31 pages • 1 hour read
Alejo CarpentierThe Kingdom Of This World
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1949A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Part 2, Chapters 5-7Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 2, Chapter 5 Summary: "Santiago de Cuba"
Ti Noël and Lenormand de Mézy arrive in Cuba. Lenormand de Mézy enjoys the atmosphere of Cuba where he begins to “divide his time between cards and prayers” (57). He sells many of his slaves to pay his gambling debts. Aging, he fears death is coming soon. Ti Noël prays to another god: Santiago, the marshal of storms.
Part 2, Chapter 6 Summary: "The Ship of Dogs"
Ti Noël sees a ship of dogs leaving the port and is told that they are being sent “to eat blacks” (59). The Dufrené family arrives in Santiago, and Ti Noël receives word of Haiti. The narrative he hears focuses on Pauline Bonaparte, who travels to Haiti with her husband as a beautiful young woman. She had read about the colonies and was excited for her life there. In their new home, she allows one male slave, Soliman, to bathe and massage her—known he is “tormented by desire” (63). Life in Haiti is a dream—until one day, her hairdresser begins to vomit blood.
