The Book Of Negroes Aminata Chapter Summary

Sherry Zhao
Ms. Cummings
English 12
December 20th, 2013 The Similarities and the Differences Between the Novel and the History
The slavery possesses a long history. The slave trade becomes more popular after the Europeans, especially the Portuguese and the British, arrived in America and Africa after the industrial revolution in 15th century. The United Kingdom was one of the superpowers during this period; it had the most colonies in Africa and America. “The Book of Negroes” is a novel which talks about an African girl, Aminata, who is captured by the toubab when she is eleven years old and her experiences in different places among America, Canada and British. This book is a fictional novel, but there are also many facts that are similar
to the real history; it has a particular description about how the Africa American lives and works at that time.
This book has some parts that are exaggerated or fabled; comparing this book and other resources which are about the truth is one of the best ways to know the real history of that period time.
It is a long time for either captors or captives to go from Africa to America, because the captors should find Africans from different villages in Africa. Aminata is captured when she is eleven years old; she takes over three months to get into the ship which carries her to America (Hill, 48). After Aminata is caught, she follows the toubab and she witnesses them capture more Africans from other villages(25-43). Ignatius Sancho had written a letter to his friend in 1778 which mentioned that “it often took many months to buy enough slaves to fill the ship” (Education Scotland).There are some differences between this novel and the history. The book mentions is the toubab use force to capture the slaves, but Ignatius Sancho wrote that they bought the slaves from Africa. These details show that the toubab have different
means to the tribes, but either novel or history mentions that it would take several months to have this journey. According to the description of the novel, the villages are destroyed after the white men capture them. They kill the people who revolt them like what they do to Aminata’s Parents (Hill, 21). What Ignatius mentions is different from the novel; he wrote “there were forts manned by European soldiers” (Education Scotland). It is quite different in this kind of condition. Based on this novel, the white people never set forts and they fire the villages after they capture the slaves. In the history, the forts were manned and the white people would not destroy all the villages; the white people would not capture all the people in the same time. The journey from Aminata’s village to the ship is a quite small part of the the book and her life; there are some similarities and differences. It is a good symbol to understand about how the Africans are caught from the white people and what they do to the African when the toubab take them to the ship.
Education of the slaves is a major issue in the slave trade. The slave owners wanted to make their slaves completely dependent on them, and they did not allow their slaves to learn how to read and write(Slavery in America, History). Aminata meets a lot of people want to teach her, even one of her owners-- Mr.Lindo. Aminata even teaches others in church. It is not general phenomenon in that period, but there are some special cases in the real history. Very few masters gave their slaves the chance to learn to read and white. It is not like what happens to Aminata , because Mr.Lindo and Mrs.Lindo who are her owners teach Aminata personally. “Olaudah Equiano is the most famous ex-slave to write about his experiences” (Stolen in Africa, Education Scotland). He had a similar experience as Aminata; he was captured when he was eleven years old and became a slave science then. He was educated in London, and he helped “spread the Abolitionist message by touring Britain telling his story”(Stolen in Africa, Education Scotland). Aminata is a very lucky woman. She meets a lot of people who are not as horrible as what the history documents depict. Although it is real that few slaves can be educated, Aminata is so lucky that makes this story become untruthfulness. Identifying which is the fiction and which is the truth is very important.
Fiction is quite different from the real history; it has a lot of events that are overstated.
Some of the plots cannot happen in the real condition. “The Book of Negroes” is a famous novel which talks about slavery. What the main character experiences has some parts that are similar to the history, and some parts are imaginary. To make the plots can keep going smoothly, what the author did is exaggerating some parts and making up some parts by him. Otherwise, the main characters might be dead before the book finishes. The journey from the Africa to the seacoast and the education of the slaves are two points that either this novel or the history mentions, but the details about these two parts have some similarities and some differences. Comparing the similarities and differences can help readers to know further about the truth of that
period.

Works Cited
Hill,Lawrence. The book of Negroes.Harper Collins Publishers Ltd. Toronto. 2007
Sancho, Ignatius. “Stolen in Africa”. Education Scotland. Web.2013. December, 4th, 2013

--------”Slavery in America”. History. Web. December, 11th, 2013