The Thread Collectors

Content Warning: This section contains descriptions of racism, racial violence, enslavement, lynching, sexual assault, graphic wartime violence, antisemitism, and the death of a child. This guide quotes and obscures the author’s use of the n-word.

In The Thread Collectors, blue is a complex symbol that captures both hope and trauma depending on its context. In Chapter 16, William recalls the Gullah-Geechee tradition of “haint blue”: “[E]arly enslaved Africans believed the hue,” crushed from the indigo flowers which they harvested on plantations, “would trap the evil spirits that tried to do them harm” (83). The belief has been carried forward through generations of enslaved people; in a world where so little is under their control, the novel’s Black characters utilize blue as a protective measure against a violent world designed to work against them. Many of the houses on Rampart Street feature blue accents, and several characters apply blue paint or dye to the ceilings of their bedrooms.

The women of The Thread Collectors use blue thread when they hope to protect their loved ones. When Stella is sent to market, she wears a dress on which Ammanee has embroidered blue flowers. Before William’s escape, Stella gives him a handkerchief embroidered with violets, a keepsake that he returns to during moments of fear or low morale. During her pregnancy, Stella embroiders a swaddling cloth with blue to protect her unborn son. When Stella poisons Frye, Edwards and Richman highlight the violet color of the wolfsbane flowers she uses, indicating that the murder is a form of protection against evil.

Though blue is protective, it is also inextricably linked to a traumatic past for enslaved Africans. Blue calls to mind the water on which ships transported enslaved people during the transatlantic slave trade. Additionally, the cultivation of indigo was a major factor in the slave trade, particularly in South Carolina. Edwards and Richman speak to the dual nature of this symbol by subverting protective blue during the siege of Port Hudson. Walking through a field full of the decomposed corpses of Black men in blue Union coats, William realizes that the Union blue is a false promise of protection; the army claims to be fighting for the rights of Black Americans but refuses to treat its Black soldiers with dignity or respect.

After returning to Stella and his son, William’s perception of blue changes one more time. He expresses his desire to “paint [...] the wooden planks above where he, Stella, and their baby now lay, in the palest shade of blue” (295). Surrounded by the love of his family and the support of his community, William views blue as a protective symbol once again.