For centuries , African slaves had to endure unfathomable cruelty and hardships. They were regarded as property, and shipped to countless places. The ramifications, of these various settings had a powerful impact on them. In The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill the numerous settings throughout the novel strongly influence the protagonist Amniata Diallo, allowing her to gain further knowledge, and perspective on life. This is demonstrated during the time Amniata spent on the slave vessel, Appleby 's Plantation, Charleston and lastly Sierra Leone and London. After being captured, Amniata spends three months on a slave vessel that transports her along with hundreds of captives to America. In effect, the setting of the slave vessel has …show more content…
The setting of the Indigo Plantation has a negative along with positive influence on her. Firstly, the plantation negatively impacts Amniata as she becomes accustomed to slavery which will drastically change her outlook on life, “That, I decided, was what it meant to be a slave: your past didn’t matter; in the present you were invisible and you had no claim on the future” (267). This illustrates how Amniata perspective is altered. She has come to realize that she lacks the control she once had on her own life, and that as a slave she is someone who is not considered to be worthy of respect, or basic human rights. On the other hand, despite the negative influence of the plantation, it also has a positive impact on Aminata. She is able to acquire useful knowledge through Georgia and Mamed that will help her to survive later on in life, "Georgia was teaching me how to survive in the land of the bukra but maybe Mamed could teach me how to get out...(216)". Aminata endures many hardships on Appleby 's plantation, but simultaneously she is able to meet people such as Georgia and Mamed who teach her valuable skills such as reading and medical treatments, which will enable her to survive in the future and be more successful. Their lessons are things she will never …show more content…
He treats Aminata with respect and provides her with more freedom. In Charleston, Aminata is able to recover confidence in herself which was lost during her time in previous settings. This is shown when Amniata first arrives to Charleston and enquires about other slaves; " Do you have other slaves? ' I asked. He flinched 'One other. But my wife and I prefer the term servant. And we don 't treat our servants rudely. In our home you will find none of the barbarism of St. Helena Island ' " (264). This illustrates that Lindo has a vastly different opinion towards slaves than Appleby does. He has a higher regard towards Aminata and feels as though she deserves to be treated much better. Because of this, Aminata is able to regain motivation along with positivity for her future . She is also now aware that there are people who are not as cruel towards slaves . Moreover, Charleston also positively influences Aminata as she is given the opportunity to further educate herself, "After Lindo finished our lessons about arithmetic, coins and keeping ledgers his wife began tutoring in the art of write"(292). In effect, this not only allows Aminata to gain additional knowledge which can help be more successful in the future as she has more valuable skills to offer. But it also helps her see the potential she has and that there is a possibility of a better future, one in which she is
The black women’s interaction with her oppressive environment during Revolutionary period or the antebellum America was the only way of her survival. Playing her role, and being part of her community that is not always pleasant takes a lot of courage, and optimism for better tomorrow. The autonomy of a slave women still existed even if most of her natural rights were taken. As opposed to her counterparts
Equiano was the youngest of his brothers who enjoyed playing outside throwing javelins enjoying the normal life of a small child. At the beginning of the day, the elders would leave their children at home while they went out into the fields to work. While they were gone, some of the children would get together to play but always took precautions of potential kidnappers. Even with all these precautions, people were still seized from their homes and taken away. Equiano was home one day with his little sister tending to the everyday household needs when out of nowhere they were captured by a couple men who had gotten over the walls. They had no time to resist or scream for help before they found themselves bound, gagged, and being taken away. Equiano had no idea where these people were taking him and they didn’t stop once until nightfall where they stayed until dawn. He tells us about how they traveled for many days and nights not having any clue where they were going or when they would get there. Slaves traveled by land and by sea, but Equiano’s journey was by sea. He tells us how he was carried aboard and immediately chained to other African Americans that were already on the ship. Once the ship halted on land, Equiano along with many other slaves were sent to the merchant’s yard where they would be herded together and bought by the
In conclusion, Aminata is working for the Abolitionists in London, England, when she is older. She is able to dress herself now however she sees fit and this seems to represent the freedom that she has won. On the other hand, does she really possess freedom, since she is still being used and manipulated for a cause, this cause being the end of the slave trade routes in Britain, and not the end of the practice of slavery? In telling her story, Hill makes the reader understand how dehumanizing slavery was and that it started with nakedness.
Laurence Hill’s novel, The Book of Negroes, uses first-person narrator to depict the whole life ofAminata Diallo, beginning with Bayo, a small village in West Africa, abducting from her family at eleven years old. She witnessed the death of her parents with her own eyes when she was stolen. She was then sent to America and began her slave life. She went through a lot: she lost her children and was informed that her husband was dead. At last she gained freedom again and became an abolitionist against the slave trade. This book uses slave narrative as its genre to present a powerful woman’s life.She was a slave, yes, but she was also an abolitionist. She always held hope in the heart, she resist her dehumanization.
Whenever Sira, Aminata’s mother went to help women deliver their babies, Aminata would go along too. She would watch and help her mother, eventually le...
Naba and Ayodele’s stories were similar to many other people. It truly shows the wretchedness of slavery and the negative effects that it has. Unfortunately, the abolition of slavery does not happen for a long time and this sort of mistreatment of human beings continues for years to come.
To understand the desperation of wanting to obtain freedom at any cost, it is necessary to take a look into what the conditions and lives were like of slaves. It is no secret that African-American slaves received cruel and inhumane treatment. Although she wrote of the horrific afflictions experienced by slaves, Linda Brent said, “No pen can give adequate description of the all-pervading corruption produced by slavery." The life of a slave was never a satisfactory one, but it all depended on the plantation that one lived on and the mast...
Throughout history, it is not uncommon for stories to become silenced; especially, when such a story is being told by the voice of a slave's. Slaves were not granted the same equal rights as the free men. They also were not seen as whole individuals -- worth less than the average citizen, to be sold and traded as property. Abina Mansha was a female slave whom once lived in Asante but came to live in the British Gold Coast Colony during 1876, after being sold to Guamin Eddoo by her husband, Yawawhah. As Abina claims in her testimony, her purchase was no accident. "Slavery had been abolished throughout the British Empire, a law extended into the Gold Coast in 1874. Yet ironically, the demand for laborers on the growing palm oil plantations and in the houses of those who own them means that the trade in slaves into the Gold Coast does not dry up following the war" (Getz and Clark, 2011, p. 6). Abina And The Important Men: A Graphic History written by Trevor R. Getz and Liz Clarke, but spoken in different perspectives, helps shed light on Abina's personal lifestyle; while the date and location provides us with further insight on how the world reacted to 19th century Western culture.
Valerie Martin’s Novel Property is an engrossing story of the wife of a slave owner and a slave, whom a mistress of the slave owner, during the late 18th century in New Orleans. Martin guides you through both, Manon Guadet and her servant Sarah’s lives, as Ms. Gaudet unhappily lives married on a plantation and Sarah unhappily lives on the plantation. Ms. Gaudet’s misserableness is derived from the misfortune of being married to a man that she despises and does not love. Sarah, the slave, is solely unhappy due to the fact that she is a slave, and has unwillingly conceived to children by Ms. Gaudiest husband, which rightfully makes Sarah a mistress. Throughout the book, Martin captivates the reader and enables you to place yourself in the characters shoes and it is almost as you can relate to how the characters are feeling.
Slavery is a term that can create a whirlwind of emotions for everyone. During the hardships faced by the African Americans, hundreds of accounts were documented. Harriet Jacobs, Charles Ball and Kate Drumgoold each shared their perspectives of being caught up in the world of slavery. There were reoccurring themes throughout the books as well as varying angles that each author either left out or never experienced. Taking two women’s views as well as a man’s, we can begin to delve deeper into what their everyday lives would have been like.
In the novel, the author proposes that the African American female slave’s need to overcome three obstacles was what unavoidably separated her from the rest of society; she was black, female, and a slave, in a white male dominating society. The novel “locates black women at the intersection of racial and sexual ideologies and politics (12).” White begins by illustrating the Europeans’ two major stereotypes o...
The issue of Slavery in the South was an unresolved issue in the United States during the seventeenth and eighteenth century. During these years, the south kept having slavery, even though most states had slavery abolished. Due to the fact that slaves were treated as inferior, they did not have the same rights and their chances of becoming an educated person were almost impossible. However, some information about slavery, from the slaves’ point of view, has been saved. In this essay, we are comparing two different books that show us what being a slave actually was. This will be seen with the help of two different characters: Linda Brent in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and Frederick Douglass in The Narrative of the life of Frederick
Frederick Douglass’ landmark narrative describes the dehumanization of African-American slaves, while simultaneously humanizing them through his moving prose. Douglass shows the dehumanization of slaves through depictions of violence, deindividuation, and the broken justice system. However, Douglass’ pursuit of an education, moving rhetoric, and critique of his own masters demonstrates to the reader that African-Americans are just as intelligent as white people, thus proving their humanity.
The first part of the book gives an account of Immaculée’s family background. The love she experienced from her parents and her three brothers is illustrated. Her parents cared for everybody, particularly the poor. Because of the love with which she grew up, she never realised that she was living in a country where hatred against the Tutsi, her tribe, was rampant. It was not until she was asked to stand up in class by her teacher during an ethnic roll call that she realised that her neighbours were not what she thought them to be – good and friendly. After struggling to get into high school and university, not because she was not qualified but because of discrimination against her ethnic background, she worked hard to prove that if women are given opportunities to...
Despite Flint’s overtures, Linda is able to avoid being by the grace of her own intellect. Although her actions may seem illicit and ill-advised, like her love affair with Mr. Sands to fend off Dr. Flint, so are the repercussions if she cooperates and does nothing. Jacobs predicates that slaves suffer from the influence of the slave system on their moral development. In the text, it is evident that Linda does not condemn slaves for illegal or immoral acts such as theft or adultery, but rather saying that they usually have no other option but to behave this way. However, she also points out that slaves have no reason to develop a strong ethical sense, as they are given no ownership of themselves or final control over their actions. This is not their fault, but the fault of the slavery system that dehumanizes them. “Pity me, and pardon me, O virtuous reader! You never knew what it is to be a slave; to be entirely unprotected by law or custom; to have the laws reduce you to the condition of a chattel, entirely subject to the will of another” (Jacobs 49). Slaves are not evil like their masters, but important parts of their personalities are left undeveloped. She argues that a powerless slave girl cannot be held to the same standards of morality as a free