Book 4, Chapter 33 Summary

That weekend, Joseph and Sophie drive to her mother's with Brigitte in the back. Over dinner, Marc and her mother are very kind. The four of them make small talk. They talk about what it means to be African, Southern, and Southern African-American. Her mother sings an old Negro spiritual:

Sometimes I feel like a motherless child.

Sometimes I feel like a motherless child.

Sometimes I feel like a motherless child.

A long ways from home.

The day ends quickly, and Sophie must leave before she finds out what her mother has decided to do about the baby. When she gets home, she finds two messages from her mother on the answering machine. When she calls her back, her mother tells her that last night the baby spoke to her. It had a man's voice, and it called her a whore...