Zora and Me

Content Warning: This section discusses anti-Black racism, including lynching, in the Jim Crow South. 

Alligators and the myths surrounding them are a major motif in the story. Carrie, Zora, and Teddy blame a human-alligator hybrid for killing Sonny and Ivory and for injuring Old Lady Bronson. The first alligator in the story is Ghost, who mangles Sonny’s arm in the book’s first chapter. The alligator’s name is appropriate: Nobody can ever find him again, which makes him take on a larger-than-life role in the children’s imaginations. Zora swears that she saw Mr. Pendir with an alligator snout, and although the other children suspect that she is lying, they cannot fully dismiss the story, which turns out to be half-true. Though they never see Ghost or any other alligator again, the children decide that Ghost/Mr. Pendir must be responsible for injuring Old Lady Bronson and for killing Ivory, as they cannot think of better explanations. The book of alligator myths helps give the children a sense of power, making them feel that there is something they can do to end the violence their community is facing. 

The myths about alligators are a way for the children in the story to make sense of events that are otherwise too painful and frightening to understand. Carrie and Zora witness Ghost attacking Sonny, which terrifies them. Zora sees Mr. Pendir wearing an alligator mask, which she connects to what she has already witnessed. Ivory’s death is so horrifying that the girls conclude that “Only a monster could do what was done to Ivory” (49). The children use The Power of Storytelling to manage their fears until they are finally ready to understand the truth. Mr. Pendir does something similar, turning his trauma into art and using the alligator mask to retain a sense of strength and power that he cannot get by reaching out to others. In the end, the alligators become a powerful metaphor for the senseless violence and uncertainty that Black people in the Jim Crow South faced because of racism.