Kongo, grieves deeply for his son, illustrating the strong and pervasive impact that death can have on those left behind. Kongo also creates a death mask for Joël, a physical representation of his memory for others to look upon. Kongo admits that the mask is just a reminder of his son, and cannot live up to the importance of its namesake. He also tells Amabelle that the object is meant to keep his son alive in the community’s memory when Kongo passes away, as he will no longer be able to honor his son’s legacy when he is dead. Amabelle then attempts to take the mask across the river as she flees the massacre; in doing so, she is hoping to physically safeguard Joël’s legacy and bring an embodiment of him back to Haiti, their home country. The mask is therefore a form of testimony and remembrance: it tells the story of Joël’s death and thereby preserves his image into the future.
Joël’s Mask Quotes in The Farming of Bones
The The Farming of Bones quotes below all refer to the symbol of Joël’s Mask. 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:
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Chapter 22
Quotes
“Are you certain you don’t want to keep this face for yourself?” I asked.
“I’ve made many,” he said, “for all those who, even when I’m gone, will keep my son in mind. If I could, I would carry them all around my neck, I would, like some men wear their amulets […] The elder of your house, Don Ignacio, he’s not asked again to come and see me, no? […] I’m not surprised,” he said, “that my son has already vanished from his thoughts.”
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Joël’s Mask Symbol Timeline in The Farming of Bones
The timeline below shows where the symbol Joël’s Mask appears in The Farming of Bones. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 22
...night, Kongo comes to Amabelle’s room and brings her an offering. The gift is a mask; the expression is caught “between a grin and a scream,” and Amabelle realizes it is...
(full context)
Amabelle asks if he would like to keep the death mask for himself, but Kongo says he has made many of them; he hopes that people...
(full context)
Chapter 26
...to do. She makes a sack in case she decides to flee: she packs Joël’s mask and a change of clothes. She hides the bag near Juana and Luis’s house, and...
(full context)
...she is afraid, and does not wish to “die walking.” Amabelle gives her Joël’s death mask for safekeeping, and she caresses it lovingly. She claims it is a “good likeness of...
(full context)
