# X: The Comet explained — Darkwater

> Chapter companion for Darkwater by W. E. B. Du Bois.

## 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.

## Character check-ins

### 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 lines

> 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._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/darkwater_se/chapters/x-the-comet
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/darkwater_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/darkwater_se/chapters