Slavery In Sharon Draper's Copper Sun

Historically, many authors have enhanced their arguments by appealing to their audience’s emotions. Frederick Douglass does expertly this throughout his narrative by making the reader feel horrified and sad for him when he was a slave. The feeling of horror is repeatedly shown through his detail in explaining how the slaveholders and overseers treated the slaves. The first graphic account comes four pages into the narrative when Douglass describes his master Captain Anthony and the overseer Mr. Plummer, he details that Plummer would “cut and slash the women’s heads so horribly… master would threaten to whip him if he did not mind himself”(22). Although he doesn’t go into a lot of detail, the fact that a master would whip his overseer for being too cruel is enough to horrify the reader.

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

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.

Slavery is a disappointing example of inhuman behavior, a dark past in our history books. Two stories demonstrate the cruelty of slavery while living on a plantation. “Harriet Tubman” and “The People Could Fly” give two different encounters on the topic of slavery. “Harriet Tubman” is a biography and “The People Could Fly” is a historical fiction. Both would make one wonder, what is there to live for when freedom does not exist in your life? The two different genres of books are able to give readers an understanding of how heart-wrenching and depressing life of a slave was. Both show the family of slaves taking care of one another. They show the family bonds even though the slaves are going through harsh conditions

Harriet Jacobs and Frederick Douglass both wrote narratives that detailed their lives as slaves in the antebellum era. Both of these former slaves managed to escape to the North and wanted to expose slavery for the evil thing it was. The accounts tell equally of depravity and ugliness though they are different views of the same rotten institution. Like most who managed to escape the shackles of slavery, these two authors share a common bond of tenacity and authenticity. Their voices are different—one is timid, quiet, and almost apologetic while the other one is loud, strong, and confident—but they are both authentic. They both also through out the course of their narratives explain their desires to be free from the horrible practice of slavery.

Within his narrative, Douglass describes his past experiences with intense imagery, invoking the emotion of disgust from readers, appealing to pathos and urging society to abolish slavery. For instance, Douglass recounts when his own Aunt was savagely beaten and whipped by Captain Anthony, Douglass’ first master. Specifically, Douglass writes: “I have often awaked at the dawn of the day by the most heart-rending shrieks of an own aunt of mine, whom he used to tie up to a joist, and whip upon her naked back till she was literally covered with blood”(Douglass 15). In his description, Douglass uses phrases such as “heart-rending shrieks”, “naked back”, and “covered with blood” to synthesize a gruesome image of slavery,

The killings made by the slaves are saddening, too. Mutilating the whites and leaving their bodies lying is inhumane. It is such a shocking story. This book was meant to teach the reader on the inhumanity of slavery. It also gives us the image of what happened during the past years when slavery was practised.

“The Book of Negroes is a master piece, daring and impressive in its geographic, historical and human reach, convincing in its narrative art and detail, necessary for imagining the real beyond the traces left by history.” I completely agree with The Globe and Mail’s interpretation of this story. One could almost see the desolate conditions of the slave boats and feel the pain of every person brought into slavery. Lawrence Hill created a compelling story that depicts the hard ships, emotional turmoil and bravery when he wrote The Book of Negroes.

My paper is an attempt to analyze the entire era of slavery and its later effects upon the lives of Africans who were brought forcefully to America as slaves and even after its abolition were treated inhumanly. My major attempt is to get an in depth insight of the struggles of these people for their survival in such an environment and the predicament of black women who were doubly oppressed; were the victims of both the whites and black men; and treated as naked savages and beasts, with Alice Walker’ masterpiece and Pulitzer prize winning The Color Purple. I have taken this project with my keen interest because the novel touched me deeply and I wanted to analyze it thoroughly.

Douglass also carves the vivid picture of dehumanization into the reader's minds when he writes about the whippings slaves endure. When Douglass is a young boy, he witnesses for the first time a slave getting whipped, "he took her into the kitchen, and stripped her from neck to waist, leaving her neck, shoulders, and back entirely naked. He made her get upon the stool, and tied her hands to the hook." Douglass hides in a closet, thinking that he would be the next victim. This is Douglass's first encounter with the extreme cruelty of slaveholders. "She now stood fair for his infernal purpose...after soon rolling up his sleeves, he commenced to lay on the heavy cowskin, and soon the warm, red blood (amid heart-rending shrieks from her, and horrid oaths from him) came dripping to the floor" (Douglass 42). As it turns out, the slave

This novel gives a very realistic picture of slavery of the African-Americans. Marriage and Slave families were rarely recognized by the slaveholders. When slaves did get married, the risk of being separated was always there because of the economic needs of the slaveholders. Although, childbearing was encouraged, so

The notion of slavery, as unpleasant as it is, must nonetheless be examined to understand the hardships that were caused in the lives of enslaved African-Americans. Without a doubt, conditions that the slaves lived under could be easily described as intolerable and inhumane. As painful as the slave's treatment by the masters was, it proved to be more unbearable for the women who were enslaved. Why did the women suffer a grimmer fate as slaves? The answer lies in the readings, Harriet Jacob's Incidents in the life of a Slave Girl and Olaudah Equiano's Interesting Narrative which both imply that sexual abuse, jealous mistresses', and loss of children caused the female slaves to endure a more dreadful and hard life in captivity.

Although the author makes emotional connection, she also presents information that you would find in a history textbook in a new light. Anderson does this by incorporating terms that may be learned in history class such as loyalist, indentured servant, and regiment into a plot. For example, Isabel was befriended by an indentured servant, she worked for a loyalist family, and her friend was apart of a rebel regiment. It’s interesting to see the author eloquently incorporate these terms into a historical fiction story. This book has increased my interest in the subject matter of slavery. The book has peaked my interest, because it just gives the reader a look at what life was like for slaves. The abuse and injustice just shows how important rights are and that they should not be taken for granted. This book ignited a fire inside of

Douglass gives detailed anecdotes of his and others experience with the institution of slavery to reveal the hidden horrors. He includes personal accounts he received while under the control of multiple different masters. He analyzes the story of his wife’s cousin’s death to provide a symbol of outrage due to the unfairness of the murderer’s freedom. He states, “The offence for which this girl was thus murdered was this: She had been set that night to mind Mrs. Hicks’s baby, and during the night she fell asleep, and the baby cried.” This anecdote, among many others, is helpful in persuading the reader to understand the severity of rule slaveholders hold above their slaves. This strategy displays the idea that slaves were seen as property and could be discarded easily.

He cannot forget about it even though he was still a child at that time. This is a very personal collection of a young boy’s experience. Here is the awful flash when Douglass is often being awakened the dawn by the most afflicted cry of his own aunt. Douglass makes a special point of express the tragic sight of female slaves being beaten and abused. As we know, woman is a weak creature full of sensitivity. Douglass has witnessed the injustice and the cruelty toward a woman, his own aunt, and this will forever scar him. His world-view grew at that moment as he become aware of what outrages could be perpetrated against innocent women slaves. His depictions of women’s mangled and emaciated bodies are meant to incite pain and outrage in readers and points to the abhorrent nature of the institutions of slavery. Women slaves’ body technically belongs to their owners by law. On the other hand, this passage and the autobiography is records the brutality of slavery. Douglass’ aunt was not the only slave who was