Fantasy: The Water Dancer Summary

The Water Dancer is a magical realist work in which the protagonist, Hiram Walker—a
slave on a Virginia plantation—discovers that he has the power of teleportation, a power
which he must learn to control through his memory. The prose is dense and descriptive,
often bordering on the ornate. Coates creates his own vocabulary to avoid a sense of
overfamiliarity with the issues. Slaves are known as the “Tasked.” Their masters are the
“Quality.” Teleportation is called “Conduction.” Slaves who escape are said to have
“gone Natchez-way.”

The story begins as Hiram is driving his half-brother, Maynard, over a bridge. Although
the two have the same father—Howell Walker, the master of Lockless plantation—
Maynard is white and is considered Walker’s legitimate son, while Hiram’s mother was a
slave. The bridge collapses, and Maynard drowns. Hiram feels that he, too, is drowning
and sees an apparition that ends with a dancing woman balancing a water jug on her
head.

After this preamble, the narration returns to Hiram’s childhood. Hiram says that he has
dreamed of getting away from Lockless for as long as he can remember. When he was
nine, his mother was sold, and a woman called Thena took care of him. It was at this
time in his life that he first discovered the power of Conduction, though not how to
control it.

As he grew older, his father arranged for him to be taught by the same tutor as
Maynard. Hiram proved an apt pupil, whereas Maynard was very slow. Hiram’s
progress in his studies made him hope that his father was preparing him for a role in the
running of Lockless, but as it transpired, he still intended Hiram to be Maynard’s
manservant, despite his education.

Maynard has taken over the running of Lockless, but he is a poor master, and the rest
of the Quality despise him. Howell hopes that Maynard’s shortcomings will be
somewhat compensated for by marriage with a wealthy woman named Corrine Quinn.
At this point in the story, there occurs the accident on the bridge, in which Maynard is
killed.

Hiram attempts to run away from Lockless with another slave named Sophia, with
whom he has an ambiguous relationship. He wants to marry her, but she makes it clear
that she is not going to walk out of one trap and into another, since she regards
marriage as a form of servitude for a woman. The two of them are caught almost
immediately, and Hiram is imprisoned. He is bought by a sadistic man whose main
purpose in keeping slaves is to torture them. This treatment triggers Hiram’s Conduction
ability.

Corrine Quinn purchases Hiram and asks him to use his powers to help the
Underground Railroad transport slaves to freedom. She sends him to Philadelphia,
where he meets a woman who goes by the name of Moses. She later turns out to be
Harriet Tubman, who also has the power of Conduction and teaches Hiram how to use
it. She invokes the memory of her late husband, John, demonstrating that memory is of
paramount importance in harnessing the power.

Hiram returns to Lockless, which has run to seed since his departure. He finds Sophia,
who now has a child she assures him is not his. After some time, and many
remonstrations from Thena and Sophia, Hiram accepts both Sophia and her child, and
Corrine buys Sophia so that the three can be together. Hiram finds a shell necklace that
belonged to his mother, and the memories evoked by this help him to master his
Conduction abilities. Corrine buys Lockless and puts Hiram in control so they can use it
as a station on the Underground Railroad.