The Conjure Woman · Chapter
The Goophered Grapevine explained
The narrator and his wife Annie meet Julius McAdoo, an old Black man, while inspecting a vineyard they consider buying.
What happens
The narrator and his wife Annie meet Julius McAdoo, an old Black man, while inspecting a vineyard they consider buying. Julius warns them that the vineyard is 'goophered' (bewitched) and tells the story of how Mars Dugal' McAdoo hired the conjure woman Aunt Peggy to place a curse on the grapes to prevent slaves from stealing them. The curse caused anyone who ate the grapes to die within a year. A slave named Henry, who unknowingly ate the grapes, was saved by Aunt Peggy's magic but became bound to the vineyard's health—thriving when the vines thrived and dying when a Yankee ruined the vines.
Themes in this chapter
Conjure and Superstition
The entire chapter revolves around Aunt Peggy's goopher (curse) on the grapevines, which is believed to cause death and control behavior.
Deception and Manipulation
Mars Dugal' uses the goopher to manipulate his slaves into avoiding the grapes, and later a Yankee deceives him into ruining the vineyard.
Characters to notice
- Uncle Julius
Narrates the story of the goophered vineyard to the narrator and Annie, warning them not to buy it.
- Mars Dugal' McAdoo
The owner of the vineyard who hires Aunt Peggy to goopher the vines to stop slaves from stealing grapes.
- Aunt Peggy
The conjure woman hired by Mars Dugal' to place a curse on the grapevines.
- Annie
The narrator's wife, who listens to Julius's story and is evidently impressed by it.
Key passages
“Well, suh, you is a stranger ter me, en I is a stranger ter you, en we is bofe strangers ter one anudder, but 'f I 'uz in yo' place, I wouldn' buy dis vimya'd.”
Julius warns the narrator not to buy the vineyard because it is bewitched.
Julius introduces the central conflict of the chapter, using his authority as a local to dissuade the purchase.
“Mars Dugal' had hi'ed her ter goopher de grapevimes.”
Mars Dugal' hired Aunt Peggy to place a curse on the grapevines.
This reveals the deliberate use of conjure as a tool of control over the enslaved population.