The Black Pin by Eric Walrond (1926)
April, washing clothes in Goddard's Village, Barbados, discovers that her young son Alfie has picked up a black pin, which her daughter Mirrie recognizes with terror as a sign of obeah. April learns Alfie got the pin from Zink Diggs, a neighbor, and reacts with fear and anger, wondering what she has done to deserve such ill will. She drives the pin into a sunless spot on the shed-roof and warns her children, Alfie, Mirrie, Ona, and Din, never to touch it. The narrative then recalls April's past: her flight by boat from Demerara to Barbados on a vessel owned by a West Indian "speckahlatah," her hard sea journey with her children, and her hope of settling in a gap in Goddard's Village and sending her children to school and to St. Stephen's Chapel. It describes how she bought an old, crumbling shack at Locust Hall from an ox cart driver for seven sovereigns instead of the thirteen he asked, and had it dismantled and hauled by black movers and dray down to Goddard's Village, where she rebuilt it herself, gathering stones from the gap's waterholes and pulling out old nails rather than reuse them. The story returns to the feud with Zink Diggs. Zink's son Crump and April's children quarrel by the watercourse, and Zink strikes Alfie; April confronts her, and the two women trade insults, Zink accusing April's children of stealing her tamarinds. Later Zink seizes April's goat, Zenona, for trespassing on her land and demands a shilling for its return; April sends Mirrie for the coin, pays it, and sprinkles salt on it before touching it again. Afterward, while April picks peas and sings hymns, Zink taunts her as stubborn, and April ignores her, continuing to sing. The conflict escalates when Zink finds April's cornpatch planted, she claims, on her own ground, and in fury tears up and destroys all of April's peas, corn, okra, and other plantings, mocking April as she leaves. April stands by too afraid to protest. Soon after, the children notice smoke and cry that the black pin is setting the house on fire. April's older children, Alfie and Mirrie, are found sitting close together near the breadfruit tree, where Mirrie has written a word on a matchbox to show Alfie, though he seems indifferent to it. April discovers the pin smoking, concludes it was soaked in some obeah substance, and burns it on a rubbish heap, praying for divine justice against Zink. The smoke drifts over to Zink's house, and its effects prove fatal: Zink's dog drops dead, her tea leaves wither, and Zink herself is found dead in her kitchen, pipe in her mouth, her eyes staring, with her cat also dead beside the coal pot.
By Eric Walrond · First published 1926 · Genre: Magical Realism, Caribbean Fiction, Modernist Literary Fiction · 5 chapters · 4,874 words
First lines
"Wha' dah Alfie got in 'e han'?"
"It ent nutton," spoke up Din, "yo' is ah 'larmer, dah is wha' yo' is."
Similar titles
- A Nine Days Wonder by B. M. Croker
- The Black Witch by Fannie Stearns Davis
- The Branch Of Strange Berries by Edwina Stanton Babcock
- Bewitched by Edith Wharton
- The Curse Of Eve by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
- The Witch Sheep by Alice Morse Earle
Genres
- Magical Realism — The obeah curse materializes as a physically real supernatural force, seamlessly integrated into the realistic rural setting where the black pin literally burns and releases lethal smoke.
- Caribbean Fiction — The work is explicitly set in Barbados with authentic dialect, cultural references to Goddard's Village, and detailed depiction of West Indian rural life as central to narrative and meaning.
- Modernist Literary Fiction — Non-linear narrative structure, stream of consciousness passages, impressionistic prose style, and experimental use of dialect characteristic of early modernist Caribbean literature.
- Folk Fiction — Obeah magic and folk traditions form the supernatural core of the plot, treating Caribbean folk beliefs as the primary mechanism of conflict and resolution.
Tags
obeah · witchcraft · curse · supernatural · Caribbean · Barbados · short story · folklore · magical realism · motherhood · female conflict · neighbor dispute
What this Textopian page supports
The Black Pin is listed on Textopian as a short story by Eric Walrond, dated 1926 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Short story
- Author: Eric Walrond
- Date: 1926 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Magical Realism, Caribbean Fiction, Modernist Literary Fiction, Folk Fiction, Social Realism
- Length: 4,874 words
- Structure: 5 chapters, 156 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
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