The Book of Night Women

Content Warning: This section of the guide contains references to enslavement, sexual violence, torture, and murder.

Lilith’s green eyes represent the visible fact that she has whiteness within her. In her youth her proximity to whiteness makes her feel better than other people, but it also confuses her. Her eyes prove that she is not entirely Black yet everyone sees her that way. As a child, her green eyes drive her relentless belief that she will find love. It both lets her believe that she is different somehow from most Black women and it is a constant push for her to make sense of her whiteness, drawing her toward white people.

During the chaos of the rebellion, Lilith looks into Jack Wilkins’s eyes trying to see herself and decides to help him survive. In the end, her eyes are the key to the empathy that allows her to turn away from revenge. Because of this part of her, she cannot see white people as devils because she is constantly reminded of the fact that she has whiteness in her.