The Long Song

July abruptly halts her story, declaring that she can write no more. Thomas has angrily confronted her, demanding to know why she omitted the fact that she gave birth to a son and abandoned him. After a brief argument over whether she has the right to create her own story, she yields. July confesses that she gave birth to Nimrod’s son but was disgusted by his dark skin. Unwilling to kill him or keep him, she left the infant at the gate of a Baptist minister, James Kinsman.

The narrator then recounts Thomas’s privileged upbringing with the Kinsmans, who provided him with a Christian education and dedicated themselves to “civilizing” him. He became their star pupil, and they took him to England when their mission ended. She contrasts his good life with her own suffering after the rebellion—trauma, punishment, and the deaths of Patience and Hannah.

Thomas apologizes to his mother and shows her an old Baptist missionary magazine. It contains an article by Jane Kinsman, the minister’s wife, which confirms that July was the baby’s mother. In the article, Jane claims that after finding a Black baby outside her home, she traced his mother, July. July begged her to take the child to save him from being sold by Caroline Mortimer. The narrator confirms that she faked subservience and gratitude to convince Jane to raise her baby. However, she furiously refutes a patronizing anecdote in the article that portrays her as simple-minded. Spurred by this misrepresentation, the narrator agrees to resume her story. She adds a correction: The funeral for slavery in Chapter 16 was an embellishment inspired by another book. In reality, she spent that night confined with Caroline.

The narrator explains that in the six years after Howarth’s death, Caroline refashioned herself as a competent and heroic “plantation mistress.” In reality, Amity had fallen into ruin. Slavery was replaced by a transitional “apprenticeship” period where formerly enslaved people would continue to be unpaid for 45 hours’ work per week. Any work beyond these hours would be paid. Amity’s workers refused to labor beyond the legally mandated hours, and production collapsed. Caroline approved the use of a brutal dungeon to punish workers until a deputation complained. After witnessing the horrific conditions herself, a horrified Caroline, on July’s advice, closed it. Impressed with July, Caroline made her an administrative assistant and, upon discovering her illiteracy, taught her to read and write. 

The narrative returns to the night slavery ends. July is forced to listen to Caroline complaining about her overseer quitting. As midnight strikes, officially ending slavery, July listens to the distant celebrations and informs Caroline that she is now free. A stunned Caroline anxiously asks if she plans to leave.

The next day, a new overseer, Robert Goodwin, arrives at Amity. He’s a handsome, educated gentleman who declares the end of slavery a glorious new day. He tells Caroline that the workers’ living conditions are deplorable and that he intends to address them with promises of fair treatment. Charmed by him, Caroline enthusiastically agrees, despite having rejected the same idea from his predecessor. Robert explains his belief that Black people, if treated with kindness, will work diligently. He then addresses the assembled workers, informing them that they’re free but that their homes and provision grounds still belong to Caroline. They may remain if they agree to work for wages, but they must do so “diligently and cheerfully” or face eviction (173). The crowd responds with audible anger and contempt.

Caroline develops a fascination with Robert and constantly invents reasons to send July to his house with messages. During a storm, she sends July to invite him to dinner. July arrives to find a flustered Robert in the middle of a chaotic attempt to eradicate cockroaches from his house. When a massive cockroach falls onto his desk, Robert screams in terror. July calmly kills the bug. Embarrassed but grateful, Robert gives July the cracked blue-and-white plate it landed on. He asks for her real name and agrees to call her “Miss July.” He then gladly accepts the dinner invitation, and July notes that his eyes are as blue as Caroline claimed.

While running an errand in town, July encounters Miss Clara, a light-skinned “quadroon” whom July despises. Miss Clara, a former “house slave,” now runs a successful shop and hosts exclusive dances for white men and light-skinned Black women. July recalls how Miss Clara once humiliated her by inspecting her features and then barring her from one of the dances. July insisted that her father was white, but Clara maintained that she was “too full of negro” (191). 

Miss Clara condescends to July, boasting about her wealthy white protector and new lodging house. Their conversation is interrupted when Robert drives up in a cart and warmly greets July by name, pointedly ignoring Miss Clara. He offers July a ride back to Amity, which she eagerly accepts, delighting in the opportunity to humiliate her rival.

On the cart ride back to Amity, Robert expresses his disapproval of Miss Clara and her dances. Sensing his pious nature, July pretends that she enjoys reading the Bible, bluffing her way through his questions. Acutely aware of his physical presence, July informs him that her father was a white Scotsman—the former overseer, Tam Dewar—to establish herself as “a mulatto” (biracial). Robert’s mood sours, and he questions her about her father’s character. To please him, July invents a story of a loving father who promised to take her to Scotland. When he presses further, she claims that both her parents died in the riots and feigns tears. Touched, Robert comforts her and shyly offers to show her a book about Scotland one day.

Soon afterward, Robert is flustered when July unexpectedly arrives at his house and asks to see the book on Scotland. July stands deliberately close to him as he shows her the illustrations, and he kisses her passionately before pulling away. Anguished at his loss of control, Robert apologizes for his behavior, saying that his father “has the highest contempt for white men who abuse their position with negroes” (206). Crying, he tells July to go and asks God for forgiveness.

The narrator breaks from the story to address the reader directly. In a conspiratorial tone, she reveals that Robert’s behavior was not typical of white men in Jamaica.

Robert begins watching July from a distance, torn between his desire for her and his sense of moral duty to his father. Outside his house, July finds the book on Scotland with three pressed flowers inside. One night, he confronts her in the garden, seizes her, and then pushes her away, weeping as he confesses his love. 

Weeks later, he finds her on the veranda and pulls her into a secluded spot. He excitedly tells her that he has devised a plan that will allow them to be together—one his father would approve of. As he kisses her, they’re interrupted by Caroline calling for July. Robert slips away, whispering, “Soon.” Caroline then appears and, bursting with excitement, announces that she and Robert are to be married.