Blog Post #5

 

For today’s blog post, I want to talk about the short story Destroyer by Victor LaVelle. I feel like the main message that the work was trying to convey is the types of violence that Black families face in the US. I thought that the concept of the story was super interesting in that it revolved around a Black woman scientist who brings her son back to life. I think it was super powerful to choose a mother as opposed to a father. Her son was innocently killed by police. Even though she was able to bring him back to life, there was a cost involved in doing so. When her son came back to life, he also came with extreme anger and strength, kind of like a monster. To me, this represented the cost that violence causes for Black families. The son becomes a real life representation of the abuse that Black families face. I think the resurrection and change of behavior and emotions also pushes forward the message of the results and effects/legacy of trauma. I think the choice of using police brutality as the choice of violence was also intentional, showing how the violence that Black American’s face is a constant cycle and keeps on being repeated over and over again. 

I also wanted to talk about how the short story provides its central argument through Black horror, in which LaVelle is arguing that the true horror present in our world is systemic racism. There are consequences and repercussions that occur because of these actions. I feel like this story is a way to critique our social reality in America and it is especially seen through the pain felt by the characters in the story. One of the most critical themes in the story was the dehumanization of Black women, more specifically shown through the way that Shelley’s monster was treated. I think LaVelle is trying to send the message that we can all be a part of the problem, whether it is by not doing anything about it or doing something, we can all contribute negatively. 

I also think the element of including Frankenstein was interesting and a great choice in terms of the message that I felt after reading the story. I felt like through the Frankenstein narrative I was able to feel a more emotional connection to the story and offer my own commentary. Overall I felt like this short story was a great read and I am definitely going to look into more works that LaVelle published!