Jean Jacques is a carpenter whose dignity and art in wood catches the attention of Marcel Ste. Marie. Marcel isdrawn to Jean Jacques after his aunt has commented that the man has taught himself everything he knows, including how to read and write. Marcel spends a great deal of time with the man and begins to learn a bit of history about his family and ancestors from Haiti. Jean Jacques has all this written within his journals and promises to give them to Marcel when he dies, but Cecile destroys the journals before Marcel can ever read them. It is the loss of Jean Jacques that throws Marcel into such a depression that many people in the community treat him with tender thoughts as though he is defective. However, he just longs for his only close friend.