Chapter 1 Summary

This short poetic novel explores racial tensions between blacks and whites from two perspectives, that of a light skinned black woman and a darker skinned black man, each of whom internalizes the negative attitudes of whites and responds to them with violence. With a narrative that is fluid and rich in metaphor, the novel explores themes related to the nature of motherhood and of home.

"Ruinate" The chapter begins with a footnoted definition of "ruinate" (see "Chapters 1 and 2 Analysis). The chapter proper begins with a description of how, on a "hot afternoon after a day of solid heavy rain", a rickety truck makes its precarious way along the slippery road around a mountain. Poetically written narration describes the two loads in its back - the first a group of men and women of mixed skin colors, dressed in stolen/borrowed khaki who think...