The Kingdom Of This World

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 enslaved workers to pay his gambling debts. Aging, he fears death is coming soon. Ti Noël prays to another god: Santiago, the marshal of storms.

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 from Haiti. The narrative he hears focuses on Pauline Bonaparte, who traveled 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 allowed one enslaved man, Soliman, to bathe and massage her, knowing he was “tormented by desire” (63). Life in Haiti was a dream—until one day, her hairdresser began to vomit blood.