Structure

Black Boy Out of Time is organized into three sections, labeled cantos, a prologue, and an epilogue. All of these sections are titled, and each of the cantos contains a series of smaller, numerical chapters. In the prologue, “Misafropedia,” the author introduces their inspirations behind and goals for the text. They particularly hinge these overarching remarks upon their memories of taking walks with their grandmother through their parents’ Cleveland Heights neighborhood. These walks, Ziyad hoped, would help them recover the “pieces of my childhood that reflected so much of the life” they felt they had lost “over the years” (1). Reflecting on these afternoon outings with Mother Bhūmi allows the author to consider their longings, their loneliness, and the ways in which writing their memoir might help them locate a new faith for themself. The prologue, therefore, contains the essential thematic notions of Black Boy Out of...