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Transcript

The Book Of Negroes

Storytelling Elements

Writing Elements

The Book of Negroes

Written By: Lawrence Hill

Presentation By: Zeineb Muhsen

Title

A Great Work of Literature

The Book of Negroes is a page turning historical fiction novel told in the first person perspective of a fictional character named Aminata Diallo. This novel is a great work of literature that outlines the life of a girl living in the 1700s as she goes from being a free African child, to an abducted slave and finally to a woman. The remarkable storytelling and writing elements immerse the reader into the life of Aminata. Thus, the reader not only learns about a dark portion of history but is able to empathize with the experiences of slaves on a human level.

1745- The story starts off with Aminata's abduction from her village in west Africa by slave traders at the tender age of 11 years old. She details how she was forced to walk in a coffle- a string of slaves- for months to the ocean. On this treacherous journey, she meets Chekura, a young boy that soon becomes her close friend. As Aminata describes her horrific experience on a slave vessel, the audience is able to witness the lack of humanity of the slave trade.

Early Life

Plot Summary

Life as a Slave

Aminata survives the crossing of the ocean and lands in America. She is taken to South Carolina where she is forced to work on an indigo plantation. On the plantation, she is subject to physical and sexual abuse at the hands of her slave owner, Mr. Appleby. Despite her lack of physical freedom, Aminata possesses a very intellectual mind and is able to learn to read and write in secret. This skill becomes her saving grace as she is sold to a Jewish man named Solomon Lindo for her literacy skills. Although still a slave, she is treated with more humanity in Lindo's home.

Life as a Slave

Escape From Slavery

When Mr. Lindo travels to New York, he takes Aminata with him. At this point, it is the 1770s and the American revolution is intensifying, so she is able to escape during the conflict. Due to her literacy, she is able to get work with the British army writing the names of Black British loyalists who are allowed to set sail from New York to other British colonies. The document she writes in is called ‘The Book of Negroes’. Aminata is then able to travel to the British colony of Nova Scotia where she is promised a life of freedom.

Escape From Slavery

Journey Back Home

In Nova Scotia, the black loyalists are not given the rights that had been promised to them by the British. When the chance comes to travel back to Africa and settle in a place called Sierra Leone, Aminata takes another voyage across the ocean, this time by her own will.

Journey Back Home

Establishes Deeper Understanding of the Impact of Slavery

Oftentimes, people remember the slave trade as a political and economic event rather than an event that devastated the lives of millions of people. The number of black people forced into slavery in Western countries is seen as a mere statistic, lacking any human connection. This novel is able to ground these statistics into reality by seamlessly incorporating the historic suffering into Aminata's emotional story. The experiences of Aminata are vividly described and strike empathy in the reader.

Deeper Understanding of Slavery

The author sheds light on the experience of kidnapped Africans aboard slave ships:

“Everywhere I turned, men were lying naked, chained to each other and their sleeping boards, groaning and crying. Waste and blood streamed along the floorboards, covering my toes.” (Hill 63)

Quote 1

In this quote, Aminata describes her experience as she enters the hold of the slave ship. The author uses the perspective of the main character to reveal the sickening conditions that slaves endured on their journey across the ocean.

"Near the platform stood a group of Africans, some barely able to stand and others with pus dripping from sores on their legs…I could do nothing to change their prospects or even my own. 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 your future” (Hill 189)

Aminata comes to the conclusion that living as a slave makes you "invisible" and you have "no claim on your future". This truth hits home to any reader that has felt helpless in their lives and fosters an understanding for people forced into slavery.

In this quotation, the author identifies the helpless feeling that a slave is forced to have:

Quote 2

Patriarchy

The patriarchal world is evident throughout the novel and establishes a timeless theme. Hill expertly portrays the challenges that Aminata faces due to being a slave but also her disadvantages due to being a female. Female slaves were not only abused physically, but also sexually, mentally and emotionally. Their bodies were not their own and were abused by the men in power. Although Hill is a male, he is able to connect to the feelings that women have with respect to the ongoing power struggle. This theme resonates with women living in the current patriarchal society.

Timeless Theme- Patriarchy

“Some say that I was once uncommonly beautiful, but I wouldn't wish beauty on any woman who has not her own freedom, and who chooses not the hands that claim her” (Hill 4)

In this quotation, the main character describes the beauty of a woman "who has not her own freedom" as a curse. This powerful statement gives insight into the male dominated world as Aminata realizes that she is not only property due to being a slave but also due to being a woman in a patriarchal society. To this day, women struggle to break the barriers put up by the hands that attempt to "claim" them.

Quotation 1

“He clamped one hand on my mouth, pinned me down with his chest and began unbuttoning his trousers with his other hand. His skin pressed down on mine. I could feel his wet skin, sweating. And he stank. “Who owns you?” he said” (Hill 161)

The slave owner asserts his dominance saying, "who owns you" as he violates Aminata. Through this vicious assault on the main character, the author addresses the fact that rape is often used as a weapon to hurt people in a way that not only harms them physically, but dehumanizes them. This feeling of worthlessness causes emotional and mental harm that lasts long after the physical pain subsides. To this day, rape is used as a tool to assert dominance and to harm a person in the worst way possible.

As a female slave, Aminata is not only subject to physical abuse but also sexual abuse. This quotation outlines the assault of the main character by her slave owner:

Quotation 2

Effective Use of Literary Devices

The use of literary devices transforms the "Book of Negroes" into a three dimensional story that captivates readers from start to finish. The author reveals powerful truths about the human condition through his skillful use of literary devices.

Literary Devices

Foreshadowing

Foreshadowing is used to create dramatic suspense throughout the novel. This helps to captivate the audience and contributes to the page turning nature of the story.

Foreshadowing

“I seem to have trouble dying. By all rights, I should not have lived this long…There must be a reason why I have lived all these lands, survived all these water crossings, while others fell from bullets and simply willed their lives to end.” (Hill 1)

The audience is intrigued to find out, who is the narrator? What "lands" has she lived on? What "water" has she crossed? The use of foreshadowing indicates that a flashback will reveal her life story and prepares the audience for the journey they are about to go on with Aminata.

The author draws the reader in from the first lines of the story:

Quote 1

Use of Imagery

The novel contains vivid imagery that allows the reader to be immersed in the story.

Imagery

"Pink is taken as the colour of innocence, the colour of childhood, but as it spills across the water in the light of the dying sun, do not fall into its pretty path. There, right underneath, lies a bottomless graveyard of children, mothers and men. I shudder to imagine all the Africans rocking in the deep." (Hill 7)

The author uses imagery to describe the sunset on the water. This passage evokes deep sadness in the reader as they can imagine the "light of the dying sun" spilling onto a "bottomless graveyard". This graveyard is for slaves who did not make the journey across the ocean from Africa to the West.

Quote 1

Use of Allegory

The most prominent use of allegory is the kidnapping of Aminata's child. While owned by Robinson Appleby, Aminata gives birth to a baby boy. In order to punish Aminata for her disobedience, Appleby arranges for the sale of her son to a plantation far away.

Allegory

What is the Allegorical Significance of this Event?

Aminata is awoken in the middle of the night to the cries of her 10 month old baby and watches as her slave owner gives him to a mysterious man in a carriage. Aminata never sees her son again. This scene is heart wrenching because of the deep love that a mother has for her child. The allegorical significance of this is that just like how the most important thing in Aminata's life was taken from her, the countries behind the slave trade were stealing the most important thing from Africans by forcing them into slavery, their freedom. The author makes a statement about the cruelty of the slave trade by comparing it to the abduction of a child from their mother.

Extensive Research

Although the story of Aminata Diallo is a work of fiction, there are many parts of the novel that are historically accurate. The author dedicated 10 pages at the end of the book distinguishing the historical facts in the story from fiction as well as listing the sources he used through out his research. This research makes the novel even more authentic and allows the reader to learn about history in an engaging way. Once having read the story, the reader feels a sense of enlightenment as they have learned about a part of history in an engaging way.

Extensive Research

The Real "Book of Negroes"

The novel is named after the historic document, "The Book of Negroes". This document contains the names and details of 3000 black men, women and children who served for the British during the American Revolutionary war. These individuals were transported by the British from New York to various British colonies during the American revolution. Many readers would not have heard of this document. However, through his extensive research, Hill was able to highlight this overlooked corner of history and subtly educate his audience.

The Book of Negroes

"Back to Africa" Movement

"Back to Africa"

Aminata Diallo's journey back to Africa was not completely fiction. In fact, it was based on the real "Back to Africa" movement. As Lawrence hill mentions the history behind it: "Black loyalists arrived (to Nova Scotia) in 1783... after about 10 years of miserable treatment... they founded the first major "back to Africa" exodus... sailing to found the colony of Free Town in Sierra Leone (Hill 472)". Through thorough research, Hill was able to create an interesting plot for Aminata Diallo's life that taught readers about history at the same time.

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