Overcoming Struggles as a Slave free essay sample

Amanita faced many struggles throughout the novel The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill, in which she overcame them, thus shaping her into a wise and strong person by the end of the book. She adapted to many drastic and immediate changes throughout her journey which includes her witnessing her village being destroyed, the voyage on the Atlantic Ocean from Africa to North America, and accepting the fact that she was a slave and overcoming it. Amanita was born in Baby in Africa; she was raised by two loving parents and ad many friends such as Bombay and Checker, who were with Amanita for some parts of her story. Amanita learnt many things from her parents which contributed to her survival in the new world. Her moms teachings in childbirth aided Amanita and helped make an effect in her life. My mother taught me how to reach inside a woman- after coating my hand with warm oil and touch in the right spot to tell if the door was suitably 23). We will write a custom essay sample on Overcoming Struggles as a Slave or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Mantiss father educated her as well as they had private lessons together on how to pray in Arabic. The simple life of Amanita came to a short end when ere village was destroyed and seeing her people kidnapped and murdered by men, who had the same faces like hers, but with no facial carvings (23).Amanita even witnessed her mother and father being killed, l saw the blood in the moonlight, angry and dark and spilling fast (38). Amanita had no choice to escape from the kidnapping and was placed in a coffee led by many guards. During this time, Amanita met Checker who turned out to be her husband later on in the book. Along the journey, Amanita developed privileges through Checker so that she can be free from the coffee. However, privileges like those did not mean that she was free to go.Eventually, her coffee reached the port of Africa and was soon to be shipped away to America. This was a very devastating time for Amanita but this event was the first of many struggles she had to go through in order to survive. Amanita was brought up by parents from two different villages. Her father was a Full so his language was Fueled. Amanita mother was Banana, so she spoke Panamanian. Since Amanita was able to learn to both Fueled and Panamanian she was more useful when she was on the ship.Mantiss stay along with many other of her home Landers on the ship was a long and cruel journey across the Atlantic Ocean. Being stuck in the bottom of the ship with hundreds of slaves created a disgusting stench (90), which Amanita could not stand. Through luck, a tuba man discovered Amanita that she was able to deliver babies. The man, who was later known as the medicine man was impressed of Mantiss work and made her his assistant. This allowed her to stay with the medicine man instead of the slaves and have an easier time on the ship compared to the other slaves. She easily adapted to this as it was much better than it was in the bottom of the ship. Amanita came up with the concept You help me, and I help you (91) with the medicine man which he compromised. While they were at sea, many slaves as well a few sailors died. When someone on the ship died, the tuba would throw the body overboard with no respect of a proper ceremony, the dead were shown no respect (1 17). The voyage across the Atlantic was not a luxury cruise for Amanita, but she managed to gain privileges that many slaves in the ship did to possess.After her long journey at sea, Amanita was taken to a plantation in South Carolina where she met people who helped her adjust to the role as a slave. She was taken to an Indigo Plantation run by a man named Robinson Appleby. At this plantation, she was forced to do labor outside the fields and whatever command she was asked to do. At first, it was hard for Amanita to adjust to a whole new lifestyle in a plantation. With the lack of respect, Amanita was hit by Appleby. Amanita was saved from near death by a woman named Georgia.Georgia was basically Mantiss guardian, teacher and healer. Georgia taught Amanita how to speak properly to her slave owners and white people and how she can speak to other black people. l came to see that she was teaching me two languages. (1 83), There was the language that Georgia spoke when alone with the Negroes on the plantation, and she called that Gullah there was the way she spoke to Robinson Appleby or to other white people, and she called that English (183). Amanita also came across an overseer named Named, who was a Muslim.Mantiss parents ere Muslims and she learned some prayers in Arabic. Once Named found out that Amanita could say prayers in Arabic, Named secretly educated her privately at his home. This later affected her greatly because Amanita was more educated than other slaves. The two characters of Georgia and Named helped Amanita in a way that helped her overcome the true hardships of a slave. Amanita was then bought by a man named Solomon Lined; he was a lee who thought she was skillful and had a lot of potential. Lined was considered to be a nice owner who let Amanita read and write openly.With he privilege of this, Lined asked Amanita to give some of her earnings to him, You will work in the mornings on my books, keeping accounts and when you are not busy with that, you will start catching babies. With what you earn from that, you are going to start paying me ten shillings a week (Hill 283). Amanita slowly overcame belonging to an owner as she ran away from Lined which made her free. Overcoming the title of being a slave was not easy for Amanita; the motivation of reuniting with her family kept her going each day hoping she will see Checker and her two daughters.As an old woman nearing the end of the book, she finds herself crossing the Atlantic Ocean one more time to England to present the account of her life so it may help abolish the slave trade. Amanita has been through a lot. She has accomplished so much that she does not need to cross no bridges and board no ships, but stay here on solid land (657). With each and every obstacle she faced, she managed to get through it with the help of the people around her and her courage to overcome anything.