Oolanga

Hoo boy.

As I mentioned in the very first post, Oolanga is problematic. A stock character of the day—the villainous witch doctor (usually, but not always black), the cannibal African, is treated with even less-than-usual-sensitivity for the time. This is compounded by Price’s edition which inserts “the N-word” some 20 times. If we look at the original edition, Stoker only uses that word between Edgar and Lady Arabella when they’re discussing murdering Oolanga, and Oolanga himself who picks up the intended slight when Arabella uses the word to him.

While I could argue quite forcefully that this word was not always (nor even mainly) used derogatorily in many places, it’s clear that Stoker’s intent is that derogatory use—and with Price switching out Stoker’s various euphemisms (“Christy Minstrel” being my favorite) and adding a genuine racist rant in the authorial voice, we once again have a mess.

So let’s just take a look at Oolanga as a character. What does he bring to the story?

1. He’s spooky.
2. He can smell death.
3. He can pitch in when you’re struggling with dominating a young girl.
4. He can flesh out Lady Arabella’s character.
5. He can be Lady Arabella’s victim in a way that Adam has clear proof of Arabella’s nefariousness.
6. He collects dead snakes.

To look at it, he’s actually pretty expendable. Less than, perhaps Uncle Richard, but still not exactly critical to a plot already overstuffed with thinly drawn characters and ideas.

But, come on! That’d be cheating! Oolanga, like the mongooses (oy), is an integral part of the “White Worm” experience, if you will. And I feel like something more was planned early on with his character that ended up in a muddle. To wit:

When we first meet Oolanga, he literally prostrates himself at Lady Arabella’s feet. This lends credence to the notion that she’s some kind of Snake Goddess and he recognizes it. Later, though, he’s developed a huge crush on her and tries to blackmail her into marrying him, which really detracts from the idea that she’s a Snake Goddess.

Now, obviously, our central problem in fixing LotWW is that whole question of what, precisely, is the Lady’s connection to the WW. We have many conflicting bits of information:

1. Snakes both gather around her in herds or packs or there’s-no-word-for-it-because-snakes-don’t-actually-gather-togther or whatever, but they also get out of her way.
2. She hates mongooses and shoots them WAY too much on sight.
3. Except when she likes mongooses and enthralls them.
4. She was bitten by a snake as a youngster while wandering in the woods, if we go by Price’s editing.
5. While undoubtedly meant to clarify by creating the idea of a were-snake or vampire-thrall, it makes no sense that she would need to be wandering in the woods. The family manse is directly above the titular lair.

Am I avoiding the subject? Yeah, a little. But this is going to be a cyclical process. We’re going to need multiple passes to clarify things in a way that makes sense.

And nothing about Oolanga makes sense. He’s Edgar’s man, but Edgar almost never interacts with him, and casually suggests Arabella kill him if she’s put out by him. But he’s at home in psychic battles, and he’s the worst sort of witch doctor, so perhaps that can be our launching off point.

Caswall has some fascination with psychic domination, and it seems to be familial. Could it be that the witch-doctor has (or convinced Caswall he had) some insight into mind control techniques? That would explain Oolanga’s presence.

Oolanga’s own motivations are a little easier to comprehend. He is, at best, a huckster. At worst, he has a more sinister agenda, but we already have Arabella’s mundane marital issues AND Arabella’s White Worm issues AND Caswall—and we haven’t even gotten to the kite. Yeesh.

But how do we clarify his relationship with Arabella? Can we even, without fully grasping who and what Arabella is? I’m not sure. But if we view Oolanga as a huckster, not possessed of any particular keen sense regarding snake goddesses, we could put him in the reader’s shoes, discovering Arabella along with the rest of us.

I like this idea. Make Oolanga part-spooky and part-huckster, sometimes a lot more one than the other, who doesn’t realize how deep he’s in until it’s too late. He’s also going to have to be a bigger keystone to the events, much like Uncle Richard else why bother having him.

OK, I’m feeling better now. Wish me luck.