Middle Passage (Masterplots II: American Fiction Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Charles Johnson
- First Published: 1990
- Type of Plot: Adventure
- Time of Work: 1830
- Setting: Aboard the slave ship in the Atlantic Ocean
- Principal Characters: Rutherford Calhoun, Ebenezer Falcon, Josiah Squibb, Peter Cringle, Isadora Bailey, Ngonyama
- Genres: Long fiction
- Subjects: African Americans
- Locales: Africa
The Novel
Winner of the National Book Award for fiction, Middle Passage is a fanciful account of the misadventures of a twenty-two-year-old black man, a freed slave who ends up aboard a ship bound for Africa to take on a cargo of slaves. Middle Passage is divided into nine entries made by Rutherford Calhoun in a ship’s log. The first entry is dated June 14, 1830, and the last is dated August 20, 1830. Calhoun narrates each entry.
The book’s action begins in New Orleans, where Rutherford Calhoun has drifted after being freed from slavery by his master, a...
[The entire page is 3378 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Navigate
See Also
