Book Of Negroes Analysis

The Book Of Negroes, by Lawrence Hill, is written in the eyes of Aminata Diallo, a young girl from Africa who was abducted at a young age and kept as a slave for the majority of her life. Throughout the novel, the reader learns about the horrific things in Aminata’s life and the things she had to endure as a slave. This is seen through the fact that when she was faced with a problem she would think of freedom, happiness, and her home which would, in turn, give her the push she needed to keep persevering. Throughout the story, the author demonstrates how one could survive due to the power of education, intuition and the goal set in mind.

Firstly, one of the main focuses of the novel is the power of education, which Aminiata possess

A prime example of her demonstrating her with and intuition would be when she goes to Bance island, where she realizes that Armstrong and Falconbridge “can do whatever they wanted with her” ( 578) . In that moment she decides that if “ they heard her voice and witnessed mind at work, it would be difficult for them to see her as a slave” ( 579). While these men most likely did not intend on making her a slave, as a result of her always being cautious of her surroundings , her quick thinking further facilitates her survival even if it was n=unnecessary. Additionally, Aminata exihibits her with and intuition when she decides to pay the Fula Trader Alassane to take her inland. When she first meets hi, her intuition and wits tells her that she should not trust this man, subsequently she chooses to only reveal that she speaks Temne, English and Banamankan and hold that she also speaks the trader language, Fulfide. This cleaver thinking further exemplifies her wit and intuition and is extremely significant because resultantly it ends up saving her life, when she figures out that they planned to sell her back into slavery. Ultimately a large part of Aminata’s ability to survive lies in her natural wit and

Throughout Amanita’s life she has been through numerous ordeals that tested her will to survive and despite being in terrible situations, she has always been able to stay calm and overcome. At the age of 11 she witnesses her parents murder and immediately was captured and sold into slavery. Unlike the most people, she realizes that grieving was pointless and that there was nothing she could do, quickly she adapted to her surroundings and heeded her captor’s order and walked because “it was the only thing she could do” (42). If not her ability to adapt and overcome her parents death, her captors probably would have shot and kill her because she would have been unwilling to leave her dead parents sides. Another example of her ability to adapt would be when she arrives in America and was sold to Appleby. The act of her transitioning from Africa to America itself speaks about her ability to adapt, taken into consideration the cultural and political differences, but her ability to adapt is more evident when she was taken under Georgia’s wing and taught norms of how people expected her to act. She was quickly able to adapt to living on an indigo farm and learned how harvest indigo, how to interact in America and how to