study questions for the kingdom of this world 1

7/29/2019 Study Questions for the Kingdom of This World 1

1/4

Study Questions for The Kingdom of This World

The Kingdom of This World breaks with a more traditionalconcept of the novel as the development of a plot or intrigue; itis more like a series of episodes or scenes. Eventually you will

want to compare the way this novel is structured with what youhave just seen in the other novels.

The novel is set against the backdrop of a great epoch of historictransformations. Events portrayed in this novel will span aconcrete, historical time period of nearly 70 years, and thecharacters will travel through physical/geographical space. Theaxis of each part of the novel will always be a particular (usuallyhistorical) figure and an (historic) event. Many of the maincharacters (except Ti Nol) are recreations of historical figures. TiNol will function as a type of passive protagonist who unifies allthe episodes.

Part OneChapter I, "The Wax Heads"1. Discuss the juxtaposition of the four wax heads at thebarber's, the skinned calves' heads at the tripe shop, and theprints of bewigged heads at the bookseller's. How do youinterpret the information that "the morning was rampant withheads," given that this is the opening scene of the novel?

2. Why is Ti Nol's attention caught by the copper engraving, andhow is it different?

3. Who is Macandal?

4. Discuss the portrayal of the kings and religion of the whitesversus the kings and religion of the blacks as each side begins toappear in this chapter. In addition, how is [book] learningcontrasted with oral history/tradition?

5. Discuss the characterization of M. Lenormand de Mzy, theplantation owner. How is there a real correlation between himand the 18th-century engraved prints at the bookseller's? Noticethat there is no real correlation between any Negro characterand the copper engraving: the slaves will try to make up for thislack with their uprisings.

6. Where are the characters located geographically in Part One?What is the historical time period?


2/4

7. What kind of a narrator is there in this novel? How would youdescribe the narrator's tone?

Chapter II, "The Amputation"1. Discuss the characterization of Macandal. Why is he such a

charismatic figure?

2. How does Ti Nol view life in Cap Franais in comparison withwhat he has heard of the cities of Guinea?

3. What happens to Macandal, and how?

Chapter III, "What the Hand Found"1. What new interest does Macandal begin to discover?

2. How does Macandal's reaction to Maman Loi differ from Ti

Nol's?

3. When Macandal runs away, what is his value/importanceaccording to the European plantation owners?

Chapter IV, "The Reckoning"1. What does Macandal's value/importance seem to be to TiNol? How has the sacrifice of an arm made him a paradoxicallypowerful figure? (Think of classic seers who are blind, forexample.)

2. Discuss Lenormand de Mzy's habit of taking mulatto orAfrican mistresses and French wives.

3. What really happens to the two best cows on the plantation?Why doesn't the narrator come right out and say so?

Chapter V, "De Profundis"1. When the narrator says that "nobody knew" how the poisonfound its way across the Plaine du Nord, is that strictly true?Whose point of view is the narrator adopting?

2. Discuss the ineffectiveness of European prayers andsuperstitions in halting the poison, versus the power of vodn(voodoo) embodied in Macandal.

Chapter VI, "The Metamorphoses"1. Discuss the characterization of the European planters.
http://www.arcana.com/voodoo/http://www.arcana.com/voodoo/


3/4

2. Discuss the significance of the drums. What kinds of things dothe slaves, as believers, know and see, while the plantationowners do not?

Chapter VII, "Human Guise"

1. How long have the slaves waited, and what is theirlamentation to Macandal? Does "the rending despair of peoplescarried into captivity to build pyramids, towers, or endless walls"remind you of anything?

Chapter VIII, "The Great Flight"1. What is the "gala function" or "performance" that has beenarranged by the plantation owners for the slaves? Why are thewhites shown to treat the event like a day at the theater?

2. When the narrator comments, "What did the whites know of

Negro matters?," whose point of view is he trying to adopt? Is thenarrator capable of sustaining that viewpoint throughout thechapter?

For further consideration:In the famous Foreword to this novel, Carpentier discusses whathe calls "lo real maravilloso" (marvelous/magic reality, or thatwhich is both real and wondrous/astonishing):

"that which is marvelous [or wondrous] begins being [marvelous]in an unmistakable way when it arises from an unexpected

alteration of reality (the miracle), from a privileged revelation ofreality, from an unaccustomed or uniquely favorable illuminationof the unnoticed riches of reality, from an enlargement of thescales and categories of reality, perceived with particularintensity by virtue of an exaltation of the spirit that conducts it toa type of "extreme [or borderline] state." To begin with, thesensation of the marvelous presupposes a faith. Those who donot believe in saints cannot be cured with saints' miracles, norcan those who are not Quixotes immerse themselves, in body,soul and worldly goods, in the world of Amads de Gaula orTirante el Blanco [fictional knights of chivalry]." [...]

"because of the dramatic singularity of the events, because ofthe fantastic bearing of the characters who encountered oneanother, at a particular moment, at the magical crossroads of laCiudad del Cabo, everything is marvelous in a history that isimpossible to situate in Europe and that is as real, nevertheless,as any exemplary event of those consigned to schoolbooks for
http://artcon.rutgers.edu/artists/magicrealism/magic.htmlhttp://artcon.rutgers.edu/artists/magicrealism/magic.html


4/4

pedagogical enlightenment. What is the history of all Americabut a chronicle of 'lo real maravilloso'?"

study questions for the kingdom of this world 1

Documents