ISP Blog Post #6

Looking at The Book of Negroes from a post-colonial point of view gave me the most insight into the book. Slavery is the main focus of this novel, which makes it easy to look through a post-colonial lens. As I said in my first ISP blog post, “Post colonialism examines the effects of the conquering nation on the local culture; exploring how a local culture is first stripped, then the dominant culture is imposed on the locals and finally how the local culture is forever impacted and changed by the exposure to the dominant culture”, which is a basic overview of the plot of this novel. Aminata goes through each of those stages and without looking at the novel from that point of view you might miss those connections between the events in Aminata’s life.

Without looking at The Book of Negroes from a post-colonial point of view I would never have known how Aminata never felt accepted by her own people. I would only have seen that slaves hated being taken from their homeland and thought they only wanted to be returned. But the reality is that they were not accepted anywhere. Even when Aminata went back to Africa she was never accepted. Fatima and the slave traders that take her back to Bayo show Aminata and the readers that she is not accepted in her homeland. They do not believe that she is an African no matter what she says; she is “toubab with the black face” (Chapter 4).

Aminata grows up facing rejection; she learns that white people only want her to use her talents. No one cares about her, they only care what she can do for them. i.e. working in fields, catching babies, reading and writing, etc. She also cannot escape the dangers of slavery even when she has returned “home” and the African’s believe she is tainted by the Toubab.

I would definitely use Fatima as an example; I would also use the slave traders that pretend to take Aminata to Bayo. I think those are great examples because Fatima shows that the "true" African believe the Nova Scotian's to be foreigners. The Slave traders are a good example because they show that Aminata is not safe even when she is back in Africa, she narrowly escapes repeating the cycle of slavery. I would also show that Aminata has been rejected by people all her life. The white people reject the Negroes and treat them as property instead of human beings. She is only useful to them when they can exploit her skills for their benefits.

A first draft of my thesis would be: Without a post-colonial look at The Book of Negroes the rejection of Negroes in their homeland would not be understood. Aminata gives us that insight and I think that rejection is the reason she decides to go England to help the cause to end slavery. She has experienced the effects of rejection in all forms and she doesn’t want anyone else to go through what she did, so she accepts Clarkson’s offer to help end that circle of hate.

ISP Blog Post #5: Archetypal look at The Book of Negroes

There are many archetypal characters and events in The Book of Negroes. Aminata Diallo is the hero, Georgia is the great mother, Daddy Moses is the wise old man, and Lindo is the fox or trickster. Georgia is the great mother to Aminata because she saved her from being sold and took care of her on Appleby’s indigo plantation (book two).  Georgia saved her from getting diseases; she helped her avoid being alone with Appleby so he didn’t rape her, which in the end she could not save Aminata from, and she guides Aminata in the ways of living as a slave in America. Daddy Moses is the wise old man because he really is a wise old man. Even though he is a preacher of Christian faith and Aminata is Muslim, she becomes close to him because he is a kind soul. He treats her with kindness and is one of the exceptions to the idea that kindness always comes with a price. I think he teaches Aminata this lesson and she then uses that lesson when she is the wise old woman, teaching other young people like she was taught.

Appleby would be the obvious choice for the archetype of the fox/trickster but I think Soloman Lindo is more of a trickster to Aminata’s hero. Appleby is very proud of the fact that he is a slave owner; he is openly racist and hateful, where Lindo is shyer about his faults. Lindo is not truthful about what he is, he owns slaves but does not call them slaves to save his own dignity (book two), he helps to trade Aminata’s baby secretly (book two) and then denies all accusations (book three) and he pretends to be a gentleman when he is just as bad as Appleby. 

 The book starts off with in Aminata being in the familiar environment of her home village with her family and community. She grows up until she is eleven in this great learning and caring atmosphere. Her parents love her, she is taught to pray the way her father does, she learns all the ways of the tribe and she is getting ready to become the chief’s next wife (book one). Her parents give her the skills, in this loving environment, which will later save her life in a more hostile environment. She begins her internal journey from innocence to experience. When she is taken away from her village she begins her descent into danger (book one). As she walks further and further from her family and village the more things become unfamiliar to her. She is stolen from that loving environment and thrown into the harsh confines of slavery.

Danger is definitely something that Aminata faced on a daily basis. Danger of disease, the slave traders, other captives, and animals in the jungle, and that’s just her first journey to the shores of Africa! She faces disease throughout the whole book, she faces captors and captives throughout most of the novel, I think the danger that she faces the most is hatred. Hatred is rampant throughout this novel. Kindness is found but not often and it almost always comes with a price. Aminata has to face the unkindness of the slave traders on her way to Bance Island as well as on the ship to America (book one). She faces unkindness when she lives on Appleby’s farm, mostly from Master Appleby (book two). Her husband is kept from her and her babies are stolen from her (book two and three). Aminata travels the world over but she can never escape the hatred that follows her people. She is downcast because of the colour of her skin and she can’t escape it even when she gets back to her homeland. The Africans see her as tainted somehow because she lived in America for so many years and they do not believe she is a true African like they are (book four). She fights off the demons that plague her, never letting fear and hatred overcome her.

Aminata’s return home is really her return home. She goes back to Africa with John Clarkson and the other Nova Scotians (book four). She completes the journey from innocence to experience by coming full circle and returning to her homeland. I think that every novel has some connection to archetypes because it is the general flow of a story. If the main character didn’t go through anything tragic and overcome different aspects of their life then no one would want to read the book. Archetypes make the story relatable because everyone has a mother figure, a father figure, and a trickster or antagonist. No one’s life is perfect, everyone has bad things happen to them and the best books teach us that we can’t let those bad things defeat us. I don’t think that Lawrence Hill wrote The Book of Negroes through an archetypal lens but I think that every story has basically all the same elements. Aminata’s story becomes more relatable as the archetypes are introduced to us. The reader probably has never been through slavery, but they understand a slave’s point of view because they can relate to her troubles.