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.