Part 8 - Chapter 15, Epilogue Summary and Analysis

Chapter 15 - Arriving at the conference, William is at first overwhelmed by prosperity, technology, large numbers of people, and the dominance of the English language, but soon finds an ally - Tom Rielly, who helps him prepare for his presentation and who takes him to other sessions. At one such session, William listens to a speaker, Erik Hersman, describe Africa "perfectly" (see "Quotes," p. 253). When William makes his own presentation, he is nervous at first and embarrassed about his English, but when he describes how he completed the windmill by saying, "And I try, and I made it," he gets a standing ovation, and the phrase, he says, became a catchphrase of the conference. Afterwards, Tom Rielly helps William gather funds for further experiments and his education. William also encounters Gerry Douglas, an American innovator...