Prentice Alvin Study Guide & Plot Synopsis

Prentice Alvin Plot Summary

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Prentice Alvin, by Orson Scott Card, takes place in an alternate America, in a world in which each race has its own type of magic. In the early 1800s, young Alvin apprentices to be a blacksmith, while trying to learn how to become a fabled Maker, who has godlike powers.

Cavil Planter is a slave owner whose wife is too sick to bear children. Cavil receives a vision of a man whom he thinks is Jesus Christ. The visitor tells Cavil to have children with his slave women, and send them out into the world. From that day on, Cavil rapes all of his female slaves, fathering as many children with them as possible. His first son is born to a young African princess, who uses her voodoo magic to turn into a blackbird and fly away with the baby. The enchantment nearly kills...
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