My friend Priscilla Ronzitti sent me the following note about Master of Westfall Plantation:
Got
the book and read it. I like it a lot though the ending has me confused as so
many things were left unresolved. My assumption is there will be another
sequel?? Your writing is great and I have trouble putting the book down. It is
a treat to read something that has a friend's name on the cover as author!
I had a
devil of a time figuring out a “good” end for Master. I hope those people
who read Master before Kedzie will find no loose ends. However, if you’ve read Kedzie, you know that Tilmon is in good
spirits at the conclusion of Master because he is unaware of what is about to happen.
The plot
line of Master of Westfall explores what Tilmon considers important. He worries about
paying his bills and maintaining a life style commensurate with his social
standing. He likes to gamble, drink, buy horses, and dabble in society as well
as politics. He runs his plantation well enough, but his appetites surpass his
income. Therein is one of his challenges.
His mother
bails him out time and again. When she takes a fancy to the artist, Tilmon sees
a threat to not only her financial support but his inheritance as well, should
she marry.
The butler
dies suddenly and from an undetermined cause, and this throws Tilmon a curve.
For one of the few times in his life, he wavers about what has happened and
what to do.
He is
concerned about his wife when she fails to live up to his social expectations.
He is convinced he loves her, though he is incapable of accepting her
abolitionist patron.
In the
end, Tilmon is happy because: 1) He makes enough money selling the cook to
replenish his bank account; 2) His mother provides a legal document assuring
him of his inheritance if she should marry; 3) He eradicates doubts about
whether Billy’s death was accidental or deliberate by selling the cook; 4) He
believes his wife has agreed to end her relationship with her patron. To add to
that, his wife is pregnant with another child that he wants.
Perhaps
there are frayed ends — but on completing Master I was a frayed writer. Is
Tilmon’s unsettled relationship with his wife a frayed end? Georgiana, who is a
point of view character, tells us that she hasn’t forsaken her patron. To the
contrary, she has become more loyal to him than to her husband. Does this need
to be resolved? I’m not sure I want to get into that conflict. Georgiana will
lose, at least financially and socially, given the time in which she lives.
I think
Priscilla’s confusion relates to the fact that she’s read Kedzie and knows what Tilmon doesn’t know
at the end of Master. As Tilmon is smoking his cigar on the piazza and chatting with his
wife, he doesn’t know that his slave girl/concubine is escaping to the
mainland. That night, Rio and Joe kill most of his cattle, something he will
only find out the next day.
Tilmon
doesn’t confront many of the issues in this story, simply because he is human,
a man, and a product of the antebellum culture. He will never know that his
wife plots against him nor that Kedzie hates him. He thinks his slaves have
respect if not consideration for him. He is unaware that Rio is a dangerous
enemy. And even if you told him these things, he wouldn’t understand. He thinks
he treats people fairly. He considers himself a good person.
I hope to
eventually write a more conclusive ending for Tilmon, Georgiana, and Rio.
Perhaps I’m reluctant to take on the task because the stakes are high and
somebody’s going to lose, in a big way.
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