'Lovecraft Country' Episode 4: Montrose symbolizes racial and generational trauma within the Black community
There have been several studies done on how racial trauma results in symptoms that resemble PTSD -- from chronic stress to self-harm to avoidance of any activity that might be risky. Montrose has had a double dose of that. Not only did he have racial trauma but also trauma related to his sexuality -- as we see in the opening sequence of episode 4 -- of him in an alcoholic daze. He mutters about "Whiteys" feeding them death as he remembers how his father beat him with a switch for putting flowers in his hair -- code for queerness -- that is confirmed by Tree's insinuations that Montrose is gay.
Generational abuse has been passed down in the Freeman family just like that "tying a secure knot" legacy. Just like Montrose was beaten up by his father, he beat up Tic while trying to purge himself of the rage and helplessness he felt as a young boy. In the same way, Montrose's self-destructive behavior spills over to how he handles the 'Sons of Adams' by-law book that Uncle George stole from the lodge for Tic. As he burns it, he says it "smells of Tulsa" referencing a traumatic chapter in Black history -- the Tulsa Massacre at Black Wall Street in 1921.
The episode itself is called 'A History of Violence' and in Montrose, we see how that generational violence, both racial and familial, has resulted in self-loathing, self-harming, violent behaviors -- not only toward himself but also toward those who resemble him -- those who are Black, queer like Yahima, and unfortunately for Tic, those who are family.
For Tic and Leti, knowledge and educating themselves is power -- it is how they envision defeating Christina Braithwaite and her henchman William and the 'Sons of Adams' freaks. Montrose on the other hand wants to "close the Pandora's box" and stay as far away from "Whitey" territory. He doesn't want a repeat of Tulsa after all where Blacks didn't know their place and was were "taught" their place by Whites, just like how his father had taught him his place when he stepped outside gender norms.
There has been some debate about how 'Lovecraft Country' has treated its first trans character -- both by having the camera linger on their naked body and using the pronoun "she". And yes, those moments are definitely not in keeping with the subversive spirit of 'Lovecraft Country'. But Montrose killing Yahima, while tragic, fits into his self-destructive narrative arc.
In one of the most seeing dialogues of the episode, Montrose berates Tic for going too fast and leaving him too far behind in the watery underground tunnels and asks if he learned nothing in the army about not leaving any man behind. Tic rears up and confronts him and says that unlike his own father, he could always trust his own army comrades.
And that is the crux of the problem. Montrose cannot be trusted because of his trauma and skittishness. He is the weakest link because his fear overrides any good sense.
Ruby is the other character in whom this self-loathing shows up. She wishes she was White so she wouldn't have to "run" -- so that she could just walk in and get that department store job. She calls Leti's "pioneering" a "distraction" to getting on in the world in the limited ways in which her Blackness allows her. Both Montrose and Ruby reflect the ways in which internalized racism and in Montrose's case, also internalized homophobia, can play out. And distressingly, their low self-respect can impede Leti and Tic's brave march to claim what's theirs, come hell or high water.
The next episode of 'Lovecraft Country' airs on September 13 at 9 PM ET on HBO.