The Revenge of Hannah Kemhuff

The Revenge of Hannah Kemhuff Summary | The Revenge of Hannah Kemhuff Summary

The narrator of this story is an unnamed apprentice to Tante Rosie, from whom she is learning the trade of rootworking. Rootworking is a type of black magic mixed with elements of spirituality and gods. Potions, curses, healings, and prayers are practices of rootworking. The apprentice tells the story of Hannah Kemhuff, an older woman, who has come to Tante Rosie seeking revenge on someone from her past who killed her spirit.

Hannah explains that during the Depression, she was married and had four children by the age of 19. Her husband was not faithful; he continually cheated on her. On account of the Depression, Hannah and her family run out of food and begin to starve. Hannah's husband pleads with her to try to get food stamps from the government. To be eligible for the food stamps, they had to prove that they were starving. Hannah is a prideful black woman whose father is a successful peanut grower. Hannah does not want handouts of any kind, but when they have no more food and she sees her children starving, she finally gives in and asks for the food stamps.

Hannah's sister, Carrie Mae, worked for some white people who would give Carrie Mae their old used clothes. Carrie Mae sends the clothes to Hannah for her and her family to use. Before attempting to get food stamps, Hannah dresses herself and her family up in these nice clothes, since it is cold outside and the clothes are of good quality and are nice and warm. Despite the fact that they are asking for charity, Hannah and her husband look as dignified and prideful as they can when they arrive at their destination.

When they arrive, Hannah notices that everyone else is purposely dressed in rags, even people whom she knows to have better clothes at home. Her friends tell her that she's crazy to be dressed in nice hand-me-downs. Hannah begins to feel nervous and afraid about how she and her family are dressed compared to everybody else. Hannah can do nothing about the situation as she has her hands full standing in line with four crying children while her husband is walking around looking at other women.

Hannah knows that her cheating husband will leave her if she is made to look like a fool. While waiting, she sees her husband talking to his mistress, who is also dressed in rags and has made herself look dirty. Hannah knows that his mistress, who is a prostitute, has plenty of money, as her "business" is still going strong despite the Depression.

Hannah remains hopeful that despite her family's clothes, the people will give her food, for it is obvious that she and her children are starving. When it is Hannah's turn, Miss Sadler, the white lady collecting the food stamps and handing out the food, takes a long look at Hannah and her family and denies them food, saying that they don't need it. Miss Sadler then chastises Hannah for trying to take food stamps away from people who really need them. To add insult to injury, Miss Sadler gives what would have been Hannah's family's share of food stamps to a man well-known for gambling. The crowd starts laughing at Hannah, and Miss Sadler also starts giggling behind her hands. Hannah's husband and his mistress laugh at her as well. Her husband ends up leaving with the mistress and her food. Hannah never sees her husband again, but hears that he later dies with his mistress in a flood.

Hannah explains that after the food stamp incident, when Miss Sadler and the rest of the people laugh at her, her spirit is defeated and her life goes steadily downhill. She watches her children, one by one, die of starvation. The gambler comes around a few days later and gives her half of the food he has left, but it is too late for the children to be saved.

Hannah's spirit never recovers from the incident, her heart never recovers from her husband's desertion, and her body never recovers from nearly starving to death. Her body ages quickly, she has no pride left, and she becomes a prostitute for awhile in order to survive. In more recent years, she has started attending church again, but she is continually haunted in her dreams by the incident that marked the downhill turning point in her life. Hannah is haunted by Miss Sadler's grinning mouth hidden behind her hands while everyone laughed, and she believes it is at that moment when her spirit was crushed.

Hannah wants to seek revenge on Miss Sadler, to make her life miserable, as she sees this as a way to vindicate a wrong. Hannah specifically wants Miss Sadler's mouth to stop grinning. Rosie Tante tells her that Miss Sadler will not outlive Hannah by more than six months. Rosie Tante tells Hannah that she will use a potion consisting of Miss Sadler's hair, nail parings, urine, feces, and a piece of cloth containing her scent to ensure Miss Sadler's demise. Rosie Tante also has the apprentice (a narrator of this story) teach Hannah the ceremony for the curse-prayer and the curse-prayer itself that rootworkers use. The apprentice does not have it memorized, so she teaches Hannah by reciting the curse-prayer straight from a Zora Neale Hurston book, Mules and Men. Rosie Tante and Hannah recite the curse-prayer at the same time to be more effective and to beseech the Man-God to unleash death. Hannah is satisfied in believing that Miss Sadler will shortly come to her demise, which puts her more at peace.

Research finds that Miss Sadler soon married after the food stamp incident and is now Mrs. Holley; she has three grown children and grandchildren. Mrs. Holley lives in a big house and has seemingly had a good life with no tragedy in it. Acting on instruction by Rosie Tante, the apprentice makes a visit to Mrs. Holley and informs her that Rosie Tante has been commissioned by Hannah Kemhuff, who wants retribution for the wrong Mrs. Holley has done against her. At first, the name means nothing to Mrs. Holley, so the apprentice briefly describes the incident. Mrs. Holley apparently has no memory of the incident or how her actions caused the devastation of Hannah and her children's lives. Mrs. Holley feels contempt and scorn when she finds that the apprentice is associated with Rosie Tante, who she knows is into black magic.

The apprentice takes advantage of Mrs. Holley's disbelief and challenges her to prove her disbelief in rootworking by providing the ingredients needed for the potion; nail pairings, strands of her hair, urine, feces and a piece of clothing containing her scent. If Mrs. Holley truly does not believe, she would hand these items over with no fear that the potion, once finished, will eat away at her. Mrs. Holley becomes highly agitated and faints.

Not long after the apprentice's visit to Mrs. Holley, Hannah Kemhuff dies. At her funeral, Mrs. Holley and her family's nanny are in attendance to ensure Hannah is dead. Several months later, Mrs. Holley dies. Before her death, Mrs. Holley became fearful of all black people after the apprentice's visit. Mrs. Holley took to always staying in her bedroom. She collected all stray hairs from her head and ate her fingernail parings. Mrs. Holley collected all her feces and urine and stored them into barrels that she kept in the closets in her home. The odor of her house became intolerable. Mrs. Holley was overcome with anxiety and had a constant frown on her mouth, which only death erases.