After reading the first chapter of Coate’s The Water Dancer, and after reading it again, I am baffled. I do not have the necessary comprehension and knowledge of the relevant historical context to properly critique this excerpt, let alone the fact that I have only read one chapter of what is presumably a full length novel. The only thing I realistically can say is that I am curious about how this story develops. Had I not been told beforehand, I would not have guessed this was the first chapter of a novel. Given that the setting the narrator is in likely drastically shifts between this chapter and the proceeding ones, aside from the fact that it seems it takes place in the 1700’s and revolves around slavery, this first chapter probably does not strongly indicate that plot of the rest of the novel.