The narrative is about slavery in America. It is narrated by an unnamed person who together with other African people get imprisoned and eventually put on a ship that is on the way to America. The narrator describes the dreadful treatment of his people on the ship; of the rape, murder, humiliation and lack of any human compassion. They were contained in one room below the deck where the scent of human suffering became unimaginable.
The ship arrives to American soil with a considerably lower number of people than what is started with. People, African people are presented as material goods for sale, no one sees them, and no one looks at their eyes and sees human beings. Many end up sold, but a large number is return to the ship where they have to continue to endure humiliation and violence. They get transferred to another place for sale. Some of them get sold immediately but most get chained in a small shed. They get put on the market on display every day and their number lessens.
The chained people make the shed their own place of compassion and understanding among each other, gripping to the memories of home and their identity. The last to get sold is a man called Atiba. He was known as a trickster among his people, a performer, and he puts on a performance of submissiveness for white people who came to buy him. He knows that he is only a thing to them, and he acts the part. He is bought by a meek couple, who he will end up murdering in a few days. Atiba planted the seeds of return. This was not the end. This was The Coming.
