Crossing the Mangrove

The third-person omniscient narrator details Loulou’s visit to Vilma’s father, Sylvestre, who reiterates the risk of seeking revenge against Sancher. In his childhood, he was largely ignored by his father as the fourth son. However, when he turned 10, his father takes him to a temple. Sylvestre is so horrified at the sight of animal sacrifice that he urinates. This shame is repeated and embellished by family members throughout his life. His response is to become a devout Hindu, but when he wants to take his wife Rosa to India, she instead wants to visit Paris. Sylvestre is an attentive father to his own four sons but leaves the care of his daughter Vilma to Rosa. Vilma rebels against his desire for her to marry, and on an infrequent visit to the bar, he sees a drunk Sancher and thinks him a man of education. When he learns of Mira’s sexual assault, he thinks she deserves it—without knowing Vilma was also impregnated by Sancher.

In first-person narration, retired schoolteacher Léocadie Timothée claims Sancher’s corpse as her own, saying she is both its mistress and accomplice—despite not having liked him when he was alive. She is angry at the way Rivière au Sel has changed and its influx of foreigners. When she was 20, she left home to set up a school in the village. Léocadie’s father had been politically active, advocating for the rights of Black Guadeloupean people, and this is why she wants to set up a school. However, many Black villagers resent her wealth, and she projects this resentment onto students. Yet, a French inspector finds this approach successful and promotes her to headmistress of the school. In 1939, World War II begins, and Léocadie realizes her youth has slipped away and she is unlikely to find a husband. A man named Déodat Timodent is sent to Rivère au Sel to study as punishment for his pro-communist activism and writing. Léocadie is attracted to him, but he is busy partying with light-skinned girls. One day, she examines herself in a mirror and becomes angry that her parents thought the way to “improve” their race was through education. The village mocks her lovesickness, but the “sea” tells her to claim her love: Léocadie tries, but Déodat is frightened of her position as his headmistress. In the present, she remembers the one time she met Sancher: When he catches sight of her, he runs away in fear, confirming to her that she terrifies men. Léocadie wishes him ill and believes God finally answered her prayers.

In first-person narration, storyteller Cyrille recalls meeting Sancher, who claimed Cuba is the country he chose for his “rebirth.” His true heritage is that of his French great-grandfather, who settled in the Caribbean and whose lineage he seeks to end. He wishes “she” would leave, and predicts he only has a few days left to live. Cyrille pieces together that “she” is Mira, and that Sancher is waiting for death. In the present, he is so caught up in thoughts of death that he misspeaks during his storytelling.

In first-person narration, Rosa recounts a story her mother used to tell her. She then recounts her marriage to Sylvestre and pride at having sons. However, Sylvestre and school took her sons, so she visits Maman Sonson for help conceiving a daughter. Rosa gives birth to light-skinned Shireen, a name conjured by dreams of her ancestral home of India; however, Shireen dies a few months later. Rosa then gives birth to dark-skinned Vilma, whom she resents. When Vilma starts to live with Sancher, Rosa believes this is God taking revenge on her. When her husband and sons fail to resolve the living situation, she visits Sancher and finds herself drawn to him; to her, his story of his mother is also her story. He indirectly mentions refusing to fight in World War II. Vilma returns and tells Rosa to leave. She runs away and encounters Xantippe, before imagining asking for Vilma’s forgiveness.

The third-person omniscient narrator opens with Rosa’s son Carmélien confessing he is more upset by Sancher’s “sexual assault” of Mira than Vilma. He is a reserved young man, influenced by a book he reads for school and love for Mira, whom he spies bathing in the Gully. He is diagnosed by relatives as suffering from puberty. One day, Carmélien sees Mira at a fair and spends all his money on a doll for her. When he presents it to her, she responds with an Indian slur. He loses his taste for life and is unable to make love to another woman. Carmélien goes to France to study medicine but cannot stand the sight of blood, so he returns home. He hears rumors of Mira’s incest and remembers liking Sancher when they first met—hearing his stories of Cuba and his impending death. When villagers eventually opened Sancher’s trunk, there was no money as Moïse claimed. Now that Sancher is dead, Carmélien feels free to beg Mira to marry him.