Remarkable town
The novel starts with description of the place where the protagonist was born. The narrator describes it in negative and dark colors and says that is can be hardly remarkable but for “worn-out, sandy, desert-like appearance of its soil, the general dilapidation of its farms and fences, the indigent and spiritless character of its inhabitants, and the prevalence of ague and fever”. This place is called Tuckahoe and the narrator dwells a little on the origin of the name. It is supposed that decades or centuries ago inhabitants of the place were guilty of stealing a hoe, thus Tuckahoe becomes from takeahoe, but due to some phonetic changes received the name Tuckahoe.
Gloomy and forbidding place
The cemetery in the land of Col. Lloyd Ownings was a place that all the slaves were afraid of: “Strange sights had been seen there by some of the older slaves. Shrouded ghosts, riding on great black horses, had been seen to enter; balls of fire had been seen to fly there at midnight, and horrid sounds had been repeatedly heard.” Such an image of a cemetery is not surprised, but the author’s referring to it is emphasized by account of superstitions, which were rife among the slaves. And as he adds that superstitions are signs of ignorance, lack of information and education.
Seeing Baltimore
When the narrator turned ten years old, he was sent from the Col. Lloyd’s plantation to Baltimore. He anticipated the trip with great excitement and was really impressed when saw Baltimore: “my feelings, on seeing it, were excited to a pitch very little below that reached by travelers at the first view of Rome. The dome of the state house was especially imposing, and surpassed in grandeur the appearance of the great house. The great world was opening upon me very rapidly, and I was eagerly acquainting myself with its multifarious lessons.”
