Daniel’s Response Paper On Copper Sun
Copper Sun is a book about a fifteen year old girl named Amari who was stolen from her village by white slave traders, and lived a horrible life as a slave until she finally escaped.
“Copper Sun”, the title of this book, is very important because the main character, Amari, only uses the description “Copper Sun” when talking about places she considers home. During all but the ending of the book Amari only describes Africa as having a copper sun because she still views Africa as her home and not surprisingly doesn’t view America as her home. When she finally gets to Fort Mose and feels at home again does she say that America has the same copper sun as her homeland. Here’s a quote from the book that reinforces everything I
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just said. “Amari glanced toward the west and watched the sun set. It glowed a bright metallic copper-the same sun that set each evening upon her homeland. She knew that she had found a home once more.” pg.302 (This is the last sentence in the book) Now let’s talk about Polly. Polly is a necessary character for this book because of her unique viewpoint towards Amari and slavery, and how it changes over time. Consider this, in the book blacks are way farther down in the social chain than whites, but Amari and the rest of the slaves at Derbyshire Plantation quickly become Polly’s peers rather than slaves. See Polly is in a position in which she herself is a slave, almost. Thus the relationship between Polly and Mr. Derby is the same as the relationship between Amari and him; master-slave. This helps Polly more easily sympathize with the slaves and finally gives us a different viewpoint at the events happening in the book, a viewpoint that says “Slavery is stupid and unfair and it needs to stop!”. This helps the reader understand that the slaves are still people and ergo must be treated like people. Here’s an example of a piece of conversation in which Polly clearly talks to Amari as if they were friends and clearly shows that Polly is developing an anti-slavery viewpoint : Polly picked up a wooden bucket and threw it across the floor. “Mr.Derby is horribly cruel. He probably tripped you on purpose! How could he beat you like that? It was just a spilled pie!” “Must clean stain,” Amari whispered, trying to move. Polly placed her hand on Amari’s arm. “Be still. Me and Lena cleaned it up so you would never know it was there. Hs precious carpet is unharmed.” “Thank you,” Amari breathed out. “All you have to worry about is getting better. I never thought I’d say this, but I miss having you around.” This is important because Polly didn’t always have this opinion, thus her starting to think that slavery is horrible thing convinces the reader even more because really Polly is symbolic of the reader. Think about it like this: both Polly and the reader go into this with an almost neutral opinion, Polly gets to know Amari well as does the reader through reading the book, and finally the opinions of both reader and Polly are that slavery is a bad thing. Now lastly I want to talk about my own opinion of the book.
First off I didn’t enjoy the book all too much as I never really got into it. Sharon Draper failed to make me have any strong emotions about the events happening in the book and I read through the book more so because I had to more than because I was interested. This is all because the book was failing to fully advocate the hardships of slavery since Amari was almost getting the best situation possible throughout the book, the beginning was to short and failed to fully describe the world Amari lived in before becoming a slave, I felt like the book was badly written at times(especially during the beginning; it was clear the author wanted to start writing about slavery more than anything and thus wrote the beginning like she didn’t care if it was good or not), the book didn’t really teach me anything new about slavery, and lastly I’m not sure what Sharon Draper wanted me to think at the end aside from slavery is bad because the book had no lasting effect on me due to the happy ending, and the only thing I had gained at the end was a stronger reinforcement of the notion that slavery is bad, which is too common of an opinion to make this book stand
out.
The novel showed a pivotal point prior to the Civil War and how these issues ultimately led to the fueling of quarrel between Americans. While such institutions of slavery no longer exist in the United States, the message resonates with the struggles many groups ostracized today who continue to face prejudice from those in higher
In all, I was captivated and moved by the story. Though this really did not change my interest in history, I really did enjoy reading it and would really recommend it to anyone who wants to get a total grasp of how horrible slavery was. Stephen Oates has a way of writing that transforms the reader into the actual rebellion and allows one to see and feel the circumstances of Nat Turner's insurrection and the consequences of it to the South. I can tell that Oates performed rigorous study to present an accurate portrayal of Nat Turners' story. His many insights and uses of secondary sources were quite evident and his use of examples and storytelling is quite impressive. Though it seems as if he leaves little to the imagination, I couldn't help but think of what and could have happened if some of the events leading up to the capture of Nat Turner had been changed.
One of the biggest flaws was the lack of follow up. The reader is not told what happens following Ephraim’s execution. Probably the most frustrating part of this is not knowing what becomes of Ephraim’s family. There are many theories, but no actual record of them in history. Now although this is not the Browns’ fault, as a reader, it still causes some frustration towards the book. Also, the fact that there is little or no evaluation of the event is an issue. The purpose of a history book is often to evaluate the significance of the event, but this book does not do that directly. Through the information given the reader is able to understand the importance of the trial, but the book fails to directly address the significance of the event.
The killings made by the slaves are saddening, too. Mutilating the whites and leaving their bodies lying is inhumane. It is such a shocking story. This book was meant to teach the reader on the inhumanity of slavery. It also gives us the image of what happened during the past years when slavery was practised.
My overall opinion of this book is good I really liked it and recommend it to anyone. It is a good book to read and it keep you interested throughout the whole book.
This is my personal reflection about this book. First and foremost, I would like to say that this book is very thick and long to read. There are about nineteen chapters and 278 pages altogether. As a slow reader, it is a quite hard for me to finish reading it within time. It took me weeks to finish reading it as a whole. Furthermore, it is written in English version. My English is just in average so sometimes I need to refer to dictionary for certain words. Sometimes I use google translate and ask my friends to explain the meaning of certain terms.
The most meaningful part of the book for me, was the sit-ins, a form of protest in which demonstrators occupy a place, refusing to leave until their demands are met. The reason the sit-ins were so meaningful is that it really brought attention to how Americans were segregating the African Americas. Just as if you do nothing when a bully, whites, is picking on you, blacks, they will continue picking on you until you fight back. The sit-ins were a nonviolent way to show that they no longer will or have to take the abuse.
opinions on the topic and the author's account of the story. I found that the
The book is not very long and is organized in chapters, which makes the process of reading more comfortable. Despite being a historical piece of literature, the language is not formally harsh and the readers are given an opportunity to delve into the feelings and emotions that the main character, young slave Celia, has to go through in her daily life in slavery. In the introductory part of the book, McLaurin puts forward the purpose of
The author, Peter Kolchin, tried to interpret the true history of slavery. He wants the readers to understand the depth to which the slaves lived under bondage. In the book, he describes the history of the Colonial era and how slavery began. He shows us how the eighteenth century progressed and how American slavery developed. Then it moves onto the American Revolution, and how the American slaves were born into class. It was this time that slave population was more than twice it had been. The Revolutionary War had a major impact on slavery and on the slaves.
Overall this was a positive but depressing reading experience for me. My reaction to the aspect of the novel was somewhat disgusted, about the derogatory writing the author portrayed on the mentally disabled, women and African American’s during that time period. I learned mostly about prospective in this novel how the eye opening it is. I hope a 21st century student takes away from this book the concept of prospective, empathy and characterization, while all tying those thoughts back into Carlson’s words, “Now what the hell ya suppose is eatin’ them two guys?” (Last Page)
Since Northup wrote this book himself, it was able to provide readers with the truth and the experiences of living as a slave in the South. The good experiences written about by Northup seemed to be few and far between in the story, but the moments were big. In the beginning of the story, he talked about being with his family and the experience of being a free black man in the North. Once his freedom and family were taken from him, the next good experience he spoke of was when he met friends, either on the boat rides or on the plantations. These friends, although he was once free and most of them were not, had many things in common with Northup, and they all had similar views on slavery. A third positive experience that Solomon wrote about was when the officials came to Ebbs’ plantation to take him back North to freedom, which Ebbs could not believe. Although Ebbs wasn’t happy about it, Solomon was excited to go back to the North and his family. Being reunited with his family after ...
I really liked this book because of the stories it had in it, that really helped me understand how bad these times really were, and how the treatment was horrible. I read a lot of how strict they were which was a part of my essay.
Parts three and four made me sad because they detail the revolt and its aftermath. Many people died during this brief period, which were only a few of the tragic consequences brought about through the institution of slavery. Nat Turner is a tragic figure in this and he should be remembered as a victim at the hands of persecutors and oppressors. I do recommend this book.
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and believe it to be one of the best books I have ever read. It was extremely well written and challenging for me to understand at times. It conveys that dark side of human ambition very well, and it has given me much to think about.