Poetry-Review #3-Karen Hesse

Hesse, Karen. 2001. Witness. New York: Scholastic. ISBN 0439271991

Plot Summary—

Witness is a verse novel set in 1924 in Vermont. The Ku Klux Klan is trying to gain a following. The story is told from the points of view of eleven different townspeople of different ages and professions. Two families are the targets of the Klan’s hatred, a Jewish family and an African-American family. Over the course of a year, the community must choose between hatred and acceptance.

Critical Analysis—

This novel is written in free verse. Each personality of the eleven characters is aptly portrayed. We can hear their voices and feel their emotions through their monologues. From the speech patterns of Esther Hirsh, it is evident she is a six-year-old Jewish immigrant, “so i made a long walk all by myself./ i did follow the train tracks and/ pretty quick daddy did have comings after me.” We feel Merlin Van Tornhout’s hatred of twelve-year-old African-American Leanora Sutter when he says, “i left school right then./ no amount of air will get the smell of her/ out of my nose,/ the soot of her out of my eyes.” We feel Leanora’s pride in her people as she learns of their great triumphs and sacrifices during the Civil War, “i marched home in a straight line,/ with my back tall,/ and thought about that regiment of men/ like a streamer of dark silk.”

Hesse masterfully tells this story from many points of view, from Klan supporters and those who simply looked the other way, to those who were the subject of Klan abuses and those who refused to be bullied. Each character has an integral part in the story and Hesse weaves every thread of verse into the completed tapestry of the novel with skill and an understanding of the completeness of the picture formed by each Witness.

Review Excerpts—

Publishers Weekly- "Hesse weaves together 11 distinct narrative voices to create a moving account of the Ku Klux Klan's encroachment on a small Vermont town in 1924. Told completely in verse, her quietly powerful novel addresses the inevitable loss of innocence that accompanies the fight for social justice."

Kirkus Reviews—“What Copeland created with music, and Hopper created with paint, Hesse deftly and unerringly creates with words: the iconography of Americana, carefully researched, beautifully written, and profoundly honest.”

School Library Journal—“The writing includes vivid images, such as when Leanora, the black girl, sees a burning cross. She hides in a closet: "in that dark and narrow place,/ i opened a hole for myself/ but no matter how i turned,/ the light from the cross/ curled its bright claws under the door." It also includes some quiet yet irreducible moments that resonate long after the book is put down. The small details seem just right, and demonstrate that this is much more than a social tract. It's a thoughtful look at people and their capacity for love and hate.”

Connections—

*Perform this verse novel as a play or reader’s theater piece.

*Read Karen Hesse’s Newbery Award winning verse novel, Out of the Dust ISBN 0590371258.

*Read Aleutian Sparrow ISBN 1416903275 by Karen Hesse.

*Many of Karen Hesse’s novels could be considered historical fiction. Find out more about the history included in her books.