Jennie Dixianna or the Spin of Death
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Cathy Day’s short story “Jennie Dixianna – or the Secret of the Spin of Death” revolves around Jennie, a woman of many faces. She had a horrible childhood because her father went mad after her mother died when she was six. Ten years later she decided that she would take control and change her life by killing her father and joining the circus. Because Jennie’s father, Slater, ruined her childhood, Jennie becomes weak and finds guidance in Sister, who teaches her how to get what she wants from Porter.
After Jennie’s mother passed away, Slater started to pull away from his family and became less of a father to Jennie. Slater Marchette, like Porter, came home from the war a changed man. Jennie explained, “he left a hard board of a man, but returned to his oleander, a sap given to weeping and hand holding” (32). He left for the war as a strong man and came home a weak, traumatized man. Slater started to pull away from his family for alcohol and hopes the fame from finding Pirate Jeane Lafitte’s hidden treasure. He would go out all day and night leaving Jennie to cook and clean for herself and her father. She “was [now] the man and woman of the house,” (35). Jennie being “the man” meaning that she would have to take care of herself and “the woman” meaning she would have to do all the house work. It was getting so bad that when she tried to save money by helping Sister, a conjure woman, “her father would return from treasure hunting hung over and empty-handed, find the money, and buy himself another drink” (35). Because of his hopes to find fame in a legend that may or may not be true, he would come home “blind drunk […] a buccaneer, one of Lafitte’s Black Flag men, and [call] her Veronica, his Créole mistress” and rape her (35). Jennie’s father was looking for his wife in her. Looking for someone to take care of him and needs someone for passion. After telling Sister what her father has done, Sister tells her a story, “Spanish priests used baubles and rum to lure the Biloxi Indians to Christ, away from their goddess mother. She rose from the sea, beckoning to her children from atop a mountain wave and foam, and the Biloxi rushed into the sea to beg her forgiveness. She spread her arms, scooper them up, and took them with her to the bottom of the Gulf” (39). Jennie is essentially the goddess mother and that the Indians that went against her words is Slater, who went against his words to be a father to Jennie and should be punished. In the end Sister motivates Jennie to “punish” her father by killing him and basically takes Jennie under her wing.
Because Jennie had a horrible past, Sister taught her to be mysterious to hide who she truly is. When Jennie’s mother was in the brink of death, Jennie went to Sister for help, but it didn’t work. This confused Sister. She explained, “only a few know which [bible verse] it is. You say the person’s name and read the passage,” (33). When she realized that Jennie gave her the wrong name, she blamed