Character Analysis Of Someone Knows My Name

The ship was a mobile torture device, slaves were kept in shackles and muzzles. Human beings were being treated like animals all around her, and she was one of those animals. She described the boat as a barn full of dead livestock, with human excrements all over the ground. These situation surely would change and deflate any person. But, Aminata understood that her current setting was only temporary and she had to find a way to survive. Because of thoughts about her parents, it allows her to preserve through the challenges and obstacles the captors gave her. This shows that Aminata’s character and will to live is growing stronger by every impediment she faces. She not only takes care of herself during this journey but throughout the novel she makes sure other people are taken care of. On the boat, she helps the other slaves by bringing them food and weapons to fight the captors. Even in the darkest of times, when Aminata is in a difficult setting, she brings hope and light to others.This shows that Aminata is a selfless character that helps not only herself but others as well to preserve to freedom.

Authors in many instances use the main elements in the story such as setting and narrative to prove a point in the story. For example, writers often use characters, their actions, and their interaction with other characters to support or prove a theme. In the short story “Our Thirteenth Summer”, Barry Callaghan effectively uses characters to develop the theme that childhood is fragile and easily influenced. One of the ways that Callaghan makes effective use of characters to develop the theme is by describing the tension between Bobbie and his parents. This usage of characters supports the theme because Bobbie’s childhood is no longer free to do what he wishes, but has to bow down to his parents’

I was pleased to have attended a lecture cosponsored by the Ethics Center, the Fresno State office of the president, the Fresno Bee and Valley PBS. The lecture began with Dr. Castro recognizing a few leaders on campus, including a past Fresno State president, Dr. John D. Welty and campus volunteer Mary Castro. Dr. Castro then mentioned a few things about Mr. Brooks stating that he is a columnist for the New York Times and an analyst for the PBS “News Hour” and NPR’s “All Things Considered.” Dr. Brooks also teaches at Yale University, one the finest university in the country. Dr. Castro continued by saying that he learned that Mr. Brooks office hours are from 9am to 1pm and how “cool” it sounded to him. I was surprised how many people attended the event. I was fortunate to find a seat. David Brooks mentioned how he has some remote roots in the Central Valley because his father grew in Chowchilla, CA but Mr. Brooks grew in New York.

Jimmy knows too well the agonies of abandonment. First, when his mother, Cecilia, ran away with Richard to pursue a better lifestyle. Then, due to his father’s, Damacio Baca, alcoholisms and violent behavior; he also had to leave Jimmy behind. In spite of the drawbacks from abandonment to being a maximum security prisoner in Arizona State Prison, Jimmy preserver’s the darkness of prison by overcoming his illiteracy. However Cecilia and Damacio is not as fortunate as their child; Cecilia is shot by Richard after confronting him for a divorce and Damacio chokes to death after he is released from the detox center(Baca 263). Therefore the most significant event in this section of the memoir, A Place to Stand by Jimmy Santiago Baca is the death of Jimmy’s parents.

As another character being a father-like figure to Aminata, Mamed is able to connect Aminata with the white world unlike any other character had before. Being both half white and half black himself, Mamed finds a connection to Aminata when she says a Muslim prayer, relating it to one his mother sang for him as a kid. This forms a connection between the two, and through this connection Aminata learns the basics of reading and writing English: “I was not planning to teach reading to anyone. But I have seen the brightness of your eyes.” (220). Through what Mamed sees in Aminata, he decides to provide her with the most important knowledge for survival, and without it many of her opportunities would have been missed. Similarly to Mamed, Sanu is another friend of Aminata’s who provides her with important experiences. As a fellow captive on the ship to the new world, Sanu is another strong female character who shows Aminata what it takes to demonstrate strength and courage. During the earlier parts of the novel, Aminata helped Sanu deliver her baby, to which Sanu said moments before giving birth, “I am ready now, child. If we live, I will name her Aminata. After you.” (70). The calmness and kindness Sanu shows is a sign of courage, and influences Aminata in a positive way before crossing the sea to America. It is through this influence, as well as the lessons from both Georgia and Mamed, that help prepare Aminata for the new world, giving her an advantage to her chances of

While being in slaved Aminata does not allow anyone to take advantage of her. Such aspects of being a slave are dehumanizing one’s identity, culture, religion, and language. Aminata is very stubborn and looks to religion as a way to save her, Aminata stays true to herself and fights the slave traders to stick with her true name; Aminata. From her resilience, she is seen as a special slave which helps her survive from the very moment she is captured. Due to her skills of language, she is able to be heard by everyone, so others who are being held captive can tell her their name and talk to her especially for communication purposes. "They wanted me to know them. Who they were. Their names." (Hill 96) Strength obtains from knowledge, She knows she is worthy. To prove she is equal, Aminata negotiates an alliance with the slave traders in Sierra Leone and a works a wage for writing the original book of negroes. Aminata affirms her identity, her genealogy, and her power over the words she writes (Carleton University). Her needs to find herself and get home drives her needs for survival. In addition to this Aminata’s social content and knowledge, helps separates her from the other slaves that surround

In the beginning of the novel, Aminata loses both of her parents as they tried to defend themselves from the slave traders that were attempting to take them away. They were killed and Aminata is left to fend for herself. "Each and every time, they were starved, flattened and sucked out of my mind, and replaced with visions of my mother motionless in the woods and my father, lip quivering while his chest erupted" (p.34). The vision of her parents' death is forever imprinted in the mind of the young Aminata and scars her for life. Love was a sign of hope for Aminata and she found this with Chekura, her husband. Unfortunately, Aminata and Chekura were separated when traveling to Nova Scotia. After a significant period of time, Aminata is told that her husband's ship has crashed and sunk, no survivors were found. "Chekura. My husband. After such a long journey. Gone, on the very vessel I should have taken" (p.415). After such tragedy, Aminata loses faith in love for she has lost the love of her life and the father to her children. She could have been with him if only she boarded that ship. Lastly, the most devastating loss is the loss of both her children. Her eldest child Mamadu and her youngest May were both taken from her. Mamadu was taken from her and sold when he was still a baby and May was taken by a family she trusted

Prior to the major journey Aminata had lost both her mother and father before her eyes. At that point who else was going to fight for her because she lost everything she ever had before the sun came up. Although at times she begins to lose hope because she has lost so much but remember that her father told her strength is the most important thing you can have, “beauty comes and goes. Strength, you keep forever” (Hill, 2007). Even though her parents died, their voices never died; instead they lived along side Aminata through her treacherous journey. These are the voices that gave her strength in time of despair when she needed it the most to continue on the journey especially at the times when slaves that didn’t make it through the walk died, their bodies were just left on the side of the path. There was no grave for them, or no empathy shown to the people who passed away before they even worked as slaves. Each day, “each rising sun...more people died” (Hill, 2007), and “the loss of lives before the journey across the Atlantic was great” (Bolt, 2007). One must understand that Hill portrayed this image in the reading because he wanted to show the devastating cruelty against humanity. While they endured the journey on the ship to America the condition on the boat was hellish and not just on the ship but the

Aminata is displaying her resistance towards Appleby by standing strong and proud of who she is. Not a girl slave, but a strong girl, born and raised in the village of Bayo.

Ottawa- Dan Stoddard was doing what he does every day when he came across a woman who seemed to be in danger. He asked her what was wrong and she confided in him that she was being abused physically and emotionally and that she needed a phone. Stoddard could have very well ignored this women but he the just thing and called transit security. In the end, the police came and were able to take the woman to a safer place.

Aminata survived that cruel and criminal slave trade which try every way to dehumanize the slaves. The captors put their captives into coffles and robbed all their clothes off. Buckra believe that slaves do not have emotions and dignity. Aminata survives the passage to America because she is able to apply the knowledge and skills passed on to her by her parents, especially the ability to “catch” babies and to understand some African languages. After she escaped from Solomon Lindo, she survived on her baby catching, reading and writing skills.

When she is taken by the slave traders, her home is burned to the ground and her parents are murdered in front of her. Losing your family members is devastating but Aminata’s spirit helped her persevere through her loss and committed to honour them with a goal to eventually come back to Bayo. Aminata’s spirit is tested again when she marries Chekura but he is soon sold off to another plantation and she is left alone pregnant with his child. Aminata eventually loses her children, one killed and the other was taken away for many years. Throughout the book, Hill has Aminata deal with many experiences of death of friends and family. While on the ship to America Sanu, a friend of Aminata, had a baby and named it after Aminata but when violence broke out, Fanta threw the baby overboard. Sanu was so devastated that she committed suicide by jumping into ocean after her baby. Hill continues with her husband Chekura dying while he was on ship that disappeared. Yet with all of these deaths of important people in her life, she still finds ways to survive and thrive even when she has pain inside of the loved ones she is attached to.“ The pain of my losses never really went away. The limbs have been severed, and they would forever be missing but I kept going, somehow I kept going” (394). This quotes relates to Aminata’s missing daughter May, she was sold off and stolen from Aminata when she was an infant. This incident crushed Aminata’s spirit close to breaking point. But in all of this she allowed herself to live because she believed and hope for that one day she would reunite with her daughter someday. In London, Solomon Lindo brought her daughter May to Aminata, and Aminata was beyond happy to see her daughter alive and well. Her hope and relentless spirit helped her through unbearable losses over her lifetime to finally be rewarded by reuniting with her

As Aminata is owned by Solomon Lindo, she deceives him by deciding to disregard her agreement to writing his letter and fleeing from being in his possession. As the story moves forward, Aminata is lied to by being denied passage to Nova Scotia, even though she was guaranteed the travel. Soon after, she battles with self-denial when she loses both her husband and child. She refuses to believe that she will never see them again. Then, the British deceive her as well as many other Africans. They fail to keep their promise of not governing Freetown and keeping the city clear of slaves. Also, throughout most of Aminata’s life, she wishes to reach her hometown of Bayo. She neglects the possible consequences such as being put back into captivity. Overall, deception can significantly influence the way characters’ act and it can even affect their point of view of reality, just as it did in The Book of

All refugees, the circumstances notwithstanding, face immense hardship throughout their lives. In time, these hardships give way to new opportunities, dreams, and perspectives, as even in the face of suffering, one always retains their intrinsic self. Kim Ha, the protagonist in Thanhha Lai’s Inside Out and Back Again, experienced this through her family’s daring escape from war-torn South Vietnam. Consequently, Inside Out and Back Again serves as a fitting title for her story.

After being captured, Aminata met Chekura, a boy working with the slave traders. Later, Chekura was also sold along with the others captured and was sent to America on the slave ship. Aminata and Chekura were sold to different slave owners, therefore they worked on different plantations. Eventually, Chekura found Aminata and they fell in love, got married, and had a child together. Aminata had wished to find Chekura once she had gotten healthy again; she managed to do just that.