lieve it is his wife and that he is going to leave when he finds her, but in truth he is looking for himself, his true self, all the time. For instance, Seth Holly is seeking the same thing in terms of economic freedom, and what he says he wants is to compete on a level playing field with the white businessman. He at least has a better idea of what this means than Loomis understands about his own original plan.
The group at the boardinghouse forms a sort of de facto family group made up of Bynum Walker, a conjure man who tells stories; Rutherford Selig, a white peddler who helps blacks find lost loved ones on the side; Jeremy, a young man newly arrived from the South; and Seth Holly, who is a tinsmith working for a white owner and dreaming of starting his own business for himself and his wife, Bertha. Each of these characters is in the process of seeking something or, in the case of Walker and Selig, in helping others find what they are seeking. Selig indeed brings Seth the material he needs to make his wares, and he acts as one who knows how to find people and so may be able to help Loomis.
Loomis enters this group, and his brooding manner affects the others and makes them react to him. The members of the group are from North and South. None of the blacks really knows anything of their heritage, though they try to act out aspects of it, as in the African juba dance that so offends Loomis because he sees all religion as a
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