Which excerpt from the story contains a reference to slavery? none of the social issues of 1957 had a chance of catching my attention that year years later when i visited west africa and learned of the poisonous, spiny fish that inhabit most of the coastal waters, i understood why swimming was not the local sport there that it was in new england. the magnitude of that “peculiar institution” was almost beyond my comprehension. and now when i take to the surf, i think of those ancestors and of lydia.