# The Woman — Darkwater character guide

> The Woman in Darkwater by W. E. B. Du Bois.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** the woman, hers, herself

**First appearance:** 0002-darkwater

## Snapshot

The African mother whose cradle-rocking hand rules chiefs and kingdoms, and whose forced silence under slavery reshaped the black world.

## Who they are

She is less a single person than a lineage—the far-off grandmother sobbing for lost palm-trees, the bronzen grandmother scolding her laughing husband, the narrator's own mother with her velvet brownness. Her power is counsel and continuity; her tragedy is that the slave trade struck the mother-idea like doom, unmaking legal marriage and family. She matters because Du Bois locates the whole social dislocation of black America in her body, making her the book's deepest measure of what was lost and what persists.

## Relationships

### [The Stranger](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/darkwater_se/characters/the_stranger)

_psychological_

A predatory and manipulative connection, with the Stranger exerting control over the Woman.

### [The Messenger](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/darkwater_se/characters/the_messenger)

_social_

A clandestine or intermediary connection, often carrying messages between the Woman and others.

### [The Colonel](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/darkwater_se/characters/the_colonel)

_psychological_

A possessive and menacing dynamic, with the Colonel viewing the Woman as a prize or threat.

### [Mother](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/darkwater_se/characters/mother)

_family_

A maternal bond tinged with protectiveness and shared grief over the narrator's fate.

### [The Stranger](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/darkwater_se/characters/the_stranger)

_psychological_

A predatory and manipulative connection, with the Stranger exerting control over the Woman.

### [Mother](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/darkwater_se/characters/mother)

_family_

A maternal bond tinged with protectiveness and shared grief over the narrator's fate.

### [The Messenger](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/darkwater_se/characters/the_messenger)

_social_

A clandestine or intermediary connection, often carrying messages between the Woman and others.

## In the story

### [Dedication](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/darkwater_se/chapters/dedication)

Dedicated as 'Nina', likely a reference to the author's first wife, Nina Gomer Du Bois.

### [Darkwater](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/darkwater_se/chapters/darkwater)

The woman appears as a symbolic figure representing motherhood, suffering, and resilience.

### [II: The Souls of White Folk](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/darkwater_se/chapters/ii-the-souls-of-white-folk)

A silent black woman sitting alone in a Pullman car, who becomes the object of a white man's anger.

### [The Riddle of the Sphinx](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/darkwater_se/chapters/the-riddle-of-the-sphinx)

Addressed as 'O woman' and 'Black mother,' symbolizing the Black race and its struggle for freedom.

### [The Princess of the Hither Isles](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/darkwater_se/chapters/the-princess-of-the-hither-isles)

The princess of the Hither Isles, who seeks the sun and understanding, ultimately leaping toward the beggar.

### [The Second Coming](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/darkwater_se/chapters/the-second-coming)

Lucy, the pale mother of the black baby, who worked for the governor.

### [The Servant in the House](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/darkwater_se/chapters/v-the-servant-in-the-house)

The lady who confronts Du Bois after his speech, asking where to find a 'good colored cook' and complaining about Negro workers.

### [The Call](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/darkwater_se/chapters/the-call)

A humble servant who responds to the King's call despite her fears and doubts about her identity.

### [The Damnation of Women](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/darkwater_se/chapters/vii-the-damnation-of-women)

The symbolic Black woman, subject of the poem 'Children of the Moon' and the chapter's focus.

### [Children of the Moon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/darkwater_se/chapters/children-of-the-moon)

The protagonist who cries out for women and children, builds the tower, and seeks the face of Freedom.

### [IX: Of Beauty and Death](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/darkwater_se/chapters/ix-of-beauty-and-death)

The woman is the ticket seller who, following orders, throws tickets at the narrator in contempt, embodying the ugliness of race prejudice.

### [X: The Comet](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/darkwater_se/chapters/x-the-comet)

A white woman who survives the comet and joins the messenger in his search, experiencing terror and a new awareness of racial difference.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/darkwater_se/characters/the_woman
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/darkwater_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/darkwater_se/characters