Marked by Fire by Joyce Carol Thomas
"Marked by Fire" is a young adult novel by Joyce Carol Thomas, published in 1982, that explores the life of Abyssinia Jackson, a young African American girl living in Oklahoma during the 1950s. The story begins with a tornado that disrupts the lives of cotton-picking women and marks a significant moment in Abyssinia's life when she is born with a scar resembling a cotton blossom. As she grows, the narrative delves into themes of trauma, resilience, and healing, particularly after she experiences a traumatic event that causes her to lose her voice.
Throughout the novel, Abyssinia navigates personal and communal challenges, including her father's departure and the abuse she faces from a neighbor. The influence of strong female figures, such as her mother and Mother Barker, plays a crucial role in her journey toward recovery and empowerment. The story's backdrop of natural disasters and personal upheaval mirrors the cultural and historical struggles faced by African American communities during that era.
"Marked by Fire" has received critical acclaim, winning the American Book Award for children's fiction in paperback and being recognized as one of the best books of the year by the American Library Association. Additionally, it has inspired adaptations, including a musical titled "Abyssinia." The novel is noted for its poignant portrayal of resilience and the importance of community and healing in overcoming adversity.
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Subject Terms
Marked by Fire by Joyce Carol Thomas
First published: 1982
Type of work: Moral tale
Themes: Coming-of-age, nature, religion, and race and ethnicity
Time of work: 1951-1971
Recommended Ages: 13-15
Locale: Ponca City, Oklahoma
Principal Characters:
Abyssinia (Abby) Jackson , a gifted black girl with an indomitable spiritPatience Jackson , her religious, hardworking motherStrong Jackson , her father, owner of the Better Way BarbershopMother Barker , Abby’s godmother, a wise woman and healerTrembling Sally , a deranged woman who wants to kill AbyssiniaLily Norene Washington , Abby’s best friendBrother Jacobs , the church deacon who rapes Abby
The Story
In September, 1951, a tornado moves across an Oklahoma field, where women are picking cotton. Mother Barker’s prayer that the Lord hold it from them is answered, and, the next day, Patience Jackson has her baby in that same field. A spark from a fire, kindled to heat water, burns the baby’s cheek, leaving a scar like a cotton blossom. Named Abyssinia, the child grows up in loving closeness with her mother and father, her best friend, Lily Norene, and Mother Barker, who teaches her to search for healing roots as soon as she can walk.
Ten is a significant year in Abby’s life. Her glorious voice is discovered, she learns to bake a pound cake, and she wins an award at school. That same year another tornado strikes, leveling her father’s barbershop and Miss Sally’s home. Abby is the first one to reach Miss Sally after the storm, and the trembling woman seems on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
Ten days later her father leaves home, a defeated man. After his departure, Abby returns some empty milk buckets to Deacon Jacobs and is raped by him in his barn. The violent act causes her to lose her voice, and, as she recovers in bed, Trembling Sally comes into her room. In her twisted mind, Sally blames Abby both for the tornado and the rape. She tells her so and two months later throws a shovel full of wasps into Abby’s room. They sting the child but enable her to speak again. Months pass. One day, Lily Norene asks Abby to tell her about the rape. Abby says, “I felt like I was being spit on by God.”
With their breadwinner gone, the Jacksons need assistance, but, when the social worker calls Abby a dirty nigger, they refuse help and manage to survive by eating wild greens. When Abby is fifteen, Trembling Sally catches her swimming in the river and tries to drown her. Strong Jackson returns just in time to pull her out and force the water from her lungs. With her parents together again, Abby feels a healing inside of her, but she still cannot sing. In anticipation of her own death, Mother Barker teaches Abby the secret arts of healing with roots and herbs. Her house becomes Abby’s for use as a healing house. At Mother Barker’s funeral, Abby can sing Deep River with a silver voice.
Lily Norene, married to an abusive man and mother of five children, is broken both in body and in spirit. Abby tries to save her, but she dies. While Abby is caring for two of the motherless children, Trembling Sally sets their house on fire. Abby and the children escape, but Sally is burned to death. Abby takes the children to Healing House, where women come with food and stay to stitch bed covers. They agree with Abby when she says, “The holy water of women can mock the fires of hell.” She is twenty and ready to test her wings.
Context
In the years from 1973 through 1981, Joyce Carol Thomas published five books of poetry and wrote five plays. The plays were all produced in California. In 1982, she wrote her first young adult novel, Marked by Fire. It was published by Avon as a paperback and won the American Book Award for children’s fiction in paperback that year. It was also named a best book of the year by the American Library Association. It is probably her best work. The author did not make Marked by Fire into a play even though the work has many qualities in common with drama. Another playwright, Ted Kociolek, made it into a musical called Abyssinia (1987), which played off Broadway with an all-black cast.
Bright Shadow (1983), sequel to Marked by Fire, takes Abyssinia into college and a romance. Both stories are set in Oklahoma. A third work, Water Girl (1986), continues the family story, but in another state—California. Two hardback novels, written in 1986 and in 1988, complete the author’s contribution for young adults. All Joyce Carol Thomas’ novels are about black people, either in a black settlement in Oklahoma or in California after some of them migrated there. The work can be classified as realistic fiction.
Bibliography
Childress, Alice. Review of Marked by Fire, by Joyce Carol Thomas. The New York Times Book Review, April 18, 1982, 38. A laudatory early review by a noted novelist and playwright. Childress praises Thomas for finding “a marvelous fairy tale quality in everyday happenings.”
Henderson, Darwin L., and Anthony L. Manna. “Evoking the Holy and the Horrible’: Conversations with Joyce Carol Thomas.” African American Review 32 (Spring, 1998): 139-146. Thomas discusses the influence of her childhood as a migrant farm worker in Oklahoma and California on her work. Although she only briefly mentions Marked by Fire, this interview provides a useful context in which to view this as well as her other novels.
Randall-Tsuruta, Dorothy. Review of Marked by Fire. The Black Scholar 13, nos. 4 & 5 (Summer, 1982): 48. Praises Thomas’ “poetic tone” and “fine regard and control of dialogue.”
Rollock, Barbara. Black Authors and Illustrators of Children’s Books: A Biographical Dictionary. New York: Garland, 1988. Gives a useful factual summary of Thomas’ career. Discusses her editorship of Ambrosia, a newsletter for black women, and her lecturing in Africa, Haiti, and the United States.
Thomas, Joyce Carol. Bright Shadow. New York: Avon Books, 1983. The sequel to Marked by Fire follows Abby into college. Winner of the Coretta Scott King Award as an outstanding contribution to literature for African American children.
Wray, Wendell. “Marked by Fire.” Best Sellers 42 (June, 1982): 123-124. Wray interprets the novel primarily as a folk tale; he finds in the novel itself qualities and characteristics of Abby’s own ability to render tall tales. Like other critics, he also finds similarities to the works of Maya Angelou.
Yalom, Marilyn, ed. Women Writers of the West Coast: Speaking of Their Lives and Careers. Santa Barbara, Calif.: Capra Press, 1983. Discusses the central role of women in Thomas’ fiction and explores the real-life sources of her characters.