65 pages • 2 hours read
Nathan HarrisA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Content warning: This book includes depictions of antigay bias, racial slurs, and racially-motivated violence.
George Walker sets out on the 200 acres passed down to him by his father to hunt a mysterious animal that has eluded him since childhood. He meets two poorly dressed young Black men in the woods. Prentiss, who George thinks is the age of his own son Caleb, steps forward and explains that they got lost in the woods. George only gets a glimpse of the second man, Landry, who does not speak and whom George thinks is simple because of his expressionless face. Even though the men are trespassing, George does not care. The men explain that they used to be enslaved by Ted Morton, whose land borders George’s.
George tells Prentiss that he is chasing a large black beast whose memory has haunted him since he and his father hunted it in his childhood. George suddenly becomes uncomfortable in the woods with the two men and tells them his wife will be calling for help. The men reveal that they have been wandering the woods for nearly a week with only a few minor provisions provided by Morton.
George entertains a rush of memories of his son Caleb, culminating in the moment he sent him off to the front lines and concluding with Caleb’s friend August coming to the house to tell him of Caleb’s death.
African American Literature
View Collection
American Civil War
View Collection
Books on U.S. History
View Collection
Books that Feature the Theme of...
View Collection
Community
View Collection
Daughters & Sons
View Collection
Guilt
View Collection
LGBTQ Literature
View Collection
Marriage
View Collection
Memorial Day Reads
View Collection
Memory
View Collection
Military Reads
View Collection
New York Times Best Sellers
View Collection
Oprah's Book Club Picks
View Collection
Popular Study Guides
View Collection
Pride Month Reads
View Collection
Safety & Danger
View Collection
The Best of "Best Book" Lists
View Collection
The Booker Prizes Awardees & Honorees
View Collection
The Past
View Collection
War
View Collection