Summary

James – In the celebratory aftermath of the death of a rival tribal leader, James learns from a white friend of Quey, his father, that his grandfather has been killed, possibly as part of ongoing conflict between the tribe from which his mother (Nana Yaa) came, the Asantes; and the tribe from which his father came, the Fantes. Quey reveals that Nana Yaa wants to go to the funeral, and “The next day,” narration comments, “James, his mother, and his father headed north … his grandmother Effia would stay at home with the younger children” (89).

Narration describing the trip places the action in the early 1800’s. As James and his family travel to the funeral of his grandfather, they stop at the home of a friend of Quey’s from England. Conversation reveals that James has been promised in marriage to the daughter of a...