Book 3, Chapter 22 Summary

The next morning, Sophie sits on the porch, watching a pack of rainbow butterflies. Her grandmother goes to the cemetery—her face covered in ashes, wearing a black veil—to pay her last respects to Dessalines. Tante Atie does not come home for supper. Ifé and Sophie eat their dinner outside in the yard, watching a light move back and forth in the distance. Ifé explains that a baby is being born. The light is a midwife making trips from the shack to the yard, where a pot is boiling. If it is a boy, the lantern will be left on all night and the father will stay with the child. If it is a girl, the lantern will go out, and the mother will hold the daughter alone. About an hour later, Sophie sees the light go out.

Book 3, Chapter 22 Analysis