Copper Sun Character Analysis

Throughout the book, Sharon M. Draper used figurative language to show that family's death is hard to deal with, on top of being a slave and working very hard day to night by using similes, flashback, but most of all using a metaphor to draw the reader's attention. Eventually, Amari gets over her families death, escapes from being a slave and heads to Fort Moses, Florida, just like how in life, we get over our family's death. The inherent struggles portrayed in the book are some of the struggles we face today, and we ourselves must face them as we move on with our lives. The author showed us that slavery was a very compelling movement that caused people to deteriorated internally and externally. In conclusion, Copper Sun showed that Amari a

The conditions on the Middle Passage were horrible. The space allotted to each slave was often too small to move the shoulders and the neck and legs were chained down. Many slaves died on the voyage and never made it out of the hull of the slave ships.

She emphasizes that the life of a slave woman is incomparable to the life of a slave man, in the sense that a woman’s sufferings are not only physical but also extremely mental and emotional. Whether or not a slave woman is beaten, starved to death, or made to work in unbearable circumstances on the fields, she suffers from and endures horrible mental torments. Unlike slave men, these women have to deal with sexual harassment from white men, most often their slave owners, as well as the loss of their children in some cases. Men often dwell on their sufferings of bodily pain and physical endurance as slaves, where as women not only deal with that but also the mental and emotional aspect of it. Men claim that their manhood and masculinity are stripped from them, but women deal with their loss of dignity and morality. Females deal with the emotional agony as mothers who lose their children or have to watch them get beaten, as well as being sexually victimized by white men who may or may not be the father of their children. For these women, their experiences seem unimaginable and are just as difficult as any physical punishment, if not more so.

The Slave Ship by Marcus Rediker is a great fiction novel that describes the horrifying experiences of Africans, seamen, and captains on their journey through the Middle Passage. The Middle Passage marked the water way in the Atlantic Ocean between Africa and the Americas. The use of slaves provided a great economy for the European countries due to the fact that these African slaves provided free labor while cultivating sugar cane in the Caribbean and America. Rediker describes the slave migration by saying, “There exists no account of the mechanism for history’s greatest forced migration, which was in many ways the key to an entire phase of globalization” (10). This tells us that African enslavement to the Americas causes a complete

One of the most interesting arguments that modern apologists makes for the practice of race-based slavery in the Americas is the fact that slavery existed in Africa during that time period and that Africans were complicit in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. What is fascinating about Olaudah Equiano's discussion of the Middle Passage is that, as a man who had been enslaved in Africa prior to being shipped as a slave to the Americas, he was in a unique position to describe slavery in Africa with his introduction to European-influenced slavery in North America. His perception was that the immense brutality of the Middle Passage foreshadowed the dehumanization of slaves in the Americas, which was more inhumane than the treatment he had received as a slave while in Africa. Furthermore, he did not suggest that this brutality was linked to the race of the traders, though that seemed to have been his initial impression, but to the nature of the Trans-Atlantic trade. Therefore, Equiano's writings suggest that shipping Africans across the ocean for slavery was part of the dehumanizing process that helped fuel the practice of slavery in America.

Copper Sun, by Sharon M. Draper, is a realistic fiction novel about Amari’s long journey to reclaim her once stolen freedom. Amari is stolen from her home and forced into slavery for the Derby’s. While working for the Derby household, Amari befriends other slaves, and Polly, an indentured servant about her age. After the birth of Ms. Derby’s baby, Amari, Polly, and Tidbit (a young boy born into slavery) find themselves, unexpectedly about to be resold. A doctor, and friend of Mr. Derby, feels sympathy for them and helps them on their journey to freedom.

Many people today have their own ideas and thoughts, these thoughts and ideas produce multiple points of view. These points of view can clash and lead people to disagree with each other. This is shown in the fictional passages Confetti Girl by Diana Lopez, and Tortilla Sun by Jennifer Cervantes. The main character in Confetti Girl disagree with her father on multiple topics. From her english class, to her misunderstanding her father’s main intentions. However, Izzy from Tortilla Sun experiences the same misunderstanding with her mother. Both of these characters have their own point of views and their own misunderstanding of their parents. Many emotions are expressed from both characters, because of those misunderstandings. These are just some

Sharon Draper’s Copper Sun, a historical fiction novel, depicts the suffering and journeys of both a fifteen-year-old slave girl named Amari, and Polly, an indentured servant. Set in the eighteenth century, Draper documents the fictional stories of the two. Both are thrust into situations unknown to them. The two have completely different viewpoints that slowly but surely become more similar— not merging entirely, but shaing crucial points, like a Venn diagram— and share an unlikely path in life. Their perspectives alter the way they percieve their environment, people they meet, and each other.

In the novel, Copper Sun, Sharon M. Draper quotes a fictional auctioneer: “Do I hear more than ten pounds for this fine example of African womanhood? Hardly a scratch on her. Bright enough to be taught simple commands, like ‘Come here’ and ‘Lie down’” (52). Amari, the terrified teenager the auctioneer was talking about, was recently taken from her home, chained, and crammed into a slave ship set for America. While on the slave ship, people underwent hunger, sickness, thirst, rape, and death. Though Sharon M. Draper wrote these characters as fictional, they correctly portray people that have lived during that time period. Because of this, Copper Sun is historically accurate and correctly depicts the story of an African girl, as well as the

People talk about change as if it is a bad thing. Change can often be a good thing, especially when it comes to people. In the book “The Copper Sun” Polly meets Amari and isn’t exactly friendly with her. But through the duration of the book, Polly starts to care for Amari and even admits they’re friends. This is a major transition from when we first meet her. Polly emotionally and psychologically evolved from an emotionally-closed, racist, aloof character to a friendly protagonist who starts to appreciate and care for Amari, by not doubting her, befriending her, and her self-realization of her friendship and of the delicate idea of freedom.

During the duration of the Middle Passage, there was an abundance of hardships that had an effect on altering the many different experiences encountered by blacks. Some of these experiences included being shackled, labeled as merchandise, disease, and being crammed. Throughout this passage you will agree with the statement based upon the evidence provided from primary and secondary sources.

To really show the horrendous conditions that the slaves endured, the author includes a 1787 replication drawing of the slave ship Brooks. Built in 1781 with a lower deck intended to accommodate 294 slaves, giving each slave a space comparable to the size of a coffin. Adult males were allocated a space six feet long and fifteen inches wide and allowing even less space for adult women, boys, and girls. The height of the same area was just five feet, and did not include any toilet facilities for the slaves. In most cases, the captains would load double the number of slaves their ships were designed for leading to even worse conditions onboard with more mouths to feed but not enough provisions to compensate. Those slaves who died during the journey through the Middle Passage were simply thrown overboard, where their bodies were eaten by ravenous sharks.

The book Copper Sun by Sharon M. Draper is both a heart wrenching and heartwarming narrative story about a fifteen-year-old African girl named Amari and her journey through enslavement. She is harshly trapped by the “pale-faced” strangers in a friendly visit to their village, Ziavi, which surprisingly enough ends in a fire that destroys their village- and their people as well. Devastated by her family’s deaths and lost opportunities, she is taken down to the ship in destination to the Americas where she is expected to be worth a couple pounds. Experiencing traumatizing events like being repeatedly raped by slave owners, she overcomes many of the harsh obstacles put in her way with empowering characters such as Afi and her best friend Polly.

Draper shows readers how terrible slavery was to the slaves. The story begins in a village in Africa, where the readers meet the main character, Amari. She gets captured while her family gets killed. She get forced onto a ship with hundreds of other captured Africans. On their voyage, many do not make it to their destination. Once Amari makes is to the American Colonies, she gets sold to Derbyshire Farms. At Derbyshire and on the boat ride, Amari faces starvation, verbal and physical abuse and, gets raped. The slaveowners never viewed the slaves or Africans as a person, but as their property that could be bought and sold. “Intense fiery pain, pierced the sweaty softness of her shoulder. Amari could hear her flesh sizzle and nearly fainted as she realized that she was being branded (Page 31 Copper Sun). The plantations owner viewed the slaves as a common animal,

What makes a man worthy to be honorable? Is his greatness something earned through struggle or just a title that has been passed down? It is the man Sundiata is destined to have been, the greatest king, as he is portrayed in D.T Niane’s classic tale “Sundiata: an epic of old Mali. This classic tale shows the impact of courage, power, and motherly love on the life of the ancient africans kingdom's greatest king. D.T Niane’s shows the life of a man once being looked down upon, to now being known as one of the greatest in history.