Lord John Grey meets with the leaders of the slave rebellion in Besieged Section 10. He needs Rodrigo’s help to gain some trust.
This is a great section, as it shows Lord John Grey understands the distrust of those he is talking to. Why should they believe him? He doesn’t get angry about the situation, and instead, he finds a way to gain their trust. I love that Rodrigo is so open about his recent past, and that he has so much respect for John.
Breaking down Besieged Section 10
The section starts with Lord John Grey heading into the tobacco hut to talk with the slave leaders. He knows that he needs to get them on board with the plan. The one to really focus on is a man named Cano.
As John explains who he is, the slaves clearly don’t trust him all that much. I don’t blame them. Malcolm Stubbs has clearly never met the man, and it’s even worse that Malcolm is imprisoned.
It’s Rodrigo who helps with the trust issues. Rodrigo explains who he is and about his ex-zombie past. He shares that John helped him. While the slaves are scared of the past, they realize that Lord John Grey is a good man. They can trust him, and so, the plan goes ahead.
John wants them to sign a document that will promise the slaves freedom. They aren’t too sure about this, but John explains that he is going into the fortress with them. If he dies, they need something that proves what he said would happen. This allows them their freedom. So, the slaves understandably want multiple copies, and John is more than happy to oblige. He gets why they need this.
The only thing that John asks is that when the slaves get their freedom, they don’t hurt the families of the plantation owners. The owners are one thing, but the families are another. A lot of them won’t have even had a choice in having the slaves or the way the owners acted. The slaves reluctantly agree.
However, they are running out of time. The Siege of Havana has started with the British rolling in. They will need to destroy the fortress’ guns at night, and they need to act immediately.
Could this section be used in a TV adaptation?
If this book was used for an adaptation, we would definitely need this section. It has John meeting with the slave leaders and sets up the drama that is to come. Without this, we wouldn’t have the reason why the slaves chose to trust John, and none of it would make sense.
It doesn’t take up a lot of time. There’s no need to skip over a crucial part of the story.
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