The Book Of Negroes Literary Analysis

The novel, The Book of Negroes, written by Lawrence Hill in 2007 is an example of a work of literature that mirrors the history of the Black Loyalists. The main character, Aminata Diallo, finds herself surrounded by the atrocities of slave trade at only eleven rains. She adapts to the horrors around her by imagining herself as a djeli, or storyteller that must remember all the details to be able to retell the story. Aminata takes her place as gatekeeper of history and memory of lost individuals. “It was less painful to forget, but I would look and I would remember” (Hill 190). Lawrence Hill uses the plot and point of view to accurately depict Aminata as a storyteller or Djeli in the slave narrative novel. Hill uses the plot as a way of showing

By using first person throughout the novel, the reader is able to hear Aminata’s voice as if she is telling the story herself. This shows how important storytelling and becoming a Djeli is to Aminata and how she sees it as a pushing force for survival. Duff argues in his article “Where Literature Fills the Gaps: The Book of Negroes as a Canadian Work of Rememory” that in taking on the role of the djeli, she “asserts both the value of her story and her position as the source and the bearer of the story.” This portrays how Duff agrees with Hill’s use of first person narrative in the novel to show the significance of Aminata’s story to the reader. Duff also speaks of the significance of the element of Aminata writing her story and the limitations that accompany that. For example, early on in the novel, Aminata says “My hand cramps after a while, and sometimes my back or neck aches when I have sat for too long at the table” (Hill 7). Here, Duff believes that the reference to the narrator’s physical limitations also refer to limitations that will accompany the act of telling and writing. On this note, I disagree with the critic, Christine Duff, because in several other remarks about Aminata’s body, the reader establishes an image of fragility for Aminata. For example, on page 125 in The Book of Negroes, Aminata says “The woman put me down on my feet, but held me by the arm so I