Crossing The River

''Crossing the River'' is a historical novel by British author Caryl Phillips, published in 1993. The ''Village Voice'' calls it "a fearless reimagining of the geography and meaning of the African diaspora." The ''Boston Globe'' said, "''Crossing the River'' bears eloquently chastened testimony to the shattering of black lives."

Plot introduction

''Crossing the River'' is a story about three black people during different time periods and in different continents as they struggle with the separation from their native Africa. The novel follows Nash, who travels from America to Africa to educate natives about Christ; Martha, an old woman who attempts to travel from Virginia to California to escape the injustices of being a slave; and Travis, a member of the U.S. military who goes to England during World War II.

Explanation of the novel's title

The title ''Crossing the River'' refers to a metaphor for both death and deliverance. Figuratively, the river symbolizes the great obstacles Africans had to overcome during life in being forcefully displaced. Those that survived the passage to their new destination spent the rest of their lives trying to overcome the obstacles. Most, however, as Phillips suggests, can only successfully cross the river and be delivered in death. The ancestor narrator also seems to suggest this when he calls his children home to him on the far side of the river after they have passed on. Geographically, the river refers to the Atlantic Ocean, the main body of water that Africans had to cross when traveling to America.

Plot summary

The novel’s opening is mostly the perspective of Nash, Martha, and Travis’ “father” mixed with the thoughts of slave trader James Hamilton, which are expressed in italics. The narrator explains that he had to sell his three children to slavery because his crops failed and he had no money.

Nash’s story as an adult is first revealed through the perspective of his white master Edward Williams, who freed Nash so that he could go to Africa with the American Colonization Society to teach black natives. Edward, however, receives a letter saying that Nash had disappeared from the African village where he had been teaching. Edward immediately boards a ship to take him to Africa, and after many days of searching, a former slave of Edward’s informs him that Nash had died from fever. Edward is horribly upset, and his grief is further drawn out when he realizes that his beloved Nash was not the holy Christian he thought him to be. He finds plenty that points out Nash’s negative behavior, such as his large collection of native wives. The chapter ends with Edward gaping at the hovel that was once Nash’s residence while natives stare on, trying to understand the apparent momentary insanity of the shocked and aggrieved stranger.

The story then switches to Martha Randolph, an old woman who, after losing her husband and daughter at a slave auction, decides to run away from her owners in Kansas and seek freedom in California. She only makes it to Colorado, however, where the group she is traveling with leaves her because she is slowing down the party. A white woman offers Martha a place to room for the night out of the bitter cold, but it is not enough. When the woman returns to Martha the next day, Martha is dead. The white woman decides that she is going to have to “choose a name for her if she was going to receive a Christian burial” (p. 94), which is ironic since Martha hated receiving a new name each time she was passed to a different owner and because Martha didn't believe in God.

The final section is told through the eyes of Joyce, a white Englishwoman who falls in love with Travis, who is the “brother” of Nash and Martha. Since Travis’ story occurs during World War II (about a century after his supposed brother Nash's), it can be assumed that Travis is a sort of reincarnation of Nash and Martha’s brother from more than a century before. In that case, it can be implied that the ancestor narrator is not the children’s true father; rather he is some sort of all-knowing ancestor who has “listened” to his “children” for the last “two hundred and fifty years” (p. 1).

Joyce meets Travis at her husband’s store. Joyce’s husband habitually beats her, and when her husband is taken to prison for selling items on the black market, Joyce and Travis have an affair. Joyce has Travis’s baby but has to give it up after Travis dies in the war because it would be unacceptable for her to raise a black baby on her own. The chapter ends with a visit from Greer when he is 20 years old, who meets his mother for the first time after being raised in an orphanage.

The book ends with the ancestor narrator once more, who provides an optimistic view even after all his children have died, saying that though he “sold his beloved children … they arrived on the far bank of the river, loved” (p. 237).

Characters in ''Crossing the River''

Major characters

*The Ancestor: In the opening of the novel, the narrator is the voice of an old man who was forced to sell his three children into slavery because his crops failed. As the story develops, it becomes clear that the narrator is not a person. Rather the narrator is Africa or a sort of African voice or ancestor, grieving the children it has lost in the diaspora.
*Edward Williams: A rich plantation owner who believes slavery is wrong yet participates in many of its aspects. He is a Christian man whose life's work consisted of instilling Christianity among his slaves. His favorite slaves were educated and went to college at Edward's expense. Those he saw as worthy enough were sent to Liberia under the American Colonization Society.
*Nash Williams: Edward Williams' favorite slave who goes to Liberia as a Christian missionary and ultimately dies. In Liberia, Nash attempts to establish a Christian settlement but fails when his master ceases to communicate with him or support him. With no support from Edward, Nash loses his way and adopts many of the African customs he had previously regarded as primitive and unchristian. Nash dies of African fever weeks after his last communication with Edward. He dies without completing his missionary work and without returning to America to see his former master.
*Martha Randolph: A runaway slave whose life goal is to reach California and rejoin her long-lost daughter. She never makes it to California but gets as far as Colorado where she dies from exposure. In her moment of death, Martha is delivered and dreams of reaching California and finding her daughter, Eliza Mae.
*James Hamilton: A slave trader and master of the ship the ''Duke of York'' whose actions contradict his religious beliefs. He is a Christian man and believes slavery is wrong but is not dissuaded from enterprising in human bondage. He keeps a log of events and writes the hardships of his journey in his journal, which is how the reader gains access to his interiority