Post-Katrina African American Coming-of-Age Novels: A Study of Two Selected Novels

This paper focuses on the impact of Hurricane Katrina—which hit parts of the U.S. South, especially New Orleans, in 2005—on African American coming-of-age novels. In particular, we argue that Hurricane Katrina constitutes a watershed moment in African American coming-of-age narratives, bringing about changes in identity formation and self-realization concerns that are typically associated with pre-Katrina African American coming-of-age novels. To develop our argument, we study two post-Katrina African American coming-of-age narratives: Ninth Ward (2010) by Jewell Parker Rhodes and Salvage the Bones (2011) by Jesmyn Ward. We suggest that these two narratives exemplify those changes through conforming to the Black Radical Tradition, as theorized by Cedric Robinson. The two novels, we show, not only lay bare the systemic racism that came to the fore in the aftermath of the hurricane but also highlight African Americans’ resistance strategies in the face of such racism.