Supernatural Situations - The Book of Night Women

Supernatural Elements and Their Situations in Marlon James: The Book of Night Women

by: Jess Shankland

At the end of chapter 11 we get our first actual glimpse into the supernatural elements of The Book of Night Women during the struggle between Lilith and the "goat-horned nigger." It is when Lilith realizes she's actually in danger of being killed – 

"We no comes to fuck you. We comes to kills you. The goat-horn nigger grab Lilith by the wrist and start to drag her away from the sound of Christmas" (128). – 

that her "magic" comes out. Unknowingly, she is the force behind the man's suffering:
            "He buckle over . . . and start hack and cough . . . Then he clutch him belly and vomit burst like waterfall from him mouth" (128).

But what is interesting is the contrast when in chapter 13, Lilith is getting raped, but she is no-longer Lilith. Names are lost and she is "the girl," as if having an "Out-of-Body Experience" (OBE). It's easy to imagine Lilith is outside of her body, watching what is happening to her. Her magic is not present here. But this raises the questions: Why not? Why doesn't Lilith's alter-ego just take out the men who are raping her for spilling soup on Isobel's chaperon? Is it because she knows she's not in danger of dying? Is it because she knows this (losing her virginity/rape) would happen sooner or later?

I think James is leading the story in the direction towards these answers, as the supernatural elements are occurring more and more frequently as Lilith matures: The death of Andromeda, Lilith's struggle against the "goat-horn nigger," the woman in black that watches Lilith in the dark, and the OBE.