Summary

Chapter 1 opens in a hospital in New York City around the year 1930. Lafala—who is originally from the country of Senegal—is a patient in the hospital. He is a sailor, and he recently lived for a short time in Marseilles, France. He stowed away on a boat to New York. The crew discovered him on the boat and locked him in a cold, non-insulated latrine room on the ship. His legs were affected by frostbite, and they were amputated at the hospital. Lafala grieves for the loss of his legs. As he lies in the hospital bed, he thinks about someday returning to Senegal. He has noticed that, even among black people who were born in other countries, many black people have considered the idea of returning to Africa to escape racial persecution. Lafala has found urban living to be quite stressful, and...