The Longest Memory: Study Notes

Synopsis
The Longest Memory chronicles the final years in the life of Whitechapel, the oldest slave
on the Whitechapel Plantation in Virginia in the late 1700s and early 1800s. The novel
incorporates the narrative perspectives of several different characters connected to the
central event of Whitechapels son Chapel being whipped and his subsequent death. The
novel spans a long period of time and is told through multiple modes, including verse and
diary entries.
The novel begins and ends with short, nostalgic sections from Whitechapels perspective. The
opening section reflects on the death of his son and the final section is set just before the
death of Whitechapel, so the novel is bookended by death. This emphasises the tone of
sorrow and misfortune that echoes through the whole narrative.
We are then given a factual account of the events leading to his sons death: Whitechapels
second wife dies, held by her husband and son, after which the boy runs away from the
plantation. In order to teach his son a lesson of what happens to slaves who do not accept
their situation, Whitechapel tells their master, Mr Whitechapel, where to find his son.
The overseer (Sanders Junior) carries out the punishment due to Mr Whitechapels absence,
and it is disastrous. Despite Mr Whitechapels belief in treating his slaves well a belief that
earns him the harsh judgement and disrespect of other plantation owners Chapel is whipped
to death. It is around this event that all subsequent chapters revolve, filling in background
details of the lives of the characters, and gradually revealing layers of complexity that
deepen the impact of the event on all involved.
First, Mr Whitechapel reveals that Chapels father was actually Sanders Senior, who
violated Whitechapels young fiance named Cook. Far from holding a grudge, the deeply
loyal Whitechapel raised and loved Chapel as his own. This history and story is expanded by
both Sanders Seniors and Cooks perspectives.
The next significant plot development (introduced in Chapels poem) is the love story of
Chapel and Lydia, Mr Whitechapels daughter. Lydia teaches Chapel to write and they fall in
love before Mr Whitechapel discovers their unacceptable relationship. They are planning a
secret move to the North (where race relations between African slaves and white Americans
are much more liberal due to the progress of the abolitionist movement), when Chapel is
caught and then whipped to death.
Woven through Chapel and Whitechapels story is the secondary plot of Mr Whitechapel, a
man who has inherited his property and slaves from his father, but has mixed feelings about
his position as a slave owner. He tries to act on his own religious and ethical beliefs about
treating slaves with respect despite the difficulty this causes him with other plantation
owners.

Historical Context
Slavery
Underlying the plot and events of The Longest Memory is the history of slavery in the
United States, including the abolitionist movement the fight to end slavery. In the novel,
Thomas Whitechapel (Lydia Whitechapels brother) discusses the differing ideas about slaves,
African Americans and race relations held in the Northern states such as Massachusetts. The
capital of Massachusetts, Boston, is one of the cities where Lydia and Chapel dream of
making a new life for themselves. These views contrast with those supported by most of the
plantation owners around them.
Mr Whitechapel represents a man caught between two eras: he respects the figures in his
recent past, such as his father, who ran the plantation before him, and set up the
Gentlemans Club, yet also sees clearly into the near future, when the relationships between
the white masters and African-American works will be different. He even acknowledges that
a relationship like that between Lydia and Chapel might be a realistic possibility in the
future.
Mr Whitechapel faces the resistance of his peers; many of them fear their own personal
downfall if they are forced to pay their workers rather than legally owning slaves. Many of
these men also believe that their slaves are inherently inferior people. Such beliefs likely
soothed the consciences of Southern slave owners and allowed them to continue with the
inhumane treatment of their slaves. It also helped them resist the increasing anti-slavery
pressures from the North.

Abolitionism
The abolitionism movement in the United States began in the early eighteenth century as
people began to question the ethics of slave ownership. Vermont was the first American state
to ban slavery (although it was not a complete ban), with a law passed in 1777. Many
Northern states followed suit. However, there was fierce resistance from the Southern
states, and it wasnt until the end of the American Civil War in 1865 that slavery was
abolished federally.

The American Civil War

The American Civil War (1861-1865) was in part caused by the withdrawal of South Carolina
and then other Southern states from the federal union formally uniting all the states of
America. This withdrawal was largely triggered by federal support for countrywide abolition
of slaves, brought about by the election of Abraham Lincoln as president in 1860. By this
time, slavery had been abolished by the Northern states. However, many Southern states
economies depended upon the slave labour used in plantation industries such as cotton,
coffee and sugar. Therefore, the Southern states refused to accept this loss of control over
what they perceived as their own constitutional rights. This began the civil war between the
North and the South.

Chapters
Remembering
This brief prologue establishes the style and tone of the novel. It is descriptive and lyrical,
but also troubled and full of painful grief. Narrated by Whitechapel, he appears to be a
broken man, lost and forlorn over the events surrounding his sons death. He laments that
the future is just more of the past waiting to happen. This highlights the idea that the
past is always going to repeat itself and that nothing ever really changes. Whitechapel feels
isolated and alone, in that he had no name and was just a boy, mule, nigger, slave or
whatever else anyone chose to call me. Whitechapel acknowledges that the last time I
cried was over the pointless death of a boy I loved as my own and that it hurt more
than any pain Id felt before or since. He also states that I never knew crying could take
over a body so, rock it, shake it, rattle it, thump it so that the body feels wrecked and
cries without tears or movement of any kind, out of sheer exhaustion, except for that
moan, groan, hoarse, bass wail. The prologue ends with Whitechapels reflection on how
he wants to forget as hard as [he] can because memory hurts. Like crying. But still and
deep.

Chapter 1: Whitechapel
In this chapter, it continues Whitechapels grief that was established in Remembering, and
further highlights his ongoing sorrow. Whitechapel is haunted by the decisions he made that
lead to his sons whipping and consequential death. The bags under [his] eyes are sacks of
worries, witnesses of dreams, nightmares and sleep from which a man should not be
allowed to wake.
When his son Chapel is whipped by Sanders Junior and his deputy for running away,
Whitechapel looked on without seeing, witness without registering a memory or
sensation. Whitechapel recalls that The first lash ripped a hole in my head and I
screamed for my son, who fell silent as the grass and trees. Chapel received two hundred
lashes, but he was gone halfway into it all. Whitechapel desolately remembers that I
know he was halfway into that beating when he stopped screaming father because he
could see I was being held down and was no good to him. Whitechapel was crying
uncontrollably during the whipping, and the slaves begged with greater intensity and
risk to ourselves for him to be spared and Whitechapel and asked to take his place.
However, leniency was not granted, and Chapel later died from his injuries.
Whitechapels guilt over his sons death is because he was the one who turned Chapel in to
the plantations owner Mr Whitechapel when he ran away. He is guilt ridden over the sense
of responsibility he has over the events that occurred, but he honestly believed that a
simple lesson in obedience was all that my boy required. He needed to know his station
sooner rather than too late. I believed some punishment would do him good because it
would keep him alive by driving any notion of freedom from responsibility. Whitechapel
was nervous that his son was showing signs of desiring freedom a dangerous thought for a
slave. Whitechapel believed he had to save his son from himself with a lesson and not
abandon him to the horrible fate he might bring upon himself. Whitechapel is concerned
that if he lets Chapel continue to think too liberally and progressively, Chapel would be in
paradise with his mother and his broken body left in a gully somewhere to rot.
Whitechapel holds the belief that a slave could live a good, long life if he worked hard,
and presented to his master the most dignified aspect of himself, in order to reciprocate
the same manner from that master, the same civility, fairness and even kindness once
the relationship grew warm and cordial. He believes that he has a bond with Mr
Whitechapel that will result in leniency for his son, which is shown when Mr Whitechapel
orders that Chapel be captured and held instead of whipped for running away.
However, Mr Whitechapel is away from the plantation when Chapel is captured, and his
overseer, Sanders Junior, injured and in a rage from the hours spent searching for him,
decides that my only reason for bringing back that young nigger is because the boss said
he would be made an example of to discourage further runaways and there is no way
this nigger is not going to face the usual punishment for his crime. When Whitechapel
tries to intervene to tell Sanders Junior about Mr Whitechapels orders, Sanders Junior
states, In the absence of the master I do what is best for the plantation. I do not take
orders from a niggerYou are a slave.
The outcome of the death of Chapel lowers Whitechapels position within his family and
amongst the other slaves on the plantation. He no longer carries any of the respect he
previously had, as everyone, without exception, blames me for the death of [Chapel].
When he informed Mr Whitechapel of his sons whereabouts, the house slaves cast [him]
such disdainful looks you would believe [hed] thrown [his] own son to the lions.
His family resent him, and keep their distance from him, now seen as a killer of children
and a master of his own slavery. Whitechapel was the most senior slave on the
plantation and is now utterly broken over the fact that he was a man who had worked
[his] life for one estate under one family [and] was shown no respect. [He] was granted
none.
Full of remorse and regret, Whitechapel cant die, because he cannot face his deceased
second wife Cook, for blaming me for sending [Chapel] ahead of me, or in my place, or at
all. Whitechapel is defeated, stating that he answers to dog, and has a body bereft of
laughter, sleep, love, purpose.

Chapter 2: Mr Whitechapel
In Mr Whitechapels section, he is address Whitechapel and Sanders Junior directly after his
return when he discovers what has occurred with Whitechapels son, Chapel. Mr Whitechapel
is the current owner of the plantation, having taken over when his father died. His father
originally purchased Whitechapel, and his overseer was Sanders Senior, with his son, Sanders
Junior, now overseer for Mr Whitechapel.
Mr Whitechapel is furious that he leaves the plantation for one night and a day and
returns to virtual chaos with the events that have unfolded surrounding Chapels death.
He confronts his two employees, his deputy who has a habit of disappearing from the
plantationregularly and his overseer, Sanders Junior, his right hand man who he
questions over the manner of management delivered. He is furious that his orders were
flouted and seen as meaningless, questioning, Did you think you were better schooled
in the management of a slaveholding than I? Was your intention to disobey my orders and
come up with a better result? He refers to the whipping of Chapel as a brutal form of
management.
Mr Whitechapel represents the progressive elements involved in the issue of the abolishment
of slaves. Other plantation owners tell him he is too lenient because he fatten[s] up
slaves too much with large, regular meals and decent quarters. But Mr Whitechapel
believes that a satisfied slave is a happy slave and a more productive worker. Treat
them like equals and they will respond with nobility. This is in contrast other with
plantation owners who believe that slaves should always be shown a stern, distant hand.
However, Mr Whitechapel believes that such rough handling provides rougher responses
and that slaves are best managed by treating them first and foremost as subjects of God,
though blessed with lesser faculties.
This ideology of Mr Whitechapel highlights the respectful bond that Whitechapel feels
towards him. It was because of this bond that Whitechapel originally felt comfortable in
telling Mr Whitechapel the whereabouts of his son when he ran away.
However, while Mr Whitechapel acknowledges Whitechapel as the most senior man on this
plantation and that Chapels death is a matter of deepest regret to us all, Whitechapel
overstepped the mark in [his] recent antics and that Chapel is dead through his own
design. Mr Whitechapel places the blame of Chapels death upon Whitechapel, stating that
you should have saved him from himselfyou were his guardian. A slave who has
tasted liberty can never be a proper slave again. Ultimately, Mr Whitechapel is
disappointed that Whitechapel did not do as they agreed to protect Chapel from
himself by driving from his mind the foolish notions of freedom.
Mr Whitechapel also reveals that Chapel is not Whitechapels biological son. Whitechapels
second wife, Cook, was raped by Sanders Senior, resulting in the birth of Chapel. Mr
Whitechapel acknowledges that Whitechapel has never shown a shred of malice for that
act and raised the boy as his own.
We also learn from this revelation that Sanders Junior wasnt fully informed of the this
act, who then learns that Chapel was his step-brother, who he has now just whipped to
death. Mr Whitechapel reveals that this is the reason why he left orders to have Chapel held.
He acknowledges that he would have let Sanders Junior run the plantation and hold
dominion over the fate of a runaway had it not been that Chapel was no ordinary
runaway.
Mr Whitechapels chapter ends with him calling on Sanders Junior to say a prayer because
we must not allow this trade to turn us into savages and that God should guide us in
our dealings with slaves as he counsels us in everything else.

Chapter 3: Sanders Senior

This chapter is written as diary entries from the perspective of Sanders Senior. From the
onset, we learn that he is dejected and heartbroken over the death of his wife Caroline, who
we later learn has died during the birth of his son Sanders Junior. Over the course of the
diary entries, we learn of Sanders Seniors loneliness and that he is bored without [his]
wife. Five years after the death of Caroline, he questions if he is wrong to look at a slave
girl and feel like a man? At this point, he is desperate and needs a woman.
Sanders Seniors cook becomes ill, and a slave girl who had recently been bought made a
better meal. Sanders Seniors attitude towards slaves is highlighted when he writes that he
wants to try to trade my model for this new one.
The diary entries capture Sanders desire and two rapes of Cook, once before and again after
the marriage of Cook to Whitechapel. Initially, Cook said to Sanders Senior that she had not
told even her husband of Sanders the first rape, but after the second rape, even though
Sanders Senior said it would not happen again, Whitechapel and Mr Whitechapel are
informed. Sanders Senior considered denying the accusations, because the word of a white
man is worth that of how many slaves? However, Mr Whitechapel is resolved to believe the
slaves based upon the look on Sanders Seniors face. He fines Sanders Senior and forces him to
apologise to both Cook and Whitechapel, something he begrudgingly does.
Cook becomes pregnant and it is most likely that the baby will be Sanders Seniors, however,
Whitechapel acknowledges that Cook is his wife, whatever the outcome, he loves her.
The baby is born and Sanders Senior acknowledges that the child resembles my son in all
but colour. Mr Whitechapel forcefully encourages Sanders Senior into another marriage that
appears cold and loveless to quell rumours from a number of the slaves about the baby.
Mr Whitechapel states that a marriage would be better and if Sanders Senior left the
plantation it would be read as certain guilt and he would see to it that [he] never
worked in this line of business again if [he] abandoned him.
Also within the diary entries, we learn of the conflicting ideologies between Sanders Senior
and Mr Whitechapel when it comes to slaves. Sanders Senior believes that the slaves are full
of tricks to evade their duties and that he is justified in swinging his stick on the back of
their legs with force. This is in direct contrast with Mr Whitechapels opinion that Sanders
Senior is too severe with them. Sanders Senior believes against the idea of increasing
rations and allowing them one extra break in the afternoon, stating that Mr
Whitechapels orders are wrong because what good is a fat slave to anyone but
himselfCattle need fattening, not slaves.
Mr Whitechapel and Sanders Senior again clash over the treatment of the slaves when
Sanders Senior had occasion to beat a slave for indolence. Mr Whitechapel saw and
ordered [him] to exercise restraint.

Chapter 4: Cook
This short chapter can be seen as an ode to Whitechapel from his second wife Cook. She also
talks briefly about her experience of being raped by Sanders Senior, stating that after he
laid his hands on me I wanted to die. She acknowledges that Whitechapel saved [her]
life after he still stays with a pure wife no longer pure and a child not his. Cook
initially rejected Whitechapels advances, thinking him too old, but eventually realised that
he can love and is twice the gentleman. Cook is optimistic that she will bear him
many sons and that he will die contented. Heartbreakingly, the chapter ends with Cook
stating that she will grow old with [her] sons, alone, and happy to have met my
Whitechapel. The readers are aware that this is not the case, as she bares no more
children, and painfully dies, leading up to the event of Chapel running away.

Chapter 5: Chapel
The change in writing form for this chapter (rhyming couplets, lyrical prose, non-rhythmical
stanzas) emphasises Chapels different view of the world compared to those around him.
Unlike his father and the other slaves, Chapel has learnt to read, which in turn has
broadened his perspective beyond the constraints of the plantation boundaries and
encouraged him to nurture hopes for a more meaningful and dignified life.
This chapter reveals the beginnings of Chapel and Lydias relationship that it started at a
young age with Lydia teaching Chapel to read and write, before her father Mr Whitechapel
catches them and Chapel is whipped with his belt. However, the two continue to meet at
night.
We again also see the rising conflict between the viewpoints of Chapel and his father.
Whitechapel informs his son that there are two types of slavesthe first learns from
mistakes which earn him whip and fist, the second listens and what does not, then acts.
Whitechapel is fearful that his son is the second type of slave, at which Chapel walks off
shaking his head. This division ultimately leads to Whitechapels decision to teach his son a
lesson when he runs away.
We learn in this chapter that Chapel had a very close relationship with his mother Cook, who
he sees as an angel without wings and a pure light. The chapter heartbreakingly ends
with the death of Cook, revealing that Chapel held her head and he and Whitechapel
were both with her when she died. With this event, Chapel acknowledges with her
gone nothing could keep me there, at which point he runs away.

Chapter 6: Plantation Owners

This chapter centres around Mr Whitechapels attendance at the Gentlemens Club, a club
set up by his father and senior plantation owners. He is reluctant to head there, as he will
face the ridicule of [his] peers over the hypocrisy of his progressive ideas about slaves
and what has just occurred with Chapel.
This chapter again highlights the conflict between Mr Whitechapels moral and ethical beliefs
and his loyalty to his peers and societal expectations.

Mr Whitechapel Plantation Owners

Mock me all you want. It was a lesson that
went wrong.
The death of one slave does not make me
you.
Quoted by the Plantation owners:
The slaves have rights as humans; they are
not just tools.
Show them respect and theyll work hard.
They may be inferior but theyre people
like us.
I treat my slaves with humanity.
I promote the teachings of Christ and
practise slavery. I do not practice slavery
and hide my beliefs.
The corruption of the whip, gentlemen,
does not save plantations; it results in
brother killing brother.
What about goodwill to all men? And our
children?
There has to be another way to organise
the economyIf slaves were free and paid
theyd be our friends, not our enemies.
He (the slave Whitechapel) is living proof
that slaves are our equal in every way.
I have not Whitechapel, taken food with
me slave one day and beaten him the next,
or fattened him, only to have him throw it
back in my face by running off no less.
Give them your cruelty, and perhaps
theyll survive your whip.
Admit you felt alive for the first time in
your life Whitechapel. If not for us, then to
yourself, or else you are lost.
We are all of us Christians of one sort or
other. But you, Whitechapel, you promote
the African at the expense of your own
white Christian brother.
What you are doing will lead to our
penuryor a massive slave revolt, bring us
all grief.
Your slaves eat well, sleep well, do wrong
and get off lightly.
Theyll start to think theyre our equals
and should be free.
We thought, at last, Whitechapel who was
blind could see. But no. You persevere in
your erroneous ways.
Our line of work is slaves, we cant change
the fact. We do it the way think best serves
out investment.
We treat our slaves with a firm hand,
were severe in the hope that other slaves
will behave well out of fear.
You cant mix God with the slave business.
God is for us, not them.
Why upset everything when it works?

Chapter 7: Lydia
This chapter tells the beginnings of Lydias and Chapels relationship, but this time from the
perspective of Lydia Whitechapel. Through this new point of view, the narrative differs,
written in elegant prose.
The gentle, warm, yet cautious friendship that develops between Lydia and Chapel provides
a contrast to the violence of the other chapters in the text. Although their budding
relationship must be kept secret, this is based upon the expectations imposed by others. To
them, their relationship is a simple meeting of inquisitive minds, which Lydia teaching
Chapel to read and write.

Chapter 8: Cook
In this chapter, Cook discovers that Chapel has been taught to read by Lydia, having
overheard her son reading aloud to Lydia, his voice speaking as [she had] never heard it
before. Cook is unable to reprimand her son, as she cant bring herself to tell him not to
open a book. All she feels inside is pride, not fear, not yet; just pride, swelling in my
chest and filling my heart.
Cook decides not to tell her husband about Chapel reading, because she knows he would say
that books and slaves to do not agree, but Cook does not want what she just overheard
from her son to be taken from him. By not intervening, Cook has encouraged the young
Chapels education, resulting in his progressive and liberal views developing in the future.

Chapter 9: Lydia
This chapter is set two years after Lydia began teaching Chapel to read, and at this point,
she has realised that she is in love with a slave.
Mr Whitechapel, Lydias father, catches the two of them, and tells them they must never
see the light of day together, must never read together, nor write, not sit together, nor
exchange written communication, nor speak of these wicked secret meetings to anyone.
Mr Whitechapel again shows his progressive desires that are hindered by the society he
resides in by acknowledging to Lydia that a relationship might be possible in the future,
but in the next century, perhaps, leaving Lydia in total despair.
Cook takes a personal risk in helping to orchestrate the continued meetings between Lydia
and Chapel late at night. The line we know it cannot go on highlights that although their
meetings a full of joy and love, there will be a different outcome that the readers are aware
of.

Chapter 10: Lydia

This chapter, again from the perspective of Lydia, shows Lydias two lives the one she has
with her family and their expectations of her, and the one she dreams of having with Chapel,
that is secret and hidden.
The reality of her life, which Lydia refuses to accept due to her secret love of Chapel, is that
she has now grown into a woman and with that has come the expectations of acting like a
lady and meeting potential suitors to marry. Lydia is given deportment lessons by her
mother, and is constantly meeting new men, who she holds up against Chapel to see how
they compare, but none have his wit, intelligence, charm and sensitive nature. Lydia
desires to be with Chapel, wishing that she were black or that Chapel were white.
The chapter also focuses on Lydias attempts to orchestrate a plan to allow her and Chapel
to be together by both of them fleeing to the North, where slavery is abolished. Their young
love, written through poetic phrasing and emotional intensity, depicts their childish
naivety over their situation and their plans for their future that include children. Their
optimism, commitment and plans for their future are made more poignant by the readers
knowledge that they will not have a happy ending.

Chapter 11: The Virginian

This chapter is a series of editorials from the fictional local newspaper The Virginian over a
period of around six months. They discuss slavery from a position of perceived authority, as
the plantation community relies on this publication for news and opinions. Written by a
single person, most entries employ the first-person voice to indicate subjectivity, and they
appear to encourage discussion by raising questions about ethical decisions. They even invite
reader feedback and enter some exchanges with readers, as with Miss L. The editorials also
present themselves as sources of expert knowledge and as a reference for all things to do
with slavery and running a plantation.
This chapter contextualises many of the novels central events and ideas: questions of
equality and human rights, the possibility of interracial relationships and even the education
of slaves; the role of a senior slave on a plantation; the consequences of white superiors
taking advantage of slave women.
The passionate and active reader Miss L who engages in discussion about slavery with the
editorial writer is clearly Lydia, although she asks that her identity be kept a secret. At
first the newspaper considers her to be intelligent, of a delicate mind and capable of
reason. However, once she makes her beliefs on the rights of slaves clear, the newspaper
loses all respect for her, and the chapter concludes with an editorial that shames and shuns
her.

Opinions from the editorials in The Virginian

Are we to attribute to slaves all the qualities we credit to ourselves as human beings? I
think not.
Young, nubile female slaves are a temptation to us all, but one that should be religiously
avoided. They are blessed with youth and inspire feelings of lust in overseers and masters
alike, that are human to experience when they occur but wrong to act upon.
Slavery is a business. Christianity is a faith. Slavery answers to our physical and material
well-being; Christianity looks after the hunger of the soul. The two kinds are different
types of sustenance for two different kinds of need. One is exterior, the other, interior.
One is tangible, the other intangible.
Once we extend Christian values to include slaves we then throw into question the very
basis of our forced enslavement of them. The confusion is this: the extension of Christian
principles to a slave is seen as the inclusion of that slave in all aspects of our Christian life.
This view is wrong. It should be possible to treat a slave with Christian fairness and instruct
him in the Christian faithwithout nullifying the relationship of master and slave.
A deputy to an overseer has written to me saying too much attention is paid to the
plantation owners and to the slaves at the expense of that level of poor whites who have
to work for the former in close proximity to the latter. He argues that the lives of some of
these whites are barely one rung above that of sharing the condition of a slave.
There is no sight more perfidious than that of a white woman with a black man.

Chapter 12: Great Grandmother

This chapter is narrated by the great granddaughter of Whitechapel. She brings to the novel a
perspective not addressed elsewhere: that of the slaves African history. Although her dream
of Africa can only be based on the memories of others, it is as meaningful to her as if it were
her own history, and she is hurt by Whitechapels dismissal of her desire to return to a past
she never experienced. For him, as always, the goal is to make a life out of the situation
around him: he says that she is dream[ing] about something [she] doesnt know and that
she should make her dreams here.
The chapter is called Great Grandmother, possibly suggesting a sense of extension from her
ancestors past in Africa through to her future when she has great grandchildren of her own.
This links back to the title of the novel: perhaps the longest memory is not just that of old
Whitechapel, but a less literal memory that carries through many generations.

Chapter 13: Sanders Junior

This final chapter is the reflections of Sanders Junior upon discovering the body of
Whitechapel. He acknowledges that Whitechapel was a better overseer than [him], an
example to [his] race and that it was him who showed Sanders Juniors how to run
things.
Sanders Junior shows little emotion about Chapel, who he sees as not my brother but only
the son of a slave who was headstrong and trouble. He questions how Whitechapel
could raise a son whose nature was so contrary to [his] own. When comparing both
Chapel and Whitechapel, Sanders Junior says that Chapel did not demonstrate an ounce of
your common sense. His spirit was wild, yours tame. His manners uncouth, yours
impeccable. Sanders Junior even offers a symbolic jacket and an apology for the death of
Chapel, but maintains that he himself is not responsible and had no choice but to act as he
did.
Sanders Junior also believes that slavery is a business, not a charity. Slaves dont work
for [their] own living. [They] work to make Mr Whitechapel richer. [Their] lives arent
[theirs], but his.

Forgetting
Echoing the prologue Remembering, the final words in the novel are Whitechapels as during
his last moments he reflects on his life. He almost welcomes death as a relief from the
lifetime of painful memories he has carried with him, and embraces the end of his life as a
way to finally forget. He admits he was wrong in many things and that too much has
happened to put right. It would take several lives or another hundred years to
unravel this knotted mess. This suggests that, as his great-granddaughters chapter also
indicates, the story offered in this novel is not just his own but that of many more before and
after him.