Literary Elements In The Underground Railroad

Literature is often credited with the ability to enhance one’s understanding of history by providing a view of a former conflict. In doing so, the reader is able to gain both an emotional and logistical understanding of a historically significant event. Additionally, literature provides context that can help the reader develop a deeper understanding of the political climate of a time period. Within the text of The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead’s, the use of literary elements such as imagery, metaphor, and paradox amplifies the reader’s understanding of early 19th century slavery and its role in the South of the United States of America. Throughout the novel, Whitehead utilizes a girl named Cora to navigate the political and personal consequences of escaping slavery, the Underground Railroad, and her transition from the title of fugitive to freed. Cora’s ability to convey descriptions of events both tragic and hope-filled such as the dehumanization of slaves or the truth of freedom, while utilizing literary elements, create an emotional understanding of the 1800’s of the United States.

To show the historical truth that collective struggle is the only practical solution for African People, Morrison writes a historical novel, Beloved, which explores most oppressed period of slavery in the history of African people. The novel portrays successful development of the "black identity" in times when a black person was denied it. Morrison reveals the horror of slavery in explicit detail, elaborating upon the physical and mental abuses suffered by Sethe, Paul D, and the other Sweet Home slaves. Beloved not only speaks for the slaves whose voices were silenced, but also contributes to Morrison's critique of the aesthetics that has dominated American culture and its canon of

The novel recounts the several struggles in her journey through the slave trade to attain fundamental human rights and freedoms. Lawrence Hill employs structure and rhetoric to illustrate that patience and perseverance assist Aminata in maintaining fortitude and courage. This allows her to better adapt to each hardship, which leads to

The Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs and Sojourner Truth’s Speech to the Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio, 1851 are two readings from The Norton Anthology of American Literature that talk about slavery and women in the 1800s. Sojourmer Truth was Born into slavery in 1797. Sojourmer became one of the most powerful advocates for human rights in the nineteenth century. She spent her childhood on a New York estate owned by a Dutch-American called Colonel Johannes Hardenbergh.

From this moment on she is forced to choose between exploring her femininity and doing what she can in order to provide for herself. These features and typology of character are represented the best by two famous writers: Tennessee Williams and Margaret Mitchel. Despite their different artistic visions the two authors have created representatives of the Southern Belle. Blanche DuBois from A Streetcar Named Desire and Scarlett O’Hara from Gone With the Wind are the characters in charge of depicting the tremors of the Southern woman affected by the changes in society.

Freedom. Throughout her life, Harriet Tubman was a slave, nurse, spy, and a crucial aspect of the Underground Railroad. Helping to get people out of slavery and into freedom, Tubman changed the lives of many people. Before her tragic death in March of 1913, Harriet spent her later years supporting the poor individuals who were once slaves. Her great actions as an individual and charismatic qualities are what separated her and made her stand out.

Chopin is a forward thinking author who wrote for women and minorities. Racism and gender bias are problems that have continued to persist in our society despite activism attempting to rid our world of it. Identity is another problem many people have trouble muddling through. Chopin tackles relevant issues she witnessed in her lifetime of racism, gender bias, and identity issues utilizing the literary elements of foreshadowing, irony, symbolism, figures of speech, misleading of the reader, imagery, and setting; the literary devices assist in emphasizing the expectations Armand feels he must live up to because of the responsibility of his wealthy, powerful name by exacting a harsh rule on his slaves, commanding absolute supremacy over women,

historical phenomenon that has lasting cultural meaning and enduring social consequences. This describes sufficiently in defining Kindred as a neo slave narrative and clarifies how Octavia uses slavery in her novel with the heroin, Dana, who investigates between her familial slave history in nineteenth century South and her own sight of slavery in twentieth century. Kindred is the first person narration of the life story of a young Afro-American woman writer, Dana, who finds herself travel regularly between past and present in 1976 and a pre-Civil War Maryland plantation. Dana uncovers her family’s history and discovers a dark past. Her history starts with a slave owner’s son called Rufus and her survival means keeping him alive even when

Some aspects of history should stay hidden. In the Southern Gothic novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, it tells a story of southern culture and values through a young girl’s perspective of growing up in the 1930s in Alabama. The Southern Gothic genre is supposed to resemble the southern culture, but have a bit of a creepier element to it. Throughout this time period, Lee illustrates the struggles and hardships, as well as victories and overcoming obstacles for the people. She also writes of very realistic problems many faced in the 1930s such as money problems, discrimination, growing up, learning the truth, and judging.

In her book The Historical Romance, Helen Hughes describes how a historical romance novel includes content that not only relates to love and passion, but also advocates for

Like Equiano 's works, it was

Reading the book, the Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead was an interesting novel that depicted the life story of certain slaves. Although the book showed the struggle of slavery and escaping in a fictional manner with a few history facts to support this novel. The short stories in this book show that something that was shown or read in any history books across the world. These short stories helped shaped my viewpoints of how the slaves. During this point in history, major things was happening to the slaves instead of them buying sold to pick cotton or tend the slave master kid.

During the beginning of the war Venet’s writing suggests that many didn’t know quite what to do. However, as time lingered on many women abolitionists both young and old began to find their role in different important movements that had a key focus on emancipation. Further on in the book Venet concentrates her writing on a woman by the name of Anna Elizabeth Dickinson. Regarded as the “Abolition’s Joan of Arc,” Dickinson would become one of the most “popular women lecturers of the abolitionist cause” (Venet 37). Forced in to work due to her father’s death, Dickinson obtained the ability to connect with the working class.

Anne developed a unique writing style that relied on metaphors and dialogue, both techniques most likely developed from her literary way of looking at the world as a young girl. Braden’s memoir about the sedition case, The Wall Between, is a metaphor in itself. Braden continually refers to a wall between blacks and whites and the negative effects its division has on the people of both sides. She uses this and other metaphors as a means to simplify ideas, like that of racial unity to overcome segregation: “For it can’t be crashed through – not from your side alone” (Braden, The Wall Between 8). In “Free Thomas Wansley” and The Wall Between, Braden recounts conversations like dialogue in a novel as a way to make her writing more approachable and vivid, something that is key to impacting her

Unpolished Gem is a thought provoking tale that explores the journey of Alice Pung from girl to woman. The memoir fluidly transitions between a series of themes and ideas, but through these a constant concept is explored; the cultural divide. Alice’s culture and background are the foundation of every decision she makes and thus, throughout the entire autobiography, the reader observes the implications of this, and often, the divide this creates. The reader perceives the social division Alice’s culture generates and the impact this has on relationships in and out of the home, and also in Alice’s ability to assimilate. Cultural divide is also apparent to the reader when comparing the expectations of Alice’s family to those of her classmates.