Yams

In his track King Kunta, Kendrick Lamar had a few lines that I was reminded of while reading Invisible Man. At the end of the hook and the beginning of the first verse, Kendrick says,

“Bitch where you when I was walkin?

Now I run the game got the whole world talkin

King Kunta, everybody wanna cut the legs off him

When you got the yams… (What's the yams?)

The yam is the power that be

You can smell it while I'm walkin down the street”

In a passage that Lamar is clearly alluding to in Chapter 13 of Invisible Man, the Narrator finds himself drawn to the scent of yams being served by what appears to be a street vendor. He takes a bite of the yam and finds himself enchanted with the sensory experience. Between the “sugary pulp”, the “bubbling [...] syrup”, and savory “melted butter” described by Ellison, the reader becomes privy to the same delicious experience (sidenote: I am very hungry). He’s so enchanted with the taste of the first yam that he immediately buys another. Upon eating the yam, the Narrator finds himself free of previous inhibitions. He finds himself uncaring of what bystanders might think and laughing at his former mentor Bledsoe, calling him a “chitterling eater”. Related to this, he finds himself transported back to the south, his mind filling with reminders of his home, a place and people we have previously seen him be ashamed of. The Narrator is the most liberated that we have seen him up to this point in the novel and all because he ate a yam.

With all the various imagery, culinary or otherwise, associated with the South and/or freedom that exists, it’s rather curious that Ellison would choose yams as the item that frees the Narrator. Why did he not, for example, pick chitterlings? Instead, he mocks Bledsoe for potentially eating them. There is of course the potential for puns with “yam”, resulting in the line “I yam what I am.”, whereas “I chitling what I am” doesn’t sound nearly as good. But the poetic nature of “yam” is likely not enough to justify the word choice. So what is it about yams that transported the Narrator to another reality?

The most obvious reason, as previously stated, is that it is categorized as “soul food”. For those who don’t know, “soul food” is a term used to refer to food prepared in Southern African-American cuisine, often easily traced back to slavery. The Narrator feels that by eating yams, he is sent back to his Southern home. But yams seems to have more significance in Southern cuisine than simply being a staple. Yam is often eaten candied; baked with sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, or butter; or baked into pies. One could assume that yams were luxuries, something to look forward to, but a rarity. Considering the fact that such resources as sugar, cinnamon, or butter weren’t readily available to slaves or poor post-Reconstruction blacks, this was something they probably saved for special occasions. Such a food likely gives the Narrator a sense of indulgence beyond simply returning to his roots.

But the significance of yams stretches further back than even slavery. In African cuisine as well, yams are often incorporated. It is often valued because of its durability and versatility. In the same sense, upon eating the yams, perhaps the Narrator is “absorbing” (bear with me) the durability and versatility of the black community. Despite adversity, they have managed to persevere through for centuries, much like the Narrator has despite the circumstances he has gone through. We see his versatility portrayed in his invisibility, his ability to adapt to his environment and make people see “everything except” him. Additionally, yams denote wealth and privilege in multiple African tribes. They are often celebrated, such as the annual Iwaji festival in the Igbo culture.

This could be the significance that the Narrator exemplifies and Kendrick emphasizes. The yam represents more than holding onto the roots of a culture. It seems to be that the cultural significance stretches farther back than a world the Narrator knows. And the yam itself represents that far-reaching struggle