Marassa and Midnight -Review2 - Pt.4

Summary :

Marassa and Midnight

The story starts off by telling Marassa’s side of the story and where he his. Marassa is in a house in Paris in January 1791. It tells of how he is mistreated and ignored and how in Paris no one even cared about his age or name.The story then explains about how his name plainly means “twins” in Creole and how he had been separated from his brother for thirteen full moons. Since their separation, Marassa had only felt half-alive, he missed his brother and couldn’t help but think that if Midnight was here, he could have helped him out of all of his problems. Marassa explains that “Oguon” is the god of fire of his people and he is called upon in times of suffering. Right then, Marassa was calling upon him.

Little after this, Marassa is ordered outside into the icy courtyard to open the gate. Two carriages go out and Marassa realizes that his Marquis has left him. Marassa ran after it crying “Master, Master”, but his cries were in vain. Marassa was alone. As if this wasn’t bad enough, as soon as he turns around, Marassa is greeted with a crowd of savage street boys piling on top of him. He is engaged in a fierce battle and is knocked out cold. While the boys are stripping his clothing off, they suddenly scatter and a man came charging towards the unconscious Marassa. The young man put him upon his shoulder and easily carried him ¼ of a mile to his captain’s house. It was here the captain laid Marassa on his own bed and began to treat his wounds.

The story quickly shifts over to Midnight’s side of the story. Midnight still in Haiti too was thinking about his brother and how long they had been separated. Midnight missed all the games that they used to play and the dances they used to do. Because of him, none of the slaves were let outside of the boundaries now. Three days after Marassa left he tried to runaway and was caught and severely punished. It was a bamboche night. The Saturday night dance. Midnight explains why he didn’t take part in it and he sat talking to his friend Bloodhounds – Dove and Diamond. It is here that Midnight has his first encounter with Papa Doctor, they talk and Papa Doctor treats his wounds and then leaves.

Back in Paris, Marassa is burning with fever. Marassa half-delirious thinks the song that the captain is singing is something about “Ti Nan Ogoun”. He then wakes up and sees the captain’s bright red hair and the fire and thinks for sure that he is the son of the fire lord as the Creole names suggests. The next morning the doctor arrives and predicts that Marassa will die by night or by the next morning. While in bed, Marassa overhears the Captain and the Apothecary talking about where they should leave France and go. The apothecary suggests San Domingo where the captains long lost love was supposed to be and they remember that Marassa is from San Domingo so the captain ponders the trip. While the Captain is deliberating, he brings up the theory that Marassa is only half witted. Instantly Marassa chirps up and calls “Master!” and pleads with the astonished captain to take him with him to Haiti. Marassa tells him that he would work on the ship and give him the money as well if he would buy his brother there Midnight. Captain considers this proposal and tells Marassa to go to sleep.

Meanwhile in Haiti, Midnight thinks about the days when the women and children were still there and how gay a time it would be. Now both the Bekes (white men) and the Negroes seemed to be becoming harsher. Since the women had gone, Midnight had done most of the cooking, he used this time to listen to the men’s conversations while playing a dumb idiotic boy. Although he was lonely and desired to interact with the slaves, he knew he had work to do for the Papa Doctor and just talked to Diamond and Dove the twin hounds every night. Each night that went by, each messenger that came brought no news of Marassa or Papa Doctor.

A messenger had just told Marassa that the Marquis and all his servants left Paris six full moons ago and that they went to England. Later that night he dreams that he found Marassa. One bamboche night before the twentieth moon Midnight had started to formulate a plan when he realizes that it was the Night of the Drums. He then goes to sit and think by the Mango tree and make a big discovery. He figured out that the Great One was not Ogoun, the God of Fire but a great Maroon leader. When the messenger comes that night he quickly tells him his theory and runs off to the mountains to go figure out how the Great One does his tricks. When he reached the forest, he realized that the hounds had followed him. The Great One and his mini-procession pass Midnight as drunk as they come. After they had passed, Midnight travels about three miles and comes to the place of the echo. Clouded with rage, Midnight destroys the drums and cries out into the night. Midnight and the hounds quickly slip into a shallow nearby cave and spend the night.

The story then shifts back to Marassa. Dawn comes, the ship docks and Tir Nan Og gets off and starts on his way to the hotel while Marassa stays on board. While walking with Chirstophe, Tir Nan Og finds out that the beautiful young lady who he had come to see, had gone to America and married a rich young gentleman. He also finds out that Midnight had runaway just a few hours ago. Tir Nan Og gets on his horse and leaves to visit a woman he knows. Christophe alerts Papa Doctor that Marassa is in town and Midnight is missing. Two hours later, while Marassa is on his way to the hotel, a young Beke` comes out of a carriage and captures him, mistaking him for Midnight. Christophe sees this and tried to stop him but he received a whip across his face. The situation is explained to Papa Doctor and fifteen minutes later Papa Doctor is hot on “Milord’s” trail. Meanwhile, Marassa, in pain cries out for Tir Nan Og. Tir Nan Og hears him and the whips and sets off immediately. When he gets nearer, he sees Marassa’s condition and quickly frees him engaging in a 3-to-1-sword battle in the process. When this is done, he confronts “Milord” about what he was doing and tells him that he is Marassa, Midnight’s twin. When they are trying to figure out compensation, Marassa unexpectedly strikes Milord in the face. Since that was a crime just as the flogging was, all is called off, but Tir Nan Og gets the right to buy Midnight.

Papa Doctor, his overseer, Marassa and Tir Nan Og ride to Papa Doctor’s house. When they get there, Papa Doctor’s wife tends to Marassa’s wounds and he sits down under the Mango tree outside. Papa Doctor introduces his sons to Marassa and then goes inside and tells Mama what had happened and asks her to watch him. Later that night, a storm hits. A fire starts where lightning hit the Beke` stables. Marassa enjoys the storm seeing as how it fits his mood. Papa goes to the house and sees Marassa sitting down inside and tells him stories of his encounters with Midnight. Papa Doctor calmly tells Marassa to show him the brand that he had made with the flat iron and dresses it. Marassa becomes the polite boy he was once known as and asks to become a warrior of the Feraille as Midnight was. Concurrently, Midnight had a frightening experience when the storm hit. He clutched Dove and Diamond and said a reassuring word to them. A fork of lightning sprang at him. The side of the mountain was falling in. The platform that they had used to get down there had disappeared, and so they were trapped. Midnight finds a secret staircase that was built into the rock. Seeing no other option he flees down. Midnight climbs and climbs until he reaches the summit of King’s Mountain. He had found a way to the top of the Kings Mountain.

Sunrise had come at Papa Doctor’s house and Marassa is sleeping soundly. Midnight makes plans to travel to England to find Marassa not knowing that was on the island. Soon after this Midnight looks for some food to eat. That night, Marassa, Tir Nan Og and Papa Doctor’s Beke` reach King’s mountain. When they see Midnight’s footprint at the edge of the cliff and see the side of the mountain broken off, they assume the worst. Marassa calls for Midnight but hears no reply. It is sheer coincidence that Midnight is underground and does not hear Marassa’s cry. For the next few days, Midnight shares the leg of salted pork among the three of them. Midnight goes back into the underground passage in search of food. Midnight comes out at a different place on the mountain that to his surprise overlooks the very plantation from which he had run away. He sees Marassa and two Beke and thinks that they are from the plantation trying to find him and quickly go underground.

That night, Midnight hears drums although it is not the night of the Drums or bamboche and sees tiny points of fire strewn out over the landscape. In addition to this he sees an entire plantation on fire, which quickly catches onto another and then a third separate one. Then it hits him – it was the night of Flames. Midnight heard drums and shouting unlike any he had heard before and when he came out of the tunnel, he saw the sight of his old plantation on fire. The next day, he traveled down there himself and witnessed the horror. Beke`s slaughtered and a few Negroes had the same fate. Before, he had wanted a few supplies but he would feel ashamed taking anything from that place and so he left. When he reached the tunnel where he told his friends to wait for him, he finds that the place is flooded out and almost drowns, but is saved by Dove and Diamond.

Midnight awakes and stares at a nearby Maroon settlement for the third time. He is amazed at the tranquility and how much different their lives are from his. Midnight goes and gets his hounds and goes back to his lookout. A few hours later he finally decides to approach them. He cries out all that he could think of – “I speak for the Feraille! We are faint with hunger!” The people of the village are frightened, right down to the men, thinking that he is Ogoun and begs him to eat their food. He trys desperately to tell them that he is just a boy of their race. Finally he gives up and feeds his children and leaves. When he went back the next day at noon it was no different but because they had insisted, he took a red belt. That night Midnight went back into the underground staircase and found some gifts that he could give to the over friendly Maroons.

Tir Nan Og was using this experience of going into the hills, to grow closer to nature and try and see how Maroons live. Tir Nan Og had undergone a massive transformation. He would sleep on the ground just like a Negro, he mad gotten such a deep tan that he could pass for a Negro and he could speak Creole with a strong Negro accent. Marassa was worried that his eyes and hair would give his identity along with his long sword that Tir Nan Og refused to part with. Food was scarce, al the food that they did find were tropical fruits such as guavas, star apple, honey and nuts. Marassa had grown almost a foot taller than when Tir Nan Og had first seen him and his voice had changed into that of a man’s. Marassa was very sad and Tir Nan Og could sense it. They set off again a few hours later and Marassa questions Tir Nan Og’s motives but Tir Nan Og tells him that he will know in good time.

One mountain away Midnight was going for his daily meal with the Maroons and had brought them some mangoes when, suddenly, he heard them crying out for him (Ogoun Feraille) to help and save them. When he looked at the mountaintop he saw the Great One and a large procession of his followers coming in great strength. Midnight, know what he must do, runs towards where they are posted and shouts out “I speak for the Feraille! Go back” over and over. It was not until Dove and Diamond started baying that the Great One and his followers became afraid. They had mistaken him for Ogoun. Without a second thought every last man fled. The bad Negroes run down the road that leads to the place where Marassa is camping. The Great One threw a stone that knocked Tir Nan Og out and went rushing down the hill. Marassa, suddenly was filled with rage and charged at them repeating the same words Midnight had said. It was too much for the Great One. He didn’t notice the difference between the two figures he had seen, but was so frightened thinking that it was the same Ogoun who had flown to the other mountain, and ran. Tir Nan Og saw the Bad Negroes slaughtered by the Beke armies. Papa doctor and his soldiers had quietly carried many of the wounded men back to their headquarters and Papa Doctor finds out that Midnight (Ogoun Feraille) is still alive and on King’s mountain.

While Marassa is walking, he reaches a gully and looks across and sees two twin hounds, who he thinks are ghosts and tells them to show him the way to his brother. Meanwhile, Papa Doctor, heads into the mountains thinking of what will happen next, about his plot for the next real slave revolt in Haiti with the soldiers of the Feraille. When he reaches the place of the echo and sees Midnight’s footprint where the rock had broken off into the gully he assumes that Marassa had tried to jump across and instead jumped to his death. He mourned for Marassa. Meanwhile, Midnight began to question his thinking. He started to think that no one he had ever loved had existed. A couple of yards away, the hounds were urging Marassa on to jump to them. Suddenly, Midnight is alarmed by what he thought was a footstep. He got up to see the hounds running towards him excitedly and the mirror image of himself approaching him. After identifying if each other were with the Feraille they cried out to each other and embraced. They were reunited.