Island Beneath The Sea Sparknotes

The Book of Negroes follows the plot of Aminata Diallo, a girl from West Africa who was born in 1745 and lived in a small village called Bayo. Aminata was kidnapped at the age of eleven along with others from her village. Aminata’s parents both died during the abduction. Aminata was taken on gruesome voyage across the Atlantic Ocean in a slave ship. She arrived in South Carolina where she was sold to Robinson Appleby an indigo producer. From a very young age she kept a slave for the majority of her life. There is something that Aminata Diallo had that allowed her to identify her self as a survivor rather than a victim and that is because she is resilient. Aminata Diallo displays her resiliency throughout out her whole stages of life, from when

The story begins with a recounting of the story of Tatica, Reyita’s grandmother, and her trial of being abducted from her native Africa and brought to Cuba to be sold into slavery. Tatica’s story sets a precedent that is upheld by the next generations of her family of racial discrimination, struggle for survival and equality, and political activism. Reyita explains that her grandmother’s love of Africa instilled in Reyita a

The book’s main appeal and power is the author's use of Estrella, who serves as the focal point of all the large issues. In one particular scene, we see Estrella playing with one a naked doll. Estrella asks the naked doll if she was okay and then shook the doll's head “No”. This conversation with the doll can be seen as the sense of denial that takes place in a child’s mind that is not allowed to openly express herself, her fears, her anxieties, and her hopes. She allows the doll to represent her honest feelings about the lifestyle of living she is placed in. She is a unique and interesting individual, who will not grow up to be knocked down by economic issues, difficult labor, and especially men.

The Dominican realizes that Marie has buried a dead baby and reports her to the authority, warning “You kill the child and keep it in your room.” Marie is taken to he authorities with false allegations that she has killed the baby for her evil reasons. He accuses, “You eat little children who haven’t even had time to earn their souls” (99). Marie notes after the Dominican took her away, “We made a pretty picture standing there. Rose, me and him. Between the pool and the gardenias, waiting for the law” (100). The new government showed less justice especially when it comes to women. Likewise, Josephine declares woman life in Haiti, “By the end of the 1915 occupation, the police in the city really knew how to hold human beings trapped in cages, even women like Manman who was accused of having wings on flame” (35). Women were not empowered as they were treated with

A foil for Adele Ratignolle, Mademoiselle Reisz serves as a living example of an entirely self-sufficient woman, who is ruled by her art and her passions, rather than by the expectations of society. A small homely woman, unmarried and childless, Mademoiselle Reisz is a talented pianist and somewhat of a recluse. She represents the anti-mother along independence and freedom. The first time she is introduced in the novel she is introduced as being “eccentric and quarrelsome”, from that we are able to infer that she is unlike the other women. Later as the novel continues to progress from her house and manner of expression we are again able to infer that she is unlike the other Creole women. For her home is an apartment above everyone, with a view, that is disagreeable and often cold. Mademoiselle Reisz is the woman that Edna could have become should she have remained independent of her husband and children and lived to old age.

The text recounts the events leading up to the the disappearance of Miranda, a young British girl who is struggling to deal with her mother’s sudden killing in Haiti, where she was on a work trip. The narration by the house, her twin brother Eliot, and Ore, a Nigerian girl she meets while at Cambridge leads us to find about Miranda’s pica, a desire to eat non-nutritive substances which lapses into more nefarious, vampiric desires. This is a condition that has plagued her family, particularly the

Desiree?s words show that her life depends on the race, notions, and social class of her husband and consequently, she feels obligated to obey his every desire. Desiree is presented as vulnerable to whatever Armand wants and tells her to do when she says, ?Do you want me to go?? (177). Desiree displays through her actions that in many ways, her happiness only comes from pleasing her husband. Therefore, Desiree must decide whether to live completely separate from Armand, or to live with him in constant fear and unpleasantness. Desiree achieves personal freedom and independence from Armand when ?she disappeared among the reeds and willows that grew thing along the banks of the deep, sluggish bayou; she did not come back again? (177). It is not even an option and is unheard of that Armand, being a male holding a respectable background, could possibly be black. Consequently, Desiree feels compelled to leave because she wants to please him. When Desiree decides to kill herself and her child, she shows that she is sensitive and vulnerable to her husband?s thoughts and actions.

After settling the close debate as to where the American’s wished to build their canal and purchasing the area under the 1903 Hay-Herran treaty, the U.S. needed only permission to unearth the ground.  Colombia wasn’t too fond of the idea and thus rejected all of America’s efforts.  Negotiations with the country went quite poorly as well. Arthur Beaupré was chose to communicate with Colombia but negotiations continued to go poorly as, “he was frequently blunt, even dictatorial, in his

‘Children of the Sea’ is a harrowing story written by Edwidge Danticat, a Haitian-American woman who expresses her personal trauma and horrors through her literature. ‘Children of the Sea’ opens with an undisclosed man writing a letter to his beloved as he travels across the sea from his home, where is lover is also writing letters directed to him. The letters they write to one another dictates the plot and reveals the two unnamed narrators lives.

When you are asked what your daily essentials are, food must be one of your answers. We all know that food means a lot to people but have you ever thought about food from another perspective? Anderson’s readings investigate food from many other perspectives. According to Anderson, food represents our views, class, power, lifestyles and identities. These ideas are true and can be found among the Trobriand Islanders. In their society, life revolves around lineage and food because lineage controls all the food. In order to make the lineage system successful, people from Trobriand Island treat yams as their wealth, social status and political power. Connecting back to Anderson’s ideologies, the idea of food represents social class is reflected by the different treatment received by the Trobriand Islanders, Islanders’ urge to work represents the connection between food and political power, and the fact that lineage is more important than oneself indicates the idea of food is identity.

On a scale of 1 to 3, with 3 being the highest, I would rate, Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell a 3. One reason why I give this classic novel a 3, is because, unlike other novels based on true life ones, Scott O’Dell manages to captivate the readers. He captivates his readers because with the way he writes, you are able to transport yourself into the novel, imagining yourself on the adventure with Karana to get the teeth of the bull sea elephant, “Again the young bull’s flank was ripped deep, and again the force of the blow threw him backward into the water...The sound was like rocks crashing together” (O’Dell 83). Another reason why I give Island of the Blue Dolphins a 3, is because it showcases a strong female lead, Karana.

Though this book does a lot of good explaining the Haitian revolution, it also has some flaws. While telling how great it is to have these slaves freed, it also shows the nasty things they did when they revolted. Such as killing their owners, killing animals, and so forth. These acts are obviously things that their owners did on a daily basis. But seeing the slaves do it, makes it almost seem hard to root for them. You want to be happy for them for breaking free from enslavement and taking their freedom. But when you hear about Ti Noell wanting to go and rape his master’s wife, it takes away from the suffering. It makes them seem no better than the people enslaving them.

Base on Trinidad and Tobago’s history, West Africans and Europeans both occupied land in Trinidad. The Africans were oppressed from embracing their culture as it was seen as evil or voodoo by the Europeans. The people were oppressed by the laws and policy implemented by the Europeans. The color of your skin as reflected in Lovelace’s literary work made it difficult for the Trinidadian to elevate their status in society. Those who elevate themselves in the educational system like Ivan Morton goes through the crisis of cultural identity and as a result reject his African ancestry and fail to assist his own people in achieving their freedom from the European power. Lovelace’s novel was very relatable and informative on the Orisha religion and precise on the persecution the Trinidadian people endured by the colonial

husband provides her a luxurious Creole lifestyle. This gives the reader a glimpse into social

“Desiree’s Baby” is a story about miscegeny in Creole Louisiana during the antebellum period. Desiree is adopted by a wealthy family and eventually marries the man of her dreams. Armand is a wealthy slave owner who falls in love with what he believes to be the woman of his dreams. Desiree and Armand are happy and have a perfect life until the birth of their son. The uncertainty regarding the ethnicity of Desiree and her son causes a great deal of pain for Desiree. The pain she endures leads to a devastating end. The character I identify with most is Desiree. I can identify with Desiree because of her vivid portrayal of love, betrayal, and racism.