Previous
Otha White
Santi Bess was Hiram’s grandmother and Rose’s mother. She was a “pure-blood African” who possessed the ability of Conduction. According to legend, she led 48 enslaved people to freedom from Lockless through the River Goose, theoretically descending with them into the water and reemerging in Africa. Although Hiram doubts the veracity of this story at the beginning of the novel, by the end it is confirmed that it really happened.
Santi Bess Quotes in The Water Dancer
The The Water Dancer quotes below are all either spoken by Santi Bess or refer to Santi Bess. 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:
).
Chapter 6
Quotes
At every gathering there was this dispute about my mother’s mother, Santi Bess, and her fate. The myth held that she had executed the largest escape of tasking folk—forty-eight souls—ever recorded in the annals of Elm County. And it was not simply that they had escaped but where they’d been said to escape to—Africa. It was said that Santi had simply led them down to the river Goose, walked in, and reemerged on the other side of the sea.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Water Dancer LitChart as a printable PDF.
Santi Bess Quotes in The Water Dancer
The The Water Dancer quotes below are all either spoken by Santi Bess or refer to Santi Bess. 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:
).
Chapter 6
Quotes
At every gathering there was this dispute about my mother’s mother, Santi Bess, and her fate. The myth held that she had executed the largest escape of tasking folk—forty-eight souls—ever recorded in the annals of Elm County. And it was not simply that they had escaped but where they’d been said to escape to—Africa. It was said that Santi had simply led them down to the river Goose, walked in, and reemerged on the other side of the sea.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
