Men We Reaped

Ward repeatedly refers to Hurricane Katrina even though the hurricane’s devastation does not feature into the events of her memoir. Ward instead uses Hurricane Katrina as a frame of reference to demonstrate the continued patterns of neglect experienced by the Black community during times of natural disaster; it also symbolizes the uncontrollable nature of life. Ward first references Hurricane Katrina when relaying the experience of her father’s family after Hurricane Camille in 1969. Ward criticizes the lack of support provided for displaced families who are only offered relocation rather than the ability to rebuild. As her memoir was published in 2013, Ward’s use of 2005’s Hurricane Katrina offers readers a relevant and timely example through which they can understand Hurricane Camille’s impact on Ward’s family.

At the end of her memoir, Ward compares life to a hurricane after which “we board up to save what we can and bow low to the earth to crouch in that small space above the dirt where the wind will not reach” (250). Much of Ward’s memoir discusses the greater social and historical forces that limit and control the lives of Black men and women struggling to forge new identities. Ward’s use of the hurricane image relates to her previous