Examine the role of literacy in this neo slave narrative so far.

When Dana begins her journeys she privileges the present and thinks an awareness of the historical past will allow her to be a distanced spectator and successfully navigate its treacherous terrain. As time goes on, though, she realizes that is almost wholly unprepared to be in the past and that she has to adjust her mannerisms, words, behavior, expectations, and more. Past and present will be interwoven and Dana will even lose part of her body to the past; the past marks the present indelibly and should not be looked on with nostalgia or superiority.