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Chapter Summaries
Prologue
In the Prologue of this book by Bernice Morgan the reader is introduced to the hardships and uncertainties of survival. Bernice Morgan uses the native hunt to illustrate the uncertainty of having food to eat. Toma, a native child, asks his mother when they will eat. The prologue also illustrates the separate roles that men and women play to help everyone survive. This shows that no one is spared from the hardships. Later in the prologue the reader is introduced to the white man, or widdun's attitude towards the natives. There is a brief narrative to show this: "Gobidin and his wife left the main party to hunt otter. On the second day the two had been paddling their canoe up one of the rivers feeding the fiord, when suddenly five widdun appeared out of the woods, lifted up their sticks and blew fire through the air at their canoe. The fire hit Eeshoo and Gobidin, hit the small boat, spinning it around so that it rocked and began drifting backwards while the widdun stood on the shore laughing and throwing more fire across the water. This shows the fear the natives have for the white man, and the disrespect that the white man has for the natives. Towards the end of the prologue the little Indian boy, Toma, finds a metal stick (a shaft from a rifle) and asks if it is magical. Ejew tells Toma to throw it back into the ocean where he found it because she thought that it was evil. This metal rod surfaces in later parts of the book making it significant.
Chapter 1
In this first chapter Lavinia, Ned, Meg, Jennie, and other main characters are introduced. Lavinia's will to go back home is presented to the reader. Also, we find out that Lavinia will not make is back home to England because she cannot face another five weeks upon a vessel crowded with many other people that cannot wash or take care of themselves properly. We find out that she sees everything on the Cape as being black and dreary. The reader finds out that hazel was ill from...