ISP Blog Post #6

I think the literary theory that gave me the best insight into my novel was post colonial. When looking at The Book of Negroes from this point of view it all seems to fall into place; why things happened the way they did. It also does not leave a stone turned. The divide between races can be easily seen in any part of the book, but I find most unbiased in this point of view. The complexity of all the people's lives and how the intertwine can be more easily understood from this point of view. I also find that it sort of ties all the views into one; the way women were treated, the cultural myths, and personally associating things we see today. All of these were based off of how the countries in control influenced people. I really enjoyed looking in depth on this point of view.
Thesis: Without examining The Book of Negroes from the post colonial point of view the complexity of world issues would remain hidden. The entire book is taking place around the world all at the same time, people are being taken from their countries, forced across an ocean, forced into slavery, and treated poorly. When reading the last part of this book I have to admit I was reading rather bias. I thought that Clarkson was doing a bad job at trying to end slavery by stopping the slave trade instead of slavery all together, but really it was a smart idea. Knocking out the industry one piece at a time would probably end the slavery faster then trying to abolish it all at once. Because it is such a complex issue its hard to know where to start. I admire Clarkson's character for his idea on where to start the process. It probably kept the slaves safer too. If people were told that they can't have their slaves anymore, they may have taken their anger out on them.
Overall without this point of view on The Book of Negroes the issue of slavery and its complexity would not have been brought to light. It looks at the whole picture and how it is intertwined.

ISP Blog Post #5

Post colonial Literary Theory

In the novel, The Book of Negroes, there are many cultures and religions that are under the control of the British Empire. To start off with most of Africa, Jamaica, and several other islands. The American's were also under the control of the British for some part of the book. I feel that Aminata got the chance to experience all of these. When she was young she practiced Muslim and the Qumran. After she was brought to America she saw that others practiced Christianity and other religions too.

There were many languages spoken throughout the book by various people. Aminata herself was able to speak about four languages. English, french, and several African languages were spoken.

Though people were not stopped from practicing their religion, or speaking their language (except when in the states), people had many misconceptions about the other cultures. For example on page 494 when Aminata is speaking to a young African, the girl believes that the white people eat the African Americans. And on the other hand the white people thought that they were saving the blacks from some barbarck death. Really neither is true, but both truly believed. 

I think that learning all about these other cultures, languages, and religions was a blessing for Aminata in such a rough time of her life. She came to know many languages, she got to observe the different ways women cared for their babies and ow they carried them on their back. She got to see how different everyone dressed and how they interacted with each other.

For the most part I found that the whites were influenced by the British not to associate with other cultures, and in turn made a very tense divide of people. The way Aminata describes her stays in Africa seems much more comforting than the stays in places ruled by the British. The colony's people do not seem to have as much humility as the Africans did. Aminata was often not welcome in many places in the states, but in Africa people went beyond what they had to do to help her out. 

Overall I think that the post colonial view of things really brings tings to light and explain why things were the way they were

 

ISP Blog Post #4

Feminism
In the novel, The Book of Negros, woman are not seen how they are today in our society. A major observation that I made is that when Aminita was looking out the window of a castle and saw newly captured slaves in a yard, separated by gender. The men were all tied together, but the woman were not tied up at all. To me this speaks volumes. The people who kid napped them thought that they were unable or not smart enough to escape because they were women.
Through out the rest of the book men seem control most everything. The men worked and he women were house wives and did what pleased their husbands. The females did not make any choices regarding anything. A few of the white women did do somethings but it seemed that they mostly relied on their husbands.
Women were also used a lot through the book, for sex. Some were raped, like Amintia was, and others assaulted. When Aminitia is in New York she learns of a 13 year old was impregnated by a 21 year old. The young girl thinks that she should abort the baby because thats what he wants her to do and she thinks he loves her. One day she wakes up and he gone. In the end she has her baby and realizes that men aren't all they crack up to be.
Overall I found that the women in this book were treated very poorly. They were used, and did not seem to be of much value unless being used for sex, even then they were sometimes just seen as pieces of meat (being raped or assaulted). I found this rather disappointing to read about, I believe in everybody being an equal. I found that the African women were treated even more poorly then the white women, which ties in the racism.