The Kingdom of This World

What happens in Part 4 of "The Kingdom of This World" by Alejo Carpentier?

The Kingdom of This World

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Part Four: Chapters I and II

• In Part Four: Chapter I, titled “The Night of the Statues,” the former queen and her daughters are in Rome, as is Soliman, who makes a stir among the poor sections of Rome and becomes a local celebrity for his uniqueness as a black man in Rome.

• Soliman begins an affair with a maid at the Borghese Palace, where the servants have free reign because the owners are away.

• One night, Soliman is drunk and decides to explore the palace with his lover.

• Soliman sees a statue of the Venus of Canova, modeled by Pauline Bonaparte; becoming overwhelmed with the idea that it is Pauline's corpse, he lets out a cry, which brings the police, and Soliman runs off.

• Soliman goes back to Queen Marie-Louise, and he falls ill with malaria and calls to his Voodoo gods to help him.

• Part Four: Chapter II, “The Royal Palace” returns to the story of Ti Noël; one of the looters who ransacked the palace, Ti Noël now has a boule table in his roofless manor house at the plantation, as well as a decorated screen, a stuffed moonfish, a music box, a decanter, a shepherdess doll, an armchair, and three volumes of encyclopedia that he uses as a stool.

• Ti Noël’s most prized possession is a green silk dress coat with salmon-colored lace cuffs that once was King Henri Christophe's; Ti Noël presides over dances on his plantation.

Source(s)

The Kingdom of This World, BookRags