Sara’s Revenge Against Descendants

Bag of Bones

This flow traces Sara Tidwell’s transformation from a murdered mother into a force that seeks revenge through the descendants of her attackers.

increasing

Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

A Neighbor Becomes a Target A Neighbor Becomes a Target from "Bag of Bones". Sara Claims Common Ground Sara walks The Street as a neighbor and refuses to treat ordinary public access as a favor granted by local white men.

A Neighbor Becomes a Target from "Bag of Bones". Sara Claims Common Ground Sara walks The Street as a neighbor and refuses to treat ordinary public access as a favor granted by local white men.

Sara Claims Common Ground Sara walks The Street as a neighbor and refuses to treat ordinary public access as a favor granted by local white men. Jared’s Challenge Jared Devore interprets her presence as defiance and gathers younger men to enforce his idea of racial order. Significance The coming conflict begins with a woman asserting a right to exist openly in a community that wants her contained.

Violence and Loss Violence and Loss from "Bag of Bones". Attack on Mother and Son Jared and his followers assault Sara and drown Kito after he witnesses the attack.

Violence and Loss from "Bag of Bones". Attack on Mother and Son Jared and his followers assault Sara and drown Kito after he witnesses the attack.

Attack on Mother and Son Jared and his followers assault Sara and drown Kito after he witnesses the attack. A Vengeance Is Born Sara dies knowing that her son is also in danger, leaving a grief that cannot be separated from the violence inflicted on her. Significance Her later rage begins in an atrocity enabled by men who expect both their actions and their racial hierarchy to go unchallenged.

Generations Become Targets Generations Become Targets from "Bag of Bones". A Pattern of Retaliation As the perpetrators’ families pass down names and connections, children associated with them die in later generations.

Generations Become Targets from "Bag of Bones". A Pattern of Retaliation As the perpetrators’ families pass down names and connections, children associated with them die in later generations.

A Pattern of Retaliation As the perpetrators’ families pass down names and connections, children associated with them die in later generations. A Threat to Kyra Sara’s force tries to make Michael repeat the drowning of a child, treating Kyra as payment for an ancestor’s crime. Significance Revenge reproduces the original crime’s injustice when it transfers guilt from perpetrators to innocent descendants.

Michael Refuses the Inheritance

A Violent Urge Recognized Michael feels Sara’s pressure to drown Kyra but interrupts himself before acting on it. The Bones Revealed He finds that Sara and Kito’s remains have been reburied near the lake, exposing the physical source of the haunting. Significance Recognizing the urge as something imposed and inherited gives Michael a chance to choose against it.

The Revenge Is Broken The Revenge Is Broken from "Bag of Bones". The Dead Are Laid to Rest Michael destroys Sara and Kito’s remains with lye as Jo holds the hostile force back.

The Revenge Is Broken from "Bag of Bones". The Dead Are Laid to Rest Michael destroys Sara and Kito’s remains with lye as Jo holds the hostile force back.

The Dead Are Laid to Rest Michael destroys Sara and Kito’s remains with lye as Jo holds the hostile force back. An Unfinished Grief Sara’s spirit leaves with sorrow and longing rather than triumph, while the destructive force using her is defeated. Significance The act stops revenge from claiming Kyra, though it cannot restore the murdered mother and child or erase the community’s responsibility.

Summer 1901

August 1901

After 1901 and into 1998

July 21, 1998, before the final storm

July 21, 1998, at Tidwell’s Meadow