"Watch the Spirit Move" By: Shay Youngblood

In the short story titled "Watch the Spirit Move" by Shay Youngblood, it is about the narrator's Aunt Vi and her husbands superstitious beliefs in roots and spiritual works used for healing, protecting, and both fortune and misfortune. The story takes place in Aunt Vi's bedroom where she shares a story with the narrator about some of the root works her husband, Franklin, had performed. She shares about the dilemma her husband faces where his suit goes missing in his own house. When Franklin hears that his uncle was near death, he goes to look for the suit where he last placed it. It was nowhere to be found and Franklin's Cousin Loreen and her husband Brewster who were living with them at the time also said they hadn;t seen it. He goes to seee a woman named Reverend Sister Cora who was believed to have the power to help people who have been crossed, wanted luck, get rid of strange sicknesses and find things that they've lost. She tells him he'd find everything he lost in his home in 7 days only if he followed the ritual she told him to do. On the seventh day he finds his suit, shirt, tie, and pearl cufflinks in the window of a pawn shop where he learns that it was in fact his brother in law, Brewsterwho traded them in. Franklin in need of revenge goes back to Sister Cora where he is told to boil turtle eggs until they turn blackand burn something that belonged to Brewster, along with lit candles and incense. Here we find that the main conflict is between two people, Franklin and Brewster Mack.

In the story, we learn that in times when Big Mama was busy working and Aunt Mae had a party going on the narrator would be sent to her Aunt Vi's house. The narrator would sometimes follow her Aunt Vi to a cemetery or down at a river to get ingredients like graveyard dirt, black berries, and special plants which she used for her root works. We also learn that Aunt Vi's house was filled with many objects and furniture the narrator was fascinated by and her bedroom which had an altar surrounded by candles, hervs, river rocks, and sea shells, was one of her favorite places in the house. The protagonist in the story is Aunt Vi's husband, Franklin. He is a man that didn't go to church, but was very supersitious. So superstitious that he would not even step on a crack in the sidewalk and would always get dressed on his left side first. We find that he is a man whoe likes to get even with others because when he discovers that it was Brewster who sold his suit to the pawn shop, he casts a bad spell on him for revenge. The antagonisti n the story is Brewster who is said to be a quiet and hardworking man who mostly keeps to himself. He is sneaky because when he sells Franklin's suit, he remains quiet about what he had done. Brewster thhought he'd be able to get awaay with it when actually karma was about to come back and get him for his wrong doings. In result to the spell, he looses his job, his wife Lorren runs off with another soldier leaving him with the kids, gets beat up by the Klan, and becomes jobless. Larter in the story, Franklin eventually reverses the spell and Brewster gets his life back on track.

Aunt Vi was a Christian woman who strongly believed that roots and rituals worked for healing and protecting. She was a woman who lived her life doing different rituals. For instance, at the left side of the fence gate opening of her home laid a pile of white rocks and under it buried a cow's tongue sewn together with hot red cayenne pepper with tacks folded inside. This she believed was to keep her name out of people's gossips. Another ritual she did was use holy water to mop and clean her house with every Sturday mornings to protect her house from all evil.

One growing up theme the narrator is faced with in the story is religion. BEcause the narrator was raised by Big Mama, a powerful Christian woman who had a strong faith in God, the narrator becomes curious and questions Aunt Vi's reasons for her roots works for protection when God is in fact there to hear one's prayer. Aunt Vi replies back that although God is there, the root works was a back up for God.

The narrator learns that a person's values and ethics whether it be honesty or integrity, develops ap erson's character and is reflected out through his or her life. In this story, karma occurst with Brewster, who sells Franklin's suit without consent and lies to him abotu not seeing it. Franklin in revenge casts a spell on Brewster and everything in his life goes completely bad. This teaches the narrator that the happiness and condition of a person's life is the result of the person;s moral quality and actions. For instance, if a person is always honest and trustworthy, then good karma will come out of it. But if a person is deceitful, it will bring nothing but bad karma back for what you deserve. Bringing evil or doing any kind of sinful actions upon others will get you nowhere but more evil so it's important to treat others the way you want to be treated because you never know what anyone is capable of doing to you.