An Investigative Close Read of Long Division by Kiese Laymon

SPOILERS

Content Warning: This post touches on fictional representations of murder, torture, racism, hate crimes, and the KKK.

Names are full of meaning in Long Division by Kiese Laymon. Like clues, studying names helped me unlock a few of the books secrets. But days after finishing the book, a few names still lingered in mystery. I had unanswered questions about: the Shephard Witch, Red Naval, Gaddis, and Sooo Sad. So, I set about figuring them out.

These two I think I have the answers to:

Who is the Shephard Witch? (click for answer)

Mama Lara! “You’re a witch, aint you?”

Reread p 176 of Ch. 22 Baize… and p 293 of Ch 29. Passing Tests…

Who is Red Naval (the talking cat)? (click for answer)

Red Naval is a palindrome of LaVander. So the cat is either named after LaVander or LaVander is a shapeshifter!

P.S. Thanks to Traci Thomas, host of The Stacks Podcast, for clueing me in on anagrams/palindromes in names!

These two are the focus of this post:

• Who is Gaddis?
• Who is Sooo Sad?

Of The Same Ilk

Overview of Gaddis of 1964

He is a KKK member responsible for the violent deaths of Shayala’s and City’s grandfathers and the destruction of Melahatchie’s Freedom School.

Overview of Sooo Sad of 2013

He drives a green truck with a confederate flag on it and has a fraught history with the Coldson family. In 2001*, City’s grandfather, Tom Henry, died trying to save Sooo Sad from drowning. Or so the story goes: details felt fuzzy surrounding this accident, and I have a sense that the story told to City is full of omissions. Lastly, Sooo Sad commits a hate crime against City in 2013.

*City is 14 in 2013. In Ch 16. Cancellation Policy on page 130 he tells his his grandfather died when he was two.

I Did Some Literary Long Division

I think Sooo Sad is a descendant of the 1964 Gaddises. I hope this idea of Sooo Sad being a Gaddis makes more sense once you walk through my work below.

Showing My Work

This 1964-to-2013 timeline mixes text evidence and personal conjectures (highlighted in orange) . Will reading it bring you to the same conclusion I came too? That Sooo Sad is a descendent of Gaddis? Let’s find out.

Note: An orange highlight means I’m reading between the lines and inserting an assumption I can’t prove from text evidence.

1. Tom Henry’s Dangerous Flirtation with a White Girl in 1964

In 1964, Gaddis hires Tom Henry, City’s grandfather, to cut trees. On the job, Tom Henry flirts with Gaddis’s teenage daughter Brianna.

Reread: p 258 in Ch 26. SNCC’s Notes on Teaching in Mississippi…

2. Events During Freedom Summer

The Civil Rights Act passes in July.

SNCC Activist Charlie Cobb proposes the idea of Freedom Schools as a part of the Freedom Summer Project in Mississippi. Melahatchie activists build a Freedom school in the woods.

Reread: p 255 in Ch. 25. Yes, Indeedy…

3. Gaddis Finds Out

Gaddis, a KKK member, belatedly finds out about Tom Henry’s flirtation with Breanna.

Gaddis finds out about the Freedom School.

4. “It was Gaddis’s plan.”

Gaddis threatens the Altshulers, a local Jewish family participating in the Freedom School project. He gives the family an ultimatum: dress as the KKK and kill Tom Henry and destroy the Freedom School or be killed.

The Altshulers comply with Gaddis’s demands, murdering Tom Henry and (by accident) Shalaya’s grandfather. The Freedom School burns down.

Reread: p 265 in Ch 26. SNCC’s Notes on Teaching in Mississippi…

5. Gaddis’s Descendents? in 2013

I think Gaddis’s descendants are “the mean white men” patrolling the trailer park. They’re terrorizing a neighborhood that only has two white residents by driving their “big green trucks with Confederate flags in their back windows” around it.

Reread: p 65 and p 71 in Ch 8. MyMy, Coach Stroud, and Sooo Sad.

Don’t forget: One of these big green truck drivers almost hits Mama Lara’s Bonneville. This happens when she and City pull into the Walmart parking lot. Was Sooo Sad behind the wheel then too? Reread p 52 of Ch. 6. Thicccc Parts..

6. Sooo Sad Assaults City

Sooo Sad, driving one of the Gaddis family’s green trucks, verbally accosts City. Then, he violently attacks City and calls him a racial slur.

Reread p 71 and p 74 of Ch 8. MyMy, Coach Stroud, and Sooo Sad.

7. Mama Lara’s Retribution

Mama Lara finds out about Sooo Sad’s assault on City. She captures Sooo Sad, and he eventually dies in her shed by her hand.

Note: This juncture is where I decided that Sooo Sad is likely a member of the Gaddis family.

A family that has done too much irreparable harm to the Coldsons. First, Tom Henry’s death, ordered by a Gaddis. Now, the mental and physical injuries inflicted on her beloved grandson, City, and future father of her two great grandchildren, LaVander and Baize.

Reread 11. That Work Shed and p 148 19. Dark Mayonnaise. p 148

8. Gaddis Park Theory

Sometime after Sooo Sad’s death in 2013, the city dedicates Gaddis Park in his memory. I think the city government immortalizes the Gaddis name for the same reasons confederate monuments exist.

Reread p 233 of Ch 24. Eyes have It… and p 258 of 26. SNCC’s Notes on Teaching in Mississippi…

Kiese Laymon’s Invisible Ink

I think about Toni Morrison’s term “invisible ink” a lot, especially when I encounter special books like Long Division. She writes with the reader’s participation in mind, and I think Kiese Laymon did too. They both loaded their stories with invisible ink between the lines, things for readers to parse out on their own. Toni Morrison’s idea of “invisible ink” reminds me that even if my theory on Sooo Sad is wrong or flawed, that’s ok. The most important thing is I knew Kiese Laymon’s invisible ink was there in this book, and I know it will always be there for me. With luck, on my next reread, I will see more of it.