Lit Notes: Justina Ireland's "Dread Nation" Part 1

[Book Plot Summary]

Book Prologue 

• So the protagonist was born a black child to a wealthy white mother. And the horrible ass midwife tried to KILL 🏽 HER 🏽 since the social stigma would’ve been too much. Luckily Auntie Aggie came in clutch and saved this baby. Also dead soldiers resurrected in Gettysburg lmao

Chapter 1

• aight so boom

• Basically the story centers a girl named “Jane” who attends a combat academy known as “Miss Preston’s School of Combat for Negro Girls”

• So context, essentially after the civil war, old soldiers resurrected and terrorized the whole fuck out of everybody. They’re called “shamblers” and they’re basically these like undead hoes that, I thiiiiiiink, can turn other hoes into undead as well if bitten. So after the Civil War (?????), armies fought these hoes and made it so that most major cities were shambler-free. 

• Racistly, Congress decided to make these combat schools specifically for black and native students to fight off shamblers

• Also, all the teachers of the academy are white because racism 

• So that’s why Jane is here along with her Day 1, Sue, and the light-skinned/aggravating classmate, Katherine (never Kate)

• So Jane starts off being clockt for having low scores in her etiquette classes by her etiquette teacher, Miss Anderson, along with THE Miss Duncan

• Come to find out Miss Anderson whitely gave Jane harder tests than everybody else 

• Despite this, Jane is encouraged to step her shit up because she’s tryna be what’s called an “Attendant” which is a position where etiquette is increasingly important. Attendants are basically hired by white women to protect them from shamblers, but attendants also need to be cute and classy  

• Some white bitch is about to talk about the state of America and shamblers and Jane is voluntold to go along 

Chapter 2

• So basically Jane has to SPRINT to make it to the carriage on time 

• She has to sit with Miss Duncan and sycophant ass Katherine which yikes 

• Jane don’t trust “shambler-free” nonsense since her own ass mama got bitten by one 

• Katherine is predictably shady and boring to her 

• They see a shambler in the form of this blond-haired girl and it sounds fucking terrifying 

• The Edgar’s, these white women from Charleston, were looking to recruit a “Preston girl” to serve as an attendant to keep them safe 

Chapter 3

• Jane recalls how she once saw a shambler kill her friend, Zeke, and it was fucked the fuck up

• But also it was highkey preventable since mfs decided to go poking a shambler stuck in a fence...like whet?!

Chapter 4

• Miss Duncan and Katherine ask Jane why she thinks shamblers are a thing and she’s like “probably a virus caused by micro bacteria” and Katherine was like “this bitch think it’s caused by mice” smh...

• Everyone arrives to Baltimore 

• There, Jane runs into her smooth-talking, light skinned ex-bae named Jackson

• Jackson is predictably light skinned and ridiculous 

• Katherine whiffs the tea and grabs a cup 

• Dating is prohibited so Katherine is READY to put Jane on blast 

• While walking to the university, Katherine finna damn pass out cuz of her corset so Jane stays behind with her 

• Courting is prohibited and fashionable corsets are prohibited, so blackmail unites both Katherine and Jane in a mutual display of silence 

Chapter 5

• Katherine and Jane are stopped by these white guards as they try to enter the university 

• Jane literally shucks and jives their way inside 

• Turns out the lecture they’re here to see is led by this racist, bitch ass professor named Professor Ghering

• Professor is carrying on about how black and native people are less prone to becoming shamblers (a lie) because they’re less developed as people (an even bigger lie)

• He then talks about how he made a vaccine 

• The bitch THEN brings out a cage of shamblers and a (probably sexy) black man named Othello. I’m sorry, you can’t have the name Othello and not be sexy, amirite? #MarciSays 

• So apparently Othello got the vaccine and the point of all this theatre was to have Othello be bitten and not turn into a shambler to prove that colored hoes are somehow divinely destined to protect white people from shamblers

• Jane foresees the bullshit and tries to be like “maybe we don’t do this????” and everyone was like “this ain’t your place” 

• Long story short, Othello gets bitten, turns into a shambler, and starts devouring Professor Ghering like the 2 for 1 special at Popeyes 

• Niggas wil’ out and try to escape 

Chapter 6

• Jane, on some true bad bitch energy, single-handedly took down Othello, goddamn Professor Gertrude, and 2 of the caged shamblers. The last remaining shamblers made a run for Mrs. Carr, the mayor’s wife, and of course Carr’s attendants fled the scene lmao. So Jane had to wrestle the shambler to the ground and was narrowly saved by the bullet of a native man who we don’t know quite yet.

Chapter 7

• Once back at Miss Preston’s, somehow Jane got in trouble for saving lives?!?! And Katherine got in trouble for her corset. 

• Jane tried to throw Katherine under the bus to no avail 

• They were gonna get the strap, but Miss Duncan asked that they only be given house chores for 2 weeks 

• One day, during said period of house chores, Katherine and Jane are cleaning the floor when light skinned Jackson walks in and is like, “my sister’s missing”

• Context, Lily, Jackson’s sister, is white passing and lived with a white family named the Spencers who were Egalitarians and were hella nice to black folk. They took her in because she was about to turn 12 and was inevitably gonna be sent to one of the combat schools and she wasn’t really about that. One day, all of a sudden, the whole family was just gone—leaving everything behind as if they had just stepped out to run an errand. 

• Jane decides to help Jackson solve this mystery that night since they think the family might’ve been taken by shamblers

• Katherine, somewhat thirstily, agrees to do the same 

Chapter 8

• In a flashback sequence, we find out that, back at Rose Hill Plantation (where Jane lived before the combat school), Jane’s mama had been hiding her every year whenever the gubment would come and try to recruit Jane and similarly aged youth for the combat schools.

• One year, however, Auntie Aggie told Jane she had something special, gave her her magic coin, and asked that she volunteer herself to leave with the officers  

• And so she did 

Chapter 9

• Jane and Katherine sneak out in the dead of night 

• Katherine makes a huge deal out of Jane asking her to put on some damn pants 

• They make it to the Spencer’s house where they meet Jackson who breaks them into the house 

• The house looks tranquil af, so the prevailing shambler attack theory is losing some base 

• The three hear hoes outside so they escape into an underground tunnel inside the house

• While underground, they hear three individuals—Mr. Rupert, Mr. Redfern (the native man that saved Jane with his bullet), and ONE MISS ANDERSON—talking above and plotting their move to essentially empty the house per the mayor’s request. So they take some shit and leave 

• Jane, Katherine, and Jackson are hella shook 

• They leave the house tryna figure out what tf happened when like 10 shamblers show up 

• They open a can of whoop-Ass 

• Jackson is emo and decides that the quest to find his sister no longer involves our heroines. Jane and Katherine are MAD late getting back to Miss Preston’s so they beeline their way back home.

Chapter 10

• Jane and Katherine sleepily drag themselves through the day until they’re called for a meeting in Miss Preston’s office 

• There, they find Miss Preston, Miss Anderson, Mr. Redfern, and ALL of my surprise 

• Turns out Katherine and Jane were invited to a fancy  dinner at Mrs. Carr’s house and Redfern and Anderson are gonna be fitting the girls for their dresses and escorting the girls there. Seems cute enough minus the fact that they were invited cuz too many of the guests’ attendants died 

• Jane tried to slide out the event by saying Miss Duncan gotta be there too 

• Preston’s like “that shouldn’t be a problem”

• As they leave, Jane overhears miss Preston ask about the status of the Edgar’s disappearance and it’s lowkey just messy boots 

Chapter 11

• So when Jane is stressed she usually recalls memories from Rose Hill Plantation which naturally make her more stressed 

• So lowkey Jane’s mama was a white woman that has a reputation for sleeping with folks in the field that were enslaved 

• She was known for buying the “least lucrative negroes” and treating hoes with actual dignity and respect—well as much as you can being a white woman that still bought black people 

• Mama was married to the major who left the plantation to fight for the confederacy which smh

• Rachel was a black woman that worked in the house that hated the dog shit out of mama, mainly cuz back when they were still slaves, she was massuh’s favorite 

• Rachel is lowkey Uncle Ruckus lmao 

• Anyways, no one likes Rachel so ‘sta bien 

Chapter 12

• Jane and Katherine got sized for dresses without incident 

• The day before the dinner, Jane and Katherine are perched under a tree chillin

• Jane reflects on how when the major came home, he was mad racist to Jane (without realizing that his wife was the mother), and 2 days later was dead after turning into a shambler 

• Jackson rolled up looking bloodied than a mf 

• Apparently he tried to sneak into the Mayor’s property to investigate the tings with the Spencer’s (the family that took care of his sister)

• Katherine lets it slip that they finna be at the dinner party tomorrow and Jane already know it’s gonna be some bullshit with these mfs

Chapter 13

• So niggas go to the Mayor’s asinine ass dinner 

• While there, hoes are bougie but like whites so who’s surprised?

• Mr. Redfern and Miss Duncan have a borderline flirtatious interaction and everybody gagged 

• Jackson ass disguised as a servant tryna get the tea, in plum disregard of the ass whopping he received just yesterday 

• Jane suddenly panics if her mom is alive or if Rose Hill is even still a place 

• Everyone gathers for food and Mr. Redfern, Jane, and Katherine line the wall with all the other cuhluds

• Mr. Redfern reveals that he doesn’t like Jane cuz she’s arrogant and he knows her from her nightly escapades saving hoes — the streets call her the Angel of the Crossroads 

• Mr. Redfern also went to basically a combat school and it sounded heinous 

• Miss Anderson’s guest starts turning into a shambler so Jane throws a blade across the room and kills him and somehow white people were mad 

Chapter 14

• After Jane killed a bitch, hoes left hella awkwardly 

• Jane tries to go to the bathroom, but Jackson recruits her in his latest scheme to get information from the mayor’s office 

• The two snoop in the office and discover a book called “Summerland” which is a community in Kansas truly free of shamblers.

• But they get caught by Miss Anderson and Mr. Redfern and are sent to the mayor’s clutches 

Chapter 15

• Turns out NOBODY is loyal and the mayor AND Miss Preston are in on the upcoming bullshit 

• Basically they get to the office and the mayor reveals how Summerland is the key to starting America over again. At present, it’s too dangerous. So it’s essentially an actual shambler free place, but they keep it safe by kidnapping graduates from the Preston school and forcing them there.

• So that’s where Jane and Jackson are headed 

• Oh yeah, and Katherine too cuz she’s too pretty....? 

• So yeah all the white people are evil what else is knew?

Chapter 16

• so boom right 

• Everyone’s forced into the train to head out west 

• Up until this point, Jane and her mom had been sending letters to each other

• Miss Anderson in a final act of just pure evil reveals that she’s been harboring Jane’s mom’s letters this whole time and also preventing Jane’s from being sent 

• Jane woulda thrown them hands si pudiera

• The three head out in the cargo of a train car and it just sounds goddamn awful 

Chapter 17

• They’re still tryna make it to Summerland and it’s still goddamn miserable 

• When they make it to Summerland, Jackson immediately punches Redfern in the face (deserved) and makes a run for it 

• But he’s tackled and beaten up, smh 

• Jane lowkey kikied watching that lol

• They all meet Sheriff Snyder (well mostly Katherine and Jane) and he’s racist and terrible 

• I swear every white person in this book is a Disney villain lmao 

• He tells them that they’ll basically patrol Summerland and keep it safe but guns are off limits since they might wil’ out with them 

• Summerland is supposed to be morally righteous and there’s church all the time, no drinking or fornication. E-VER!!!

• Jane lies to everybody and says Katherine is a white woman and Katherine was like “SHIIIIIIIIIIDT 🏼🏼”

• Then they leave with this asshole named Bill (the sheriff’s cousin) and Mr. Gideon (doctor?) to go get shambler vaccinated 

Chapter 18

• Bill tries Jane and, moments later, caught them hands 

• They walk past what might’ve been a brothel and Katherine was shooketh, but lowkey it’s implied Katherine might have been part of one back in the day, unclear 

• They walk walk walk until they get to Mr. Gideon’s medical dungeon or whatever 

Chapter 19

• UGH I HATE WHITE PEOPLE 

• okay so anyway 

• They enter the lab or whatever and everyone’s like omg 

• Gideon explains how his vaccine actually will work unlike the bullshit they saw happen in Baltimore 

• Jane gets a shot while Katherine gets her head measured to determine if she’s a white woman (YALL I wish I was making this shit up ) and she passes the white Test. Katherine didn’t get a vaccine which I hope doesn’t become a thing later in the book...

• They go get some clothes back above ground and Jane offers to escort her lady, Katherine, to the church with the other whites 

• Katherine is freaking out so Jane tells her a story about a fat rabbit that used to annoy tf out of everyone back at Rose Hill until they eventually killed it as an allegory of like “we gon get these hoes once they caught slippin”