The Underground Railroad Essay Outline

The book The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead closely follows the life of Cora, a plantation slave in Georgia in the time of mass enslavement of African Americans. While in the south Cora describes the harsh life on the plantation, the controlling slave owners and gruesome punishments the slaves had to endure, often leading to death. One-night Cora executes a grand escape to the north in search for a brighter future discovering “The Underground Railroad.” Whitehead leverages ideas of human commodity, intense imagery, illusioned reality and symbolism to expose slavery, times of brutal hardships and the fight for freedom making The Underground Railroad an astonishing read.

Throughout the book the degradation of human value underlines

the money hungry, corrupt economic system of slavery. Slaves are seen no more than commodities, a pure resource for profit. Throughout her journey this idea of dehumanization catches up to Cora as she unveils the systematic machine that is slavery. Highlighting the invention of The Cotton Gin Cora notes the conceptual view of progress in the south, “The cotton gin meant bigger cotton yields and the iron tools to harvest it..” “and more iron to keep it all running.” To Cora slavery is one overpowering machine, a machine that feeds on slaves and their labor. A roaring engine constantly hungers for fuel, in this case a fuel that takes the form of human life making the economic value of slaves essential to “keep it all running”. Likewise, while being taken care of in the hospital Cora notes the way patients were attended to, “As she moved through the examination, Cora got the impression she was being conveyed on a belt.” In a factory items move along a conveyer belt awaiting their next manipulation. Cora is an object and the hospital is the factory further reinforcing the machine of slavery and its manipulative nature. Later in the book Cora escapes North to only realize that economy dehumanization continues in the northern states. Although indirectly the North nevertheless contributes to the cause, hiding behind a cloak of opportunity and “fake freedom.” One of these revealing instances occurred when Cora finds out the truth about the blood treatments preformed on African American patients, “In fact the niggers were participants in a study of the latent and tertiary stages of syphilis.” Their intention was clear, to sterilize the African population. This lie sets up a position of concern in Cora and the North’s inner workings. The involuntary manipulation of people also posses the concern for free will is it free after all. One of Cora’s jobs was working as a “type” in a museum. In this case they were using her a false manifestation of slavery, all for economic profit and entertainment.
In his writing, Whitehead, skews the fact that historical fiction needs to accurately represent the past.

Without knowing how to read or write along with lifelong oppression, the history of slaves began to fade and erase through the years. This theme of legitimacy and shifted reality continues through the book drawing attention to the battel between myth and reality. While escorting Cora to the next safe house Martin (a middleman) shows her the Freedom Trail. This trail is an endless row of lynched slaves in the rural of North Carolina. The infinite nature of the trail makes it a mythical element as it has no beginning or end. Cora notes the never-ending cycle of death associated with the trail, “bodies consumed by carrion eaters were constantly replaced, but the heading always advanced.” Although fictional the trail helps paint a picture of scale, making the number of deaths seem uncountable and infinite. Cora also notices the complete silent of the rural area, “The country road was quiet”. The atmospheric silence may very well signify the lost voices of the slaves, their forgotten past and the unknowns of history. Another fictional element in the book, the underground railroad plays a major role in questioning legitimacy of history. By turning a metaphor into a real-world phenomenon Whitehead molds the boundaries of reality into fantasy adding an element of imagination to the book. This in turn introduces realms of possibilities and impossibilities both for slaves and

their masters. To the white supremacy driven south and its supporters the idea of black freedom is beyond imagination as their whole economic regime stands on forced labor. In parallel, to the slaves, freedom is a mere illusion of the present, an unreachable portal fueled only by imagination, they “Dreaming of it. Every dream a dream of escape even when it didn't look like it.”
Whiteheads extensive imagery helps paint a picture of the darkest scenes of slavery all the while maintaining atmospheric tension throughout the read. Most of the gruesome descriptions carry with them a sense of intention, the way the in which slaves are tortured and punished serves as a warning for the slaves. This intention in providing warning shows clear as Cora depicted the mutilations slaves endured, “Feet cut off to prevent escape and hands cut off to stop theft.” The dismembered ligaments serve as examples for slaves, foreshadowing the brutal response to any form or rebellion or resistance. Along with intense imagery the author also arranges patterns of specific words that hold significance collectivity. Throughout the plot there is a common reoccurrence of the word “blood”, scattered from scene to scene. On one side blood represents the never-ending hunger for slavery, the more slaves the more blood is spilled as, “The white men wanted blood.” On another level blood takes on a delicate role in the scene where Cora is asked for a blood sample as the hospital. Here blood is demanded not by force but by reason as the doctor’s desire for blood is driven by medical progress to help fight disease, “Blood tells us a lot.” This indirect correlation between the blood in the fields and the blood in the hospital defines a sinister connection Cora later realizes, a connection that reveals the true intensions of the hospital.
Lastly to tie down the overarching themes Whitehead expresses many events in a symbolic manner.

From the beginning Cora’s garden plays a major role in defining her character and underlining her family’s heritage. Constantly attending to the garden, it reminds her of life, not a life in bondage but a life of flourishment and possibility. Cora takes personal ownership over the garden in a way reclaiming ownership over herself. One-day Blake builds a dog house on the garden, this helps reveal Cora’s defensive stance against anything that comes her way as, “Her first blow brought down the roof of the doghouse.” Symbolically Cora is defending her own life and the little freedom she has left. Another point of symbolism comes in the form of dancing. Dance connected slaves back to traditional roots and in that moment, they felt free and disconnected from harsh reality. However, slave owners forced slaves to dance for entertainment,” Terrance demands that the slaves dance” setting a reminder for the control whites possessed. To Cora dancing possesses sinister associations connected with enslavement and control. Likewise, dancing parallels with sex as the dancing reminds Cora of the time she got raped, “She shrank from the spinning bodies, afraid of another person so close.” Drawing further connections, it becomes apparent that sex, like dancing, becomes associated with violence, powerlessness and

control.
Overall The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead highlights a story about a slave living and eventually escaping the plantations of the south. Throughout the book the author incorporates ideas of human commodity, intense imagery, illusioned reality and symbolism to expose slaver, the brutal hardships and the ultimate fight for freedom which prize the book for its highly deserved esteem.