Darkwater · Chapter
X: The Comet explained
In the aftermath of a comet's deadly passage, a Black messenger and a white woman navigate a silent, corpse-filled New York City, searching for survivors.
What happens
In the aftermath of a comet's deadly passage, a Black messenger and a white woman navigate a silent, corpse-filled New York City, searching for survivors. Their shared isolation forces a tense confrontation with racial and cultural difference, culminating in a vision of universal human unity.
Themes in this chapter
Double Consciousness and the Veil
The messenger's awareness of his racial identity is heightened as he navigates a world where social hierarchies have collapsed, yet the woman's fear of him as 'alien in blood and culture' reasserts the veil.
Racial Oppression and White Supremacy
The messenger reflects on how 'yesterday, they would not have served me,' underscoring the persistent racial caste system even in the face of universal death.
Beauty, Art, and Cultural Expression
The chapter concludes with 'A Hymn to the Peoples,' a poetic vision of racial and cultural unity that transcends the horror, invoking Buddha, Christ, and the Quran.
Characters to notice
- The Messenger
A Black man who survives the comet and searches the city for other survivors, grappling with fear and the burden of being alone with a white woman.
- The Woman
A white woman who survives the comet and joins the messenger in his search, experiencing terror and a new awareness of racial difference.
- The Colonel
Mentioned as the president of the bank, found dead at his desk.
Key passages
“Yesterday, they would not have served me”
The messenger notes that before the disaster, racial segregation would have prevented him from entering the restaurant.
Highlights the persistence of racial discrimination even in a post-apocalyptic setting.
“She seemed to realize that she was alone in the world with a stranger, with something more than a stranger—with a man alien in blood and culture—unknown, perhaps unknowable.”
The woman becomes acutely aware that her only companion is a Black man, whose race and background make him a frightening unknown.
Captures the theme of racial otherness and the fear it generates.
“So sit we all as one. So, gloomed in tall and stone-swathed groves, The Buddha walks with Christ! And al-Koran and Bible both be holy!”
The hymn envisions a world where all religions and races unite in peace and mutual respect.
Expresses Du Bois's ideal of universal brotherhood and spiritual unity.