Although he appears only in the narrator's dreams and memories, the grandfather — who represents "the ancestor" or the ghost of slavery — is one of the most prominent figures in the novel. Equally important is Rinehart who, by representing the "rind" and "heart" of humanity, shows the narrator how to become his own man, thus offering him hope for the future.
Many of the people the narrator encounters in the North appear to be mirror images of people he encountered in the South. The following chart illustrates these relationships.
