“There was even a time when the setting of our sun brought shadows from other places… near and far… white shadows who ignored our peace… who arrested our dreams… who clamored for our gold… And they did not stop until they got what they came for…”
The book is narrated by an 11-year-old boy from Ghana. Interestingly, on the page just before Chapter One commences, the setting of the Ghanaian kingdom in which Kofi is born is given further precision with a date: “September 1860.” What that date doesn’t tell the uneducated is that the book begins just a little over five years before the ratification of the 13th Amendment. Or, in other words, this is a story that begins in Africa and tells of slave trafficking during what might—arguably—be considered its most tragic period. That period when those Africans were abducted and kidnapped and sold into slavery was mere years away from never having to worry about those circumstances again. This is what Kofi is referring to with his metaphorical references to white shadows arriving from elsewhere and destroying the peace and murdering ambitions. Not to mention stealing fortunes. The setting of the story is slyly allusive commentary that they did not stop because they got everything they came for, but because they had no choice.
“I am banished
to bed
for the night
without drink
without dinner
by my maame,”
The bulk of this book is written in verse. Within that form, structure varies according to narrative necessity. For instance, some passages are framed as conversations but still appear as poems. The example in the first quote above is one of the rare exceptions where a page looks as though it is composed in simple prose. This second quote is significant because it is an example of the story of Kofi before the slave traders arrive. Before that happens, nobody in his village is a slave. Nobody even knows the concept of slavery. As Kofi’s story plays out, it is basically just like any other coming-of-age story told by a juvenile first-person narrator. It is about playing with friends, noticing girls, and going to school. Again, the point is being subtly made that because of a war in a country thousands of miles away from him, he was just five years away from escaping the horror.
“I see stunned little boys
I see frightened girls
I see a dark lady
with hair like a rope
holding on to as many of them
as she can.”
Everything changed after the slave traders arrive. Where the imagery before was bright and open and glorious, things turn dark and become claustrophobic. In an instant, Kofi goes from being just a carefree little kid like any other to becoming a statistic. His life still matters, and it is still a coming-of-age story, but little that mattered before is still going to matter. This quote is before things get really bad and yet its very darkness is a portent of those things to come. The quote also carries the burden of statistics: Kofi sees himself and everyone who came before him in the terror in the eyes of those boys and girls sitting in the dark across from him. Kofi’s story is that of an individual, but already by this point, it has lost the rough edges of that distinct identity. He has become one of many even as he remains himself.
