Book 2, Chapter 9 Summary

Still by the river, Indar starts talking about his life. He seems irritated and depressed. He starts by saying that most cultures trample their own past. That is what this go-go-go world requires. When he first left Africa for London, he thought he'd never come back. He was so unhappy then; he knew his family was soon to lose everything it had built. He thought he could leave all the sadness and rage behind when he got to England.

"University" seemed like a magic word, and Indar thought a magic life awaited him. He didn't realize how the simplicity of Africa would affect how he saw the outside world. He said people from Africa accept everything they see without trying to add to it. They feel the world is something for them to explore but not to change.

Indar says he...