Discussion #11 pg. 344-375 March 3

Discussion Leader-Harkirn Mangat

Questions:

1.When the Witherspoons took May, if you were in Aminatas position would you have done the same thing or different?

2. Aminata has finally decided to go to Sierra Leone, Africa. Is this a good or bad idea? Why or why not?

3. What do you think “Place elephants for want of towns”(368Hill) means?

4.Thougths on John Clarkson?

5.Thomas peter’s speech made Aminata remember about the boldness and ambition she once had. Do you think this inspired her to continue one? Why or why not?

Illuminator-Rika Wong
Quotes (five):

1. "My children were like phantom limbs, lost but still attached to me, gone but still painful" (350).

·       Here, Aminata expresses her sadness of the loss of her children.  She compares her children to her phantom limbs, which continues to support the fact that they were a part of her, almost literally. At this point in the book, she found it hard to go on with her everyday like as she could not stop thinking of her missing children who she cared very much for. 

2. "The pain of my losses never really went away. The limbs had been severed, and they would forever after be missing. But I kept going. Somehow, I just kept going" (p.351).

This quote was significant because it connected to the very first line of the book, which was was a thought that skipped scenes. As a reader, you don't really know why she says that, but this quote mentions a lot about it. Again, Aminata questions her existence, and wonders what the worth of life is. She also questions how she had been able to live so long after all that she had gone through.
3. "I'm just the same as the rest of you: I came to Nova Scotia seven years ago and I'm still waiting for my land. But now I'm tired of waiting and I'm going to do something about it" (pg. 353)

This quote of the book is said by one of the free slaves who stand up for the people who had not received what they had promised. It was a avery heroic action for a black person to fight against the court as there was often little hope for them as they were inferior to the white people. This proves that the free slaves who were expecting to get something out of coming to Nova Scotia, were upset because they did not find that they got what they were told.
4. "None of us imagined that anything would come of it, but contributed what we could" (353).
This quote signifies that the free blacks were inferior to the rest of the society, and although they were ready to fight, they still had expected nothing to change as they knew they were quite powerless. regardless, they still did everything they could, and hoped for a brighter future for themselves and their people. This quote also represents the society as white people continued to rule, even if they were promised to be free.

5.  "Many times I could have died, yet I was here still, now on the precipice of yet another journey across the water. the first one had been involuntary. This one was my choice" (p.370).

This quote is quite significant in the Book of Negroes as here, Aminata hits rock bottom, but at the same time, has a new start. Since she lost everything, it was time for her to make a choice for herself, and at this point she realized that all her hope had been lost as well. This was a start of something new for her. This quote also relates to an earlier part of the story where she talked about how she should have died sooner before. It also reflects on the time where she had her first journey on the water, and it was definitely a hard time for her. She compares this to the first trip, and although they are similar, they are still different in many ways as this journey was to somewhere that could actually bring her freedom. 

Word Wizard-Anisha Sangha

 1. Marauding 

Page #- 348

Paragraph#- 14

Phrase from the text (context): "The woods were eerily silent, and free of marauding men." 

Definition and/or meaning in context: Engaged in raiding for plunder, especially roaming about and ravaging an area.

2.Parishioners 

Page #- 353

Paragraph#-2

Phrase from the text (context): "He was a short, stocky fellow who looked a little older than me, and he spoke in a tone so flat that some parishioners fell asleep."

Definition and/or meaning in context: One of the community or inhabitants of a parish. 

3. Tarnation

Page #-  345

Paragraph#- 2

Phrase from the text (context): "I pounded again on the front door, until the woman in the nearest house opened hers and asked me what in tarnation I thought I was doing."

Definition and/or meaning in context: Damnation

4.   Abacus

Page #- 348

Paragraph#- 7

Phrase from the text (context): "She had a tiny abacus-just a toy-and was pushing all the pieces"

Definition and/or meaning in context:  A device for making arithmetic calculations, consisting of a frame set with rods on which balls or beads are moved.

5. Fortified

Page #- 353

Paragraph#- 1

Phrase from the text (context): "I had no husband, no children, and no home other than the cabin in Birchtown that I fortified each summer against the coming winter."

Definition and/or meaning in context: To protect or strengthen against attack; surround or provide with defensive military works.

Stagecrafter-Anisha Sangha
1.