Summary

In the first chapter of Book Two, “The Ship,” the wind / Charlotte narration describes how she accompanied ships that crossed the Atlantic, from Africa to America and back, watchful but unable to provide comfort to the black bodies on those ships. The narration also describes the politics of America at the time, i.e. the mid-1800’s, and how the President at the time decided to let the American Colonization Society (ACS) do what it wanted to do, but without government money. So, the narration says, a ship from Africa is turned away and sent back to Africa. When it lands, the people in charge of managing the people on the ship are met by the two white men who rescued Gbessa from her imprisonment. She is unconscious but alive, mumbling “Gbessa the witch” over and over again (163). The narration describes how “Ol...