Analysis Of Lawrence Hill Aminata's 'The Book Of Negroes'

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A home can be thought of in many ways it could be where one lives, where one was born or where one feels most comfortable. In the novel The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill Aminata is a young girl who is abducted from her village in Africa and taken to America as a slave where she grows up in and out of freedom. When Aminata is in America she has a daughter named May who is stolen from her by a white couple when she was very young but returns to Aminata at an older age. Aminata was born in Bayo, Africa and May in America. Aminata lived in Bayo until she was 12 so she knows a better life and a life outside of America. Whereas, May does not know another home other than America that is her country. Aminata has been through a lot in America …show more content…

She lives her life in America one day to the next just trying to survive the harsh environments she is subject to. Aminata is always trying to get back to Bayo and when she finds out that the white men do not have that much knowledge of Africa she comes to a realization. “My only choice was to keep listening and reading. Perhaps one day I would understand the world of the white man well enough to discover how to leave it.” (page 241). Aminata realizes that it will not be a fast trip back to Africa but it is always her goal even when she is faced with obstacles. Solomon Lindo is the one who shows Aminata the white man’s knowledge of Africa. “some slave traders like Solomon Lindo who knew that blacks were intelligent but were unwilling to forfeit their economic advantage” (Yorke, Stephanie). This made it even harder for Aminata to make America her home and try to build a life there. May has only ever known America so naturally this is where she starts to build her home. May gets used to the environment, runs away to become free and gets a job teaching she builds a life in America. After May and here mother first see eachother again they sleep together for the first few days and when May moves to the room next door Aminata wonders why. “But May softly tells me that she has a man in her life now, and that they are planning to have a baby.” (page 525). May brings a man into her life in America and plans to have children showing her building a home there with the man she loves in here country of birth. Although Aminata always believes Bayo is her true home throughout the book at the end of the novel when her and May finally meet again you can tell that Aminata feels more relaxed and at home in the foreign

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