Abeng

This chapter explores Clare’s paternal family history. Her father, James Arthur “Boy,” is the descendent of an English Earl’s youngest son, James Eduard Constable, who came to Jamaica as puisne (pronounced puny) justice in 1829 and became wealthy by establishing several plantations, starting with Paradise Plantation at Runaway Bay. His wife remained in England, eventually dying in childbirth. The justice’s descendants are proud of him for never impregnating a woman of color and for punishing his runaway slaves himself by whipping, hanging, and dismembering them. The Savage family obsessively focuses on the achievements of their white ancestors, ignoring their own mixed blood.

The justice’s son, Jack, receives an education at Cambridge and, after coming back to Jamaica, lives a life of leisure, reading the Western classics and drinking rum. He marries a woman from a similar background, Isabel Frazier, who gives birth to five girls and one boy. The Savage wealth diminishes gradually, and the family lives off of the sale of their lands. Eventually, Jack attempts to re-gain lost ground by buying a racehorse, but the scheme fails, forcing him to go, first, to Alaska and, then, to Panama, where he dies. 

The original plantation house is still standing, even though they parceled the for vacation homes.