Summary

After Peter leaves, Thandi feels her body "enters a period of slow motion from which [she] cannot emerge" (151).Thandi then meditates on being an orphan, realizing that popular heroes such as Batman and Beowulf were all orphans, thinking that the loss of parents perhaps endows "them with a drive to do greater things" (152). Nelson Mandela suffered similarly, leaving home after his father's death and beginning his lifelong journey from there. Thandi then includes an excerpt from Mandela's autobiography. Thandi then speaks of the cliche of orphans wanting to do great things to make their parents proud, citing Obama as an example. She imagines the ghosts of his ancestors watching him during his first inauguration, including his mother. There is an excerpt from the updated edition of Obama's "Dreams from My Father," which speaks of the joy he receives in seeing his...