Bitter in the Mouth

Many chapters begin with pieces of three stories related to North Carolinian origin myths. Within the novel, these stories come from a book on North Carolina history given to a young Linda by Thomas so that she might learn more about her home (this act is one of many that take on greater significance with the revelation that Linda is adopted). Linda—both the child and the older narrator—is fascinated with three stories, primarily: the story of Orville and Wilbur Wright; the story of Virginia Dare, the first English child born in the New World; and the story of George Moses Horton, a slave who composed and sold poems in Chapel Hill. All three stories are real stories outside of the novel, although the details are sometimes altered or created, and the story of Virginia Dare is a mythological one that involves magicians and deer.

Many chapters begin with a few paragraphs of Linda’s retelling of a story, only reaching the conclusion at the end. Linda does not explicitly inform the reader how these stories connect to the larger narrative, but all three are in some way about people who are somehow overlooked or oppressed—including the Wright Brothers story, which includes an unnamed boy that grabs Linda’s attention, as well as a focus on Wilbur, in whom Linda is fascinated because it is often overlooked that although his flight was not first that day, it was longest.