Passing by Samaria by Sharon Ewell Foster
"Passing by Samaria" by Sharon Ewell Foster is a deeply resonant novel that explores themes of racism, trauma, forgiveness, and personal transformation against the backdrop of the Mississippi Delta and Chicago in the mid-20th century. The story centers on Alena Waterbridge, a sheltered young black woman whose life is upended when she discovers the lynched body of her childhood friend, J.C. This harrowing event confronts her with the brutal realities of racial violence that her loving upbringing had shielded her from.
Sent to live with her aunt in Chicago for her safety, Alena grapples with her anger and resentment, struggling to connect with the diverse community around her, including individuals working for social change and justice. Throughout her journey, the novel emphasizes the importance of forgiveness and the transformative power of prayer, as Alena learns to confront her feelings and ultimately seeks to build connections with others, even those who have wronged her.
As Alena navigates the challenges of her new environment, she comes to understand that healing and reconciliation are possible, allowing her to redefine her relationships and her sense of self. The narrative not only highlights individual growth but also reflects broader social issues, making it a compelling read for those interested in the intersections of race, faith, and community resilience.
Passing by Samaria by Sharon Ewell Foster
First published: Sisters, Oreg.: Alabaster Books, 2000
Genre(s): Novel
Subgenre(s): Evangelical fiction; romance
Core issue(s): African Americans; alienation from God; connectedness; forgiveness; innocence; prayer; racism
Principal characters
Alena Waterbridge , a naïve young womanAmos , Alena’s father, a farmerEvelyn , Alena’s mother and Amos’s wifePatrice , Alena’s aunt, who runs a mission house in ChicagoJames Pittman , a former Army major, editor and owner of a Chicago newspaperJonathan , James’s assistantDinah , Jonathan’s sisterPearl , a porter and man-about-townDeac , Pearl’s older colleagueEric Bates , a Mississippi sheriffMiranda Bates , the sheriff’s wife
Overview
Even though they are poor black farmers in the Mississippi Delta, Alena Waterbridge’s parents have managed to give her a happy, sheltered upbringing. Surrounded by love and nature’s bounty, at eighteen she had never suspected that her life might have to change. When she finds her childhood friend J. C.’s body in the woods near her home, the victim of a brutal lynching, her trauma is unbearable. Ignorant of the ugly realities of racism of the era, she cannot understand why the grown-ups around her fail to protest. At J. C.’s funeral, she starts an angry tirade. Realizing how dangerous this is and unable to keep her quiet, her parents decide to send her far away, to Chicago, where her Aunt Patrice lives.
Driving twenty hours in a horse-drawn cart to reach the station, Amos and Evelyn take her to catch a Chicago-bound train. Alena, furious at having her life plans interrupted this way, distances herself from them emotionally before they part. During the long ride north, her emotions harden further. She determines not to let herself care about anyone else. Pearl, a porter, always on the lookout for young innocents to seduce, invites her into the porters’ car for a meal. (“Colored” passengers cannot eat in the dining car.) Deac, watching Pearl’s machinations, cautions him against toying with Alena. Pearl shrugs off the warnings and tells Alena that he will meet her again later, in Chicago.
Aunt Patrice is a bubbly but practical woman who sees through Alena’s petulance from the beginning but believes that time and love will heal her. She chatters enthusiastically about people and projects waiting for Alena in the neighborhood, ignoring the girl’s lack of response. Chicago’s crowds and sights do impress Alena, and deep inside, she realizes that she is not equipped to handle the world on her own terms. She helps with mission projects, but reluctantly, keeping up her facade of icy disdain.
The south State Street neighborhood where she and Aunt Patrice live bustles with black-owned stores and services and people trying to build a better life. James Pittman, just back from service in the Army, is working to turn his news sheet into a crusading newspaper for the black community. Dinah, a volunteer at the mission, teams with Alena to deliver food baskets to the many poor families surrounding them. Even while she works with them, Alena resents James’s assistant Jonathan and Jonathan’s sister Dinah for being white. On the other hand, James, to whom she feels subconsciously attracted, is too good as a possible boyfriend. She refuses the opportunity to write for his paper and persuades herself that he is pining for her.
Meanwhile, Pearl finds Alena and invites her to run away with him to a more exciting life. The next day, Alena taunts Jonathan so cruelly that he insists that he and James start right away on their hazardous research into housing discrimination. James and Jonathan are swept into a riot, and Jonathan is dragged into the lake. Aunt Patrice, having heard Alena scream at Jonathan, finally loses her patience. She tells Alena that everyone has indulged her in her misery long enough and that she is killing people with her mouth no less than the brutal white sheriff back in Mississippi, Eric Bates, kills them with his hands. Alena, stricken, still clinging to her plan to meet Pearl, hides in a storeroom and goes through a dark night of the soul. She tries to pray, but her prayers do not help. Finally, she picks up her suitcases and stands, waiting for Pearl, in the street outside the mission. To her surprise, fire is raging in the neighborhood. Crowds of panicked people run past. Alena looks up to see James, grimy and desperate, trying to save his press from the flames. Almost involuntarily, she steps toward him, and he comes the rest of the way to her. She drops her suitcases.
In the aftermath, calm returns to Chicago as National Guard troops, aided by James and other veterans, are called in to help. Pearl never reaches Alena. Almost trampled by rioters, he is found injured by Deac, who had foreseen a bad end to Pearl’s plans. Jonathan, believed to be dead, reappears, and the South Side neighborhood begins to rebuild. James and Alena, their relationship redeemed by Alena’s change of heart, start planning their wedding. Alena, now eager to build a life in Chicago, plans a trip home to Mississippi to reconcile with her parents.
The visit goes well until it is time for Alena to leave. The racist Sheriff Bates—who has read about, and been infuriated by, the Illinois authorities’ evenhanded response to the race riots—decides he cannot allow any such influences in “his” county. Knowing Alena has come home, he sets out to ambush her in her own yard. Chance or divine mercy intervenes: Just as he lunges toward Alena in the dark, Alena’s dog Cottonball trips him, so that he falls and is impaled on his own weapon. Alena, horrified to realize her narrow escape, nevertheless goes to his funeral to extend sympathy and forgiveness to Bates’s widow Miranda.
Christian Themes
Alena’s story is an exploration of the power of forgiveness. Because Alena holds onto her anger for so long, building it into “a high place in her heart,” what happens when she lets it go is extraordinary. Few people can forgive their would-be murderer, let alone offer condolences to his widow or inspire a whole church congregation to a mission of reconciliation at his funeral. It takes faith and courage to confront oppressors gently, but most of all it takes a conviction of God’s love.
Despite her dramatic reversal of attitude, such forgiveness does not descend on Alena immediately. First she must give her hatred and resentment up to God. It is notable that when she first tries to do so, huddled in the storeroom, she is not sure if she has reached God. However, having unloaded her confusion into God’s hands, she is subtly changed, so that when the moment comes when her life’s direction hangs in the balance, she makes the right decision. Once she no longer “has to hate,” she can connect with those near her in genuine friendship and love. She can help build bonds of community in her Chicago neighborhood. Finally, she can reach across the boundaries to the “Samaria” of the book’s title—those strangers who may even seem to hate her. Hence the ideal of connectedness complements the primary theme of forgiveness. Without the latter, fragile and precious relationships with others cannot endure.
Also notable is the book’s focus on prayer. Not only is prayer the path by which Alena connects with God; it is a resource and discipline by which one can deal with problems that otherwise appear hopeless. Deac prays for Pearl, in the hope that the younger man be saved from his downward spiral of bad behavior. Miranda Bates and her pastor pray all night, after she fails to dissuade her husband from his plan to murder Alena. As in life, prayers are not always answered in the way the requestor expects. In Passing by Samaria, at least, there is no doubt that prayer contributes to God’s working his will in mysterious ways.
Sources for Further Study
Enright, Robert, and Joanna North. Exploring Forgiveness. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1998. Twelve essays examine personal and social aspects of forgiveness from a wide range of faith perspectives. Foreword by Desmond Tutu; extensive bibliography.
Foster, Sharon Ewell. Ain’t No River. Sisters, Oreg.: Multnomah, 2001. Foster’s second book takes a contemporary D.C. woman home to North Carolina, where reconciliation with God helps her put her life together again.
Grossman, James R. “African-American Migration to Chicago.” In Ethnic Chicago: A Multicultural Portrait, edited by Melvin G. Holli and Peter d’A. Jones. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1995. Survey of the continuing migration from the South and its creative results, providing useful context for Passing by Samaria.
Hunt, Sharita. “God’s Reading Rainbow.” Black Issues Book Review 3, no. 3 (May/June, 2001): 50-51. Reviews several Christian books for African Americans, including Passing by Samaria.
Stanley, Kathryn V. “The Ministry of Fiction.” Black Issues Book Review 7, no. 1 (January/February, 2005): 52-53. A profile of Foster that includes a mention of Passing by Samaria as well as other work.