Summary

As Section 7 of “The Packet War” begins, Shay assumes her responsibilities as mistress of the house. She finds herself becoming increasingly distant from Senna, who seems to prefer spending time with Kristos. Kristos, in turn, seems to have some kind of hold over Senna, whose affectionate attitude towards Shay, which she is accustomed to when they are in Italy, becomes one of anger, resentment, and confrontation when they are in Madagascar.

Over the next couple of years, Shay struggles to define her feelings about Madagascar in general (“she can’t place it under the heading she knows well from her upbringing: the conventional African-American reverence for a romanticized and undifferentiated ancestral continent” (22)). She also struggles to make sense of her place in the house and in the marriage, where she constantly feels undermined and dismissed. At one point she confides in...