<span>Many
Negros are cruelly taken away from their countries and their families
only to face continued cruelty aboard ships and in a strange land.
</span>
This is actually based from <span>Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher”. And based on this excerpt, what the narrator is doing in this moment is that he is was reminiscing of what had happened in the past. Hope this answers your question. </span>
"like a sunbeam" - it is used to give deeper meaning and description to what her face looks like in person so the reader can feel as if they are standing in front of her seeing that face.
