The Kingdom Of This World

Ti Noël is sold as a slave to Monsieur Lenormand de Mézy. Lenormand de Mézy trusts him, but Ti Noël harbors fantasies of his death. He often thinks about the Africa he’s heard of through Macandal’s stories. Over his time in Haiti, he participates in Macandal’s and Bouckman’s revolutions, looting houses, and raping women. He fathers a dozen children with different women and raises them to believe in Macandal’s stories as well. After the failure of these revolutions, he travels to Cuba with Lenormand de Mézy, and then makes his way back to Haiti as a free man. However, he is put into service by the king’s men and abhors this new form of slavery. Finally, after another revolution, he is free to run the now-ruined Lenormand de Mézy, playing at being king. When a new group of mixed-race conquerors arrives, he gains the power to transform himself into an animal. However, the animals reject him and decides he must fight on behalf of mankind. Upon achieving this breakthrough, he is killed by a wave borne from a storm.