Romeo District Library discussion

What is the significance of water throughout the book? Why do you think Coates chooses it as the medium for Hiram's power?

The original water dancers were the stolen Africans who did not drown, but danced across the waves, returning home. This is somehow more painful to read than drowning. Giving hope where there is none. Hi escaped via the river in a dream-like sequence, his mother and aunt danced with a pot of water on each of their heads to recall the ancestor story. The 'power of conduction' may be related to water.