Copper Sun

The next evening, the “kindly redheaded sailor was nowhere to be seen.” Amari is taken by another sailor that evening and the next.

When she was with the red-haired sailor, he taught her words. Now, she understands more than she can speak. One day, a terrible storm sweeps giant waves onto the ship, and one of the small children of the captive women is thrown overboard. The woman, once free of her ropes, “leaped gracefully into the sea” (59). The women are taken down below into the lower part of the ship during the storm and the filth is unbearable. Clearly, no one has cleaned that area of the ship, and the men have to stay down there for twenty hours a day. The storm lasts a few days. Of the ninety women left on board, sixteen had died during that storm” (60).

After the storm, the women and men are brought up on the deck, and Amari watches and listens carefully as the crewmen work at the repairs. She understands that they are heading to Carolina and hopes that her destiny will involve being with Afi. The last few days of the journey, the slaves are treated “better.