The Salt Eaters

The Salt Eaters (1980) by Toni Cade Bambara is set in the fictional town of Claybourne, Georgia, in the late 1970s. The style of the novel is experimental and nonlinear. It follows stories and characters linked by themes more than plot. It moves between the past, present, and future in the minds and actions of different characters. The novel centers on the spiritual healing Velma receives from Minnie after a mental health crisis and spirals outward to detail the lives of many people. It won the American Book Award in 1981.

The novel draws upon the author’s experiences in academic and activist communities. Bambara taught at City College of New York, Rutgers University, Emory University, Atlanta University, and other institutions. She participated in the Black Arts Movement, co-founded the Southern Collective of African American Writers, and highlighted the issues that Black women face. These real-life experiences, as well as Bambara’s professional experience in social work and psychiatric care, inform the themes of the work.

This guide cites the 1992 Vintage Contemporaries Edition.

Content Warning: This novel includes extensive discussions of mental health conditions, especially suicide. This guide refers to, but does not quote, some of the author’s uses of the n-word. The novel also contains references to assault on women, sexual assault, and blackface.

Plot Summary

The Salt Eaters is an experimental novel that moves between various characters and times. It is united by themes more than plot and switches between characters’ perspectives, forming a tapestry of Black voices. It begins and ends with Minnie Ransom’s spiritual healing of Velma Henry after the latter’s attempt to die by suicide. Velma, a Black activist, experiences a splitting of herself due to numerous factors. These include her own psychic gifts, her husband’s infidelity, divisions in her community, and the consequences of sabotaging the nuclear power plant where she works. Velma and her husband, Obie (aka James), founded the Academy of the 7 Arts, which is adjacent to the Southwest Community Infirmary, where the healing takes place, in Claybourne, Georgia. Velma, who left the academy to work with computers at the plant, is also part of the Women for Action group that includes Ruby, Jan, and Palma.

A group of 12 community members who circle around the healing is called the Master’s Mind. One of them, Velma’s godmother, Sophie (aka M’Dear), leaves Velma’s infirmary room and stays in the office of Doc Serge, a former pimp who runs the infirmary, for the rest of the novel. Another staff member, Dr. Meadows, leaves the infirmary and walks around Claybourne during the healing. A pregnant teenager, Nadeen, stays and watches the entire healing while her partner, Buster, leaves to interview Serge for a school paper. Cora, like Nadeen, stays for the whole healing. At the beginning of the healing, Minnie wraps her shawl around Velma. Minnie then stalls, asking Velma questions and talking to her spirit guide, Old Wife. Minnie and Old Wife debate theology; the former works with Yoruban gods, and the latter is a Christian.

During the healing, Velma has visions and explores memories. She recalls arguments with Obie. Velma also recalls her experiences with other men, such as a political meeting where she speaks up against the unequal division of labor between men and women. Her sister, Palma, meets her future lover, Marcus, at this meeting. The novel also follows Obie around the academy. Before he learns about the healing, he goes to the gym and gets a massage, thinking about the factions in the academy, including the people who are keeping guns there. At the end of the novel, he is heading toward Velma in the infirmary.

The novel follows Palma, Velma’s sister, and their friends on a bus to Claybourne. The perspective of the bus driver, Fred, is also included. He is mourning the loss of a friend and is unwell. At the end of the novel, he seeks medical treatment at the infirmary and sees Velma’s healing for a moment. Once Palma reaches Claybourne, she meets with Marcus, and they go to the academy’s Spring Festival in the park. Velma’s other friends who rode the bus go to an outdoor café. Jan and Ruby talk about politics at the same café. The novel also includes the perspective of the café waiter, Campbell, who flirts with Jan and is a writer. Everyone at the outdoor café and in the park is surprised by a rainstorm that occurs during the healing. This storm brings together the different groups of Velma’s friends.

Velma has visions involving mud mothers, or ancient wild women, before and during the healing. Her memories during the healing include a moment of being comforted by her community after first experiencing her psychic gifts. She also, in her mind, encounters a part of herself that has split off. At first, she refuses to accept the woman as herself. She experiences a kind of death while cocooned in the shawl. When Velma is reborn and accepts all aspects of herself, she dramatically throws off Minnie’s scarf, which symbolizes her transformation.