The book I have been reading is The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill.
The novel is told by Aminata Diallo who is an elderly woman who has survived
decades in the slave trade. This book is
fictional but is based on true facts and events that occurred in America and
African History. Her story begins at the
age of 11 in Bayo, Africa with her midwife mother and jeweler father. They were loving and caring parents that
taught Aminata, (also known as “Meena”), many skills and languages in the short
time they had together.
As Meena
and her mother were walking home from visiting another village, they were
captured by slavers. Her father came to help shortly after the attack. Both
Meena’s parents were murdered during their fight to get free once again.
Aminata was then placed in chains with two others from her village, Fomba and
Fanta. The coffle was being guided to
shore to be held in a boat heading to the United States. Meena made friends with a boy who was aiding
the captors, named Chekura who helped her survive her journey. With the help of the lessons she had been
taught by her mother and father, along with Chekura, she made it to the vessel,
which concludes the first section of my readings.
What I
enjoy most is that the story is filled with unique characters who possess very
distinct characteristics that either compliment or clash with one another. The main character Menna, tends to get along
with most people but finds difficulty in connecting with Fanta. Fanta appears to be a very angry person, who struggled
with her average life and is now having an even harder time as a captive. For these reasons, I am curious to see how
her character develops throughout the novel and how she deals with the rest of
her journey in captivity. I believe she
is selfish and cocky, that being said, I feel she is just misunderstood and is
projecting her anger onto Meena for a specific (or many) reasons I am yet to
learn. Fanta is very clever and knows
what needs to be done to survive. Her
anger leads e to believe that she will fuel or even be the soul cause of a
large protest later on in the story.
As I read the story I find it very easy to
relate to all of the characters in the way Lawrence Hill portrays their unique
attributes in each setting. The intense
and precise description allows me to place myself right in the scene with the
characters. Lawrence’s writing style and
my imagination combined, lets me access my greatest strength as a writer: the
ability to empathize with the characters.
Flowing with the story I am able to change my point of view from being
Aminata herself, to being a bystander in chains along side them. The connection I build lets me almost
completely understand what is occurring in the novel and predict future events
and actions of characters. The imagery I
form in my head also keeps me “hooked” and reading far past my goal.
While
writing the novel The Book of Negroes,
I believe Lawrence Hill had the intention of reaching out and connecting with
women and teenage girls. I believe this because there is an obvious strong
female role, but he also goes deeper into details of Meena’s struggles and
feelings of being a young girl. For
example, the feebleness and embarrassment she sensed when she experienced her
first period is something every female can connect and relate to on some
level. Although, that is not to disregard
men and say they cannot sympathize with young girls, it is just an experience
that is extremely unique and something they will never truly understand. Lawrence also focuses on Meena being strong
throughout all of her struggles and depicts her as a role model for all
women. He portrays her as a very caring,
insightful and intelligent girl; qualities we all wish to have for our children
and ourselves.
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