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.
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