Brown Girl in the Ring

Ti-Jeanne experiences spiritual and personal growth through a series of hard lessons throughout the novel. Hardened by her mother’s abandonment of her at an early age, Ti-Jeanne has inherited her mother’s dependency on men for love and affirmation as well as her rejection of the family’s folkloric beliefs and spiritual traditions, dismissing it as “old time nonsense” (36). Upon learning of Tony’s betrayal and Rudy’s pattern of abuse in her family, Ti-Jeanne comes to the realization that to stop the cycle of violence perpetuated by men in her life, she must learn about her culture and history through her grandmother. She wrestles with what it means to be a “good daughter” (126), not only within her family but also to the spirits, like the Prince of Cemetery, who visit her. She comes to realize that being a good daughter means respecting her lineage while forging her own autonomous path.

Ti-Jeanne is guided by the spirit known as the Prince of Cemetery or Legbara, an aspect of Eshu who is known for guarding the crossroads between life and death. The Prince of Cemetery has claimed Ti-Jeanne as his “daughter” (95), which frightens her at first given his proximity to death. However, Mami reminds her that the Prince of Cemetery also oversees new life.