“You took me on because I was helpful in your political cause. Because I could aid in your experiments. Beyond that, I was of no use to you, and so you abandoned me.” I struggled to get my breath. “I was nothing to you. You never saw me as equal. You were more concerned that slavery should be a moral stain upon white men than by the actual damage it wreaks on black men.”
In this passage, Black is confronting Titch, believing that he had been abandoned. Titch first asked Black to be his assistant, which helped Black develop his love for science. However, Black doubts Titch's devotion to the abolitionist cause, believing that is it more selfish than he lets on.
"The hours passed; in the warm, dim glow of the igloo I sat staring at the thumbs of my torn mittens. I did not want to stay in that place. All my life I had known only the warmth of the Indies, the fresh salt of the sea air. I felt shuttered up, boxed in, shuddering with a cold no blanket or animal hide or fire could keep out."
Black reflects on his change of circumstances and the different atmosphere he finds himself in. As he was born in Barbados he had been used to the sun and hot weather; however, he now finds himself in a completely different climate that is unfamiliar and alien to him.
