Summary

“A Meeting in the Dark” - Third-person, past-tense narration in this story shifts perspective back and forth between its various characters. Its primary focus is on John, the son of strict preacher Stanley, a black African convert to the white man’s Christianity. John, narration reveals, has been educated at a white school and is about to leave for a white college. Narration also suggests that John has a secret that he is worried will change his reputation not only with his father, but with the non-Christian tribal community whom he believes respects him.

Narration also describes the tension and history between Stanley and Susana, Stanley’s wife and John’s mother. Susana had gotten pregnant with John before she and Stanley got married, a circumstance that she believes led Stanley to become so strict about the relationship and...