Book Reflection : The Book Of Negroes

Its 1802 and Aminata Di eithero, now an old woman, sits down to write her life degree at the request of the Abolitionists in capital of the United Kingdom. Abducted from her village in West Africa at the age of eleven and marched in a coffle (a string of slaves) for three months ahead r to each oneing the coast, Aminata locomotes the voyage to America and ends up sold to an indigo plantation owner in S out(p)h Carolina. She describes herself as lucky, because comp ard to the tragic circumstances and end of so m some(prenominal) different black slaves, Aminata manages to survive using her wits, her skills as a midwife, her ability to pick up new skills quickly, and her strength of character.She witnesses many horrors and sorrows, and experiences them as well, that appoint her ponder the homosexual nature and the hypocrisy of religions, even her own. Yet finished it all amazingly she does non succumb to anger or hatred she wants only to be to pissher with her husband, Chekura, their children, who are all taken from her and her homeland.When Britain surrenders to the rebels they keep their promise to the Black Loyalists in a way. With a certificate proving they use up worked bathroom British lines for at least a year, they can sign their name in the Book of Negroes and be given passage to a British colony. Most are sent to Nova Scotia, including Aminata. She may have fly the American slave owners scarcely she hasnt escaped the prejudice, fear and hatred with which the blacks face everywhere they go. The opportunity to stop to Africa the dream shes always had comes her way, barely if she ever wants to see her home village of Bayo again shell have to make a deal with the devil.out of all the loudnesss I have read conterminous to slavery this novel is by far the greatest. This book is going straight onto my favourites list. The Book of Negroes is a powerful story on many fronts its a very human story, likeable, honest, fair to the greys of histo ry, thought-provoking, poignant.One of the beautiful things about this book is how, as a reader, you experience more in tune with the Africans, while the vacuouss seem strange, alien, bewildering, contradictory. I dont mean that hummock paints an uneven exposure far from it, the rendering of history into something visceral, tangible, grants perspective and context. Its not a simple matter of white man, unwholesome black man, victim. Thats what I mean by this book being honest honest about human nature, about the complexities of history, without making excuses for anyone of any tinct. I dont mean that there werent characters who enrage you, but that they are presented relatively waive of the taint of presentism.If youre not familiar with the term, presentism refers to our natural tendency to judge history through the lens of the present, by our own modern standards, sooner than acknowledging and positioning things within a historical perspective. Hill has done an admirable jo b of completely immersing us in the 18th century, creating a protagonist who is a product of the time as much as one of circumstance.Hill has managed to write a convincing, wonderful feminine protagonist frankly, not many male writers are this successful. Aminata is unflinchingly honest with herself and others, and by being so exhaustively in her head, she gives us what the Africans needed most during slavery a voice, the understanding that shes beneficial like us, not some black beast from darkest Africa heathen, barbarian, uncivilised. As in some other books, the irony comes through all the way which is the uncivilised race? Who is the barbarian? When Aminata arrives in London, the first thing she sees are the legless beggars on the street, the cattiness and crowds and pretensions. She doesnt even need to say anything.Another irony is the rebellion in the American colony Aminata is in young York when things get nasty, and constantly hears the white Americans talking about being slaves to the British, and fighting for their freedom. Aminata doesnt need to point out anything here, and I dont think I do either.Her own people dont come off smelling of roses either. The book is thoroughly researched and historically accurate, and makes no bones about Africans enslaving each other well before the white people came, and it isAfricans who capture Aminata, kill her parents, torch her village, and sell her to the white slavers. Slavery has a long, long history, and no race, it seems, is exempt. The Egyptians did it, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Israelites were famously enslaved, the Romans are guilty and what is feudalism if not a form of slavery, which the English and French and others apply for a very long time?If nothing else, this book highlights the fact that, no matter what colour you are or what your diet is, we are all human and share this intangible thing called human nature. Cruelty exists everywhere, and cannot be simply attributed to your race , though neither can it be excused. This is why I asseverate that the history of black slavery while it existed predominantly between the British slaving companies and the Americas is everyones history. For a comprehensive story covering three different continents and exposing many of the situations black slaves, runaways and freed slaves faced, you cant go wrong with this one.Its also beautifully written. Aminata has a simple, honest style, without embellishment or fanciful detail. She rarely passes judgement, but offers her own thoughts and perspective subtly. She is captured just before reaching puberty and so, ironically, escapes female circumcision, which her people practised (removing the clitoris and part of the labia, and sewing up the vaginal entrance extraordinarily painful and meant to make a woman pure for her husband Aminata isnt keen but doesnt judge I on the other hand believe it is the cruellest form of torture you can do to a woman and theres no excuse for it. Its an old African tradition, nothing to do with Islam, and still occurs in some places like Ethiopia).There are moments of violence and cruelty, because that was largely the life of the black slaves, but while Aminata doesnt people of colour over them, neither does she dwell on them in such detail that you shy away from the book.I was base on balls one day behind a yoked man who swerved without warning to the left. I had no time to react, and my foot sank into something wet and soft. Something like a twig cracked under my heel. I let out a scream. Under myfoot was the body of a naked, decomposing man. I jumped away and ripped leaves from the nearest branch. In a frenzy, I wiped a mass of wriggling white worms from my ankle. I was shaking and wheezing. Fanta took the leaves and wiped my foot and held me and told me not to be afraid. just my hysteria escalated, even though Fanta barked at me to calm down, and I could not stop screaming. (p41)For all that Aminata and other slaves g o through, she deserves the right to tell her whole story and not shy from the unpleasant expound, or have her account censored. Remember her audience white, genteel 19th century English men and women, the Abolitionist committee, the romance of law, the common people who can read the newspapers in which parts of her story are published. It is the early 1800s, Regency London the same time and place in which we love to read carefree romance novels that are free of the taint of black slavery and the English have no real idea or any sympathy for what the black slaves endured. She argued to be the one to write her own story, by herself, and she refused to let the Abolitionists remove details that couldnt be proven. Even though she is a pretended character in a fictional account, she deserves to be heard by us as well.Theres one other thing I just have to mention the evolution of the African-American dialect. Ive come to appreciate it because of this book. I mean, I always mute that it was their way of forming a new identity, one that couldnt be taken away from them, even now. But as they learnt English, as slaves, what would happen if they spoke like their masters? Aminata learns this, she learns the dialect that the slaves speak to each other, and the grammatically stronger but far from perfect English they use with the white people.They needed a way to speak to each other without the whites understanding, yet they all came from different African tribes speaking one of thousands of African languages, or they were innate(p) on plantations and dont know any African languages at all, and so they devise their own way of speaking, close to English but entirely of their own creation. After Aminata escapes slavery, she drops this dialect and speaks proper English, but I get the sense it is due to her ability to learn languages quickly and well, and her desire not to be looked down upon,rather than a form of pretension. It certainly makes her a bit of a curiosity wi th the white people.The Book of Negroes is a masterpiece of historical literature, capturing the contradictions of the human condition in graceful, honest prose, and gifting us with a new, entirely sympathetic protagonist.