By invoking the violence of Medea, who famously killed her own children to get revenge on her cheating lover, Esch suggests a framework for understanding her own power as a new mother. In her daydreams, this is best embodied by her obsession with the myth of Medea and Jason, to which she believes her relationship with Manny is inherently linked. Womanhood as Inherently ViolentĮsch frequently dwells on the notion that femininity is inherently tied to violence. This ability to prophesize ties into the ominous and foreboding tone of the novel, often expressed through the personification of Esch's environment such that it seems to possess the power (or lack thereof) to see for example, Esch imagines that a rabbit's giant black eye is "seeing something supernatural" (71).
Eventually, the power to see into the future is assigned to China, since Esch believes that China literally predicted a tree falling into Daddy's room. Junior also exhibits prophetic traits for example, his fear of bathing foreshadows the destructive power of water later embodied by Hurricane Katrina. Later, Skeetah will further prove in touch with the supernatural as he chants rhythmically to China, coaching her for her last fight: "Leave them shaking, China, make them love you, China, make them need you, China" (171). This ability originates in Skeetah when he expresses the idea that he reeks of death after killing China's puppy. Various characters in the novel seem to possess the power to see beyond the physical world. Frequently, Esch and her siblings also differ on their memories of Mama (her final words to them, for example), creating the sense that a person's history-perhaps even his or her very existence-is fluid and open to interpretation. These explorations of the lingering presence of the deceased are deeply in touch with the Southern Gothic genre of the novel, and especially with the William Faulkner novels to which Esch alludes in the very first chapter. In these moments, Esch's narration flirts with the idea that, much like the contrast between the hen's eggs and the invisible eggs in her own belly, her mother's presence straddles the boundary between material and immaterial.
This is particularly evident as Esch searches for eggs in her yard, as she associates the egg hunt with memories of her mother teaching her how to find the best eggs. As Esch attempts to make sense of her changing world-particularly her changing pregnant body-she frequently consults her own memories of her mother for guidance.
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