34 pages • 1 hour read
Walter Dean MyersThe Glory Field
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1994A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Part 1Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 1 Summary: “July 1753”
The Glory Field begins in July 1753, off the coast of Sierra Leone, West Africa. Muhammad Bilal, elevenyearsold, and the family’s earliest known ancestor, has been kidnapped from his village and is being held captive, shackled at the ankles in the bowels of a ship. He is held there for thirty-six days before the ship even sets sail. Muhammad has been captured with other Africans, including men and women from his own village, and they are to be sold on as slaves. They make the journey across the Atlantic Ocean, eventually arriving in America. Food is minimal, and they are only given water twice a day. Despite pain, hunger, and thirst, Muhammad survives the voyage, which ends at Curry Island, South Carolina. Many of his countrymen do not survive. He yearns to be free again and wonders what fate befell his parents: “He thought of Saran, his mother, and of Odebe, his father. He did not know if they were alive or dead, if the screams he heard on that dark night had come from their sweet lips” (6-7).
Part 1 Analysis
Part One of The Glory Field is only five pages long and acts as a Prologue, showing how the Lewis family’s origins begin with Muhammad Bilal. It also hints at the recurring themes of family, freedom, and hope. It is preceded by a family tree, which charts the Lewis family from 1743 to 1994, and from Sierra Leone to Harlem. This genealogical diagram is significant, as many AfricanAmericans are unable to do this due to the slave trade.
The story begins with Muhammad Bilal, elevenyearsold, shackled at the bottom of a slave ship following his capture from his village in Sierra Leone, West Africa. The narrative does not reveal the story of Muhammad’s life before this, other than his father was a farmer. It also gives no details of the attack on Muhammad’s village, and the taking of him and many of his fellow villagers.
What is significant about Muhammad is his strength of character, especially as he is so young. Despite being separated from his home and loved ones, alone, afraid and confused, he vows to survive. His captors don’t seem to care whether Muhammad and the others live or die. They are given minimal food and water and are kept, mainly, at the bottom of the ship. Many of them do not survive the journey. Through the story of Muhammad, the narrative provides an understanding of what the early African-American slaves experienced.
Throughout The Glory Field, Muhammad becomes a point of reference for the Lewis family. He was taken as a slave at elevenyearsold and lived to be 110 years old. He was an exceptionally determined individual who not only survived the ship, but also his many years as a slave at the Live Oaks plantation.
The shackles worn by Muhammad recur throughout The Glory Field. They represent his ability to overcome the worst of circumstances and are a symbol of hope for the rest of the Lewis family.
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By Walter Dean Myers
