Feeding The Ghosts by Fred D'Aguiar: SUMMARY, THEMES, CHARACTERS, SYMBOLS
Fred D'Aguiar: Feeding the Ghosts
About the Author
Fred D’Aguiar, a British-Guyanese poet, novelist, and playwright, was born in London in 1960 and spent part of his early childhood in Guyana before returning to the UK at the age of 12. D'Aguiar is known for his powerful works that explore colonial history, diaspora, trauma, and memory. His writings often fuse lyrical prose with the traumatic remnants of the past, especially the transatlantic slave trade. His mixed heritage and lived experience in both the Caribbean and Britain inform his nuanced understanding of race, identity, and postcolonial realities. He has taught creative writing at various universities, including Virginia Tech and UCLA.
Feeding the Ghosts (1997) is one of D’Aguiar’s most celebrated novels. Inspired by the true story of the Zong massacre of 1781, it revisits the horror of 132 enslaved Africans thrown overboard from a British slave ship to claim insurance. The book combines history and fiction, fact and imagination, to give voice to the silenced victims. Through the protagonist Mintah, a female slave who survives the ordeal, D’Aguiar not only tells a story of survival and resistance but also raises urgent ethical questions about memory, responsibility, and humanity.
Detailed Summary
Feeding the Ghosts is based on the historical atrocity known as the Zong massacre. In 1781, the crew of the British slave ship Zong threw over 100 African slaves into the Atlantic Ocean under the pretext of running out of water, later attempting to claim insurance for the 'loss of cargo.' D’Aguiar reimagines this horrific incident through the character of Mintah, an enslaved African woman who survives the mass drowning and becomes a vessel for memory, grief, and resistance.
The novel opens with the grim reality of life aboard the Zong. Through fragmented narration, D’Aguiar juxtaposes the perspectives of enslaved Africans, the ship’s crew, and particularly Mintah. She is portrayed as both narrator and witness, recording the massacre in a journal-like manner. The narrative structure moves back and forth between the past (the voyage) and the aftermath (survivors, memory, and ghosts), blending poetic prose with historical realism.
Mintah is forcibly taken aboard the Zong and endures physical and psychological torment. However, when the massacre begins, she is among those thrown overboard but miraculously survives. Rescued by another ship, she becomes a living memory of the dead. Her voice contrasts with the captain’s rationalizations and exposes the brutality of the slave trade system. The novel continues to show how the ghosts of the drowned slaves linger—not only as haunting memories but also as spiritual reminders demanding justice and recognition.
D’Aguiar intertwines real historical records with fictionalised inner lives, especially Mintah’s poetic consciousness, to show how art can memorialise trauma. The novel ends not with resolution but with an acknowledgment of the ongoing burden of historical trauma, making it a powerful work of postcolonial remembrance literature.
Character Analysis
Mintah
Mintah is the central character and the moral and emotional core of the novel. She is a literate African woman, abducted and enslaved, who manages to survive the horror of the Zong massacre. Mintah's ability to read and write becomes a symbol of resistance and memory. She writes about the massacre as a witness, countering the erasure that slavery attempts to impose. Mintah is complex: she is vulnerable but strong, scarred but resilient, and her survival becomes a metaphor for cultural endurance and the importance of testimony. She connects the past and the present, the living and the dead.
Captain Cunningham
Captain Cunningham is the embodiment of colonial cruelty, commerce, and detachment. He justifies the killings as a necessity for survival and insurance claims, displaying a chilling mix of pragmatism and inhumanity. Through his character, D’Aguiar critiques the commodification of human life. Yet, the captain is also shown to be haunted—literally and metaphorically—by the ghosts of the dead, indicating that guilt and memory cannot be entirely repressed.
Newton
Newton, the ship’s doctor, is a conflicted character. While complicit in the events aboard the Zong, he experiences moral discomfort. He represents the thin line between complicity and conscience. Newton’s internal struggle shows how systemic violence can corrode even those who question it, and his passivity makes him a tragic figure.
The Ghosts
The 'ghosts' in the novel are not just supernatural figures—they are metaphors for historical memory, trauma, and justice. They represent the many unnamed and unrecorded lives lost during the transatlantic slave trade. They are ever-present, reminding the living of the past that refuses to be buried.
Detailed Themes
1. Memory and Testimony
One of the most significant themes in Feeding the Ghosts is the act of remembering and bearing witness. Through Mintah’s writings and the novel’s poetic style, D’Aguiar insists on the power of testimony. The ghosts feed on memory, and the act of recalling the past becomes an act of resistance. In a world that wants to forget the brutality of slavery, remembering becomes revolutionary.
2. Slavery and Dehumanisation
The novel unflinchingly portrays the horrific realities of the transatlantic slave trade. The Zong massacre stands as a grotesque example of the commodification of human life. Enslaved individuals are reduced to mere cargo. The ship itself becomes a symbol of a dehumanising system that strips people of identity, culture, and humanity.
3. Survival and Resistance
Mintah’s survival is symbolic of cultural survival amidst destruction. Despite the systemic violence, she writes, remembers, and mourns. Her existence and narration act as defiance against the silencing force of slavery. The story underscores that survival is not just physical—it is also about remembering, speaking, and transforming pain into resistance.
4. Haunting and Ghosts
The supernatural elements in the novel serve to illustrate the inescapability of history. The ghosts of the drowned slaves return—not just to haunt the perpetrators but to demand recognition. This spectral presence shows how unresolved trauma continues to affect societies long after the original events. The past is never past; it continues to feed on the present.
5. Justice and Moral Reckoning
The novel questions legal, ethical, and spiritual dimensions of justice. Although historically the Zong massacre resulted in a court case about insurance, not murder, D’Aguiar reframes the story as a spiritual and ethical indictment. The novel does not seek legal justice, but moral and historical redress through memory and literature.
Symbolism
The Zong Ship
The ship is both a literal setting and a symbol of colonial machinery. It carries human cargo, but it is also a floating prison and a site of unimaginable cruelty. It represents the capitalist and imperialist structures that justified slavery for profit.
Water and the Sea
Water is a complex symbol in the novel. While it represents death and erasure—drowning the slaves—it also symbolises rebirth and connection. Mintah’s survival through water suggests resilience. The sea becomes a grave but also a mirror that reflects guilt and memory.
Writing and Literacy
Mintah’s ability to read and write stands in stark contrast to the voicelessness of other slaves. Her writing is a powerful act of self-assertion and historical documentation. It is through writing that she preserves the story and resists erasure.
Ghosts
The ghosts are not merely frightening—they are reminders. They symbolise the persistence of memory and the demand for justice. They challenge the silence of history books and the apathy of legal systems.
The Journal
Mintah’s journal functions both as a personal record and a political document. It counters the official narrative of the Zong massacre and ensures the victims are remembered with dignity. The journal becomes an alternative archive.
Conclusion
Feeding the Ghosts is a harrowing, lyrical, and necessary work of historical fiction. Fred D’Aguiar takes a forgotten atrocity and breathes life into its victims through the imaginative power of literature. The novel is a meditation on memory, trauma, justice, and the moral imperative to bear witness. Through Mintah, the ghosts of the Zong live on, refusing to be silenced. D’Aguiar transforms history into a haunting reminder that the past is not dead—and that the ghosts will continue to speak until they are heard.
Join the conversation