The Salt Eaters

Salt is an important symbol and motif throughout the novel. In moderation, it represents a cure. For instance, Sophie recommends using it in a poultice for snakebite. However, in excess, salt represents poison. Ahiro, Obie’s masseur, says it’s good to cry sometimes because the “body needs to throw off its excess salt for balance” (164). Also, eating salt together represents going through hard times. Sophie thinks, “You never really know a person until you’ve eaten salt together” (147). Going through hard times with someone else allows one to understand the other more fully. Salt symbolizes hard times in this work; if it’s not channeled right, it can be harmful, but it can be a source of healing.

In addition to these symbolic meanings, salt appears as a motif that links different times, like the past and the present. Velma recalls how Sophie and Daddy Dolphy carried a salty bucket of oysters: “You could see they’d been at it awhile, the salt line on their shins like a hem Mama Mae might puff with chalk” (228). This is a happy memory—salt is compared to marks used for sewing. When considering the past, Sophie calms herself by thinking about “Calamus in the salt marshes” (152), a kind of flower growing in the marshes.