Augustown: A Novel

The smell of ripe jackfruit permeates the narrative as a symbol of the autoclaps and the oppression of Babylon. Ma Taffy recognizes it in the opening scenes as Kaia returns home: “She smells it high and ripe and stink on the air, like a bright green jackfruit in season being pulled to the rocky ground below” (5). The smell foreshadows her discovery of Kaia’s shorn hair, the violence of Babylon affecting her family yet again, like when Gina and her sisters found Clarky’s body. The symbol of the jackfruit smell builds tension and a sense of fear, leading to the events of the autoclaps. 

The symbol of the scent of jackfruIt is accompanied by the comparison of souls to fruit. Ma Taffy “thinks also about how each person has a soul—and how these too are fruits that ripen every day, drawing ever closer to their harvest” (108). When Babylon pulls down Bedward, it is with a “hooker stick” that is used to pull down various fruits (108). This connection suggests Babylon broke Bedward’s soul, and the smell arising again represents Babylon’s attempt to break Kaia’s soul. 

Gina smells the scent herself when she arrives home to see Kaia without his dreadlocks.