Rutherford finds himself in the employ of the ship's cook, Josiah Squibb, and in a bizarre alliance with the ship's captain, the first mate and the Africans. From the start the voyage is doomed to failure; crew and readers are aware of this fact.
As the only black crew member and a learned man, courtesy of his former master’s goodwill, Rutherford is elite among the half-wits and criminals that make up the Republic's crew. In a contrived liaison between the human cargo and their captors, Rutherford's relationships with Baleka, a young African child who loses her mother during the voyage, and Ngonyama, a leader among the Africans, blossom during the voyage back across the Atlantic Ocean ("the flood") to the United States. A motley crew that despises its captain and human cargo taken against their will is a lethal mixture. In savage detail and elegant prose, the tale of the Republic and its occupants' sufferings are detailed for the reader. Shocking revelation comes when the ship's mysterious financiers/backers, who have come full circle in the tale, are revealed to have direct involvement with Rutherford Calhoun.
Middle Passage is written as recorded in the captain's log, which Rutherford Calhoun was able to obtain and secure under perilous circumstances. Rutherford Calhoun drives this novel and in the end, this man's eyes are open to what is important in life and were his energies should rightly be spent during his lifetime.
Historically the middle passage, the voyage across the Atlantic Ocean, was a region of unspeakable horrors suffered by slaves at the hand of their enslavers. Moving through the pages of the Middle Passage and journeying across the Atlantic Ocean in the year 1830 - aboard a slave ship no less - is a voyage that leaves lessons learned and questions to ponder. Truly, Middle Passage, referred to as a parable, lives up to this distinction; there is a lesson in this story.
Noted for his balanced mixture of philosophy and folklore in his work, author Charles Johnson came into prominence with Middle Passage, winner of the National Book award for fiction in 1990. Charles Johnson also wrote Soulcatcher: and other stories and Dreamer.
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