Questions:
1.What was your first impression of Solomon Lindo till the end of page 199?
2.What were your thoughts on Chekura and Aminata together? Know that she is in Charles Town do you think they will ever meet again?
3.The skills that Aminata has learned from Lindo such as reading, writing and the use of money. How do you think these skills might affect her in the long run? positively or negatively?
4.What were some of the feelings or thoughts that went thorough your head when Aminata's baby, Mamadu, was taken away from her?
5.Thougths on Dolly?
Discussion Summary
In our
discussion we conversed a lot about the people in the book such as Solomon
Lindo. I asked my group members their first impression and the last one in this
section. They said he was nice and caring about his servants. Also, they feel a
reason Lindo keeps servants is to try and fit in with the “white people”
because at one point he stats that being a Jew he was very similar to Aminata
in that both of them were outsiders. I brought up Chekura and Aminata because a
relationship sparked between the two very rapidly. Rika and Anisha agreed that
them together was cute. They adored the love that they had for each other
because Chekura is very sweet towards Aminata. While being together Aminata had
a child named Mamadu, which after a while was taken away from her by Appleby,
then sold. My group said that they were upset and sad because she had already
lost so much and she finally found something that made her happy. Aminata is a
very smart and intelligent girl, with all this knowledge it affects her
positively because it allows her to receive good opportunities but, it does
attract a lot of attention making her stand out, which is not ideal in this type
of business. Also the “white people” might feel threatened by how smart she is.
In Lindos house he has only one other servant whose name is Dolly. When she was
introduced she seemed to come off a bit cruel, also she was unwelcoming.
Illuminator-Rika Wong
Quotes (five):
1. "I stay here and live well. This is the best that I can do. Nobody knows the indigo work better than me-- and Master Appleby knows it" (p. 154)
In this quote, Mamed expresses his thought on the life that he has and how he tolerates it. It shows that the slaves have accepted their lifestyle as they have no other choice. To them, it is the best that they can do in this new land. Aminata finds this fact hard to understand as she is trying to be as optimistic as she can in her situation, but it seems like she is also giving up her hope of one day finding freedom.
2. "Like a layabout. A wastrel. I don't like the look in his eyes. Too African. That's what you made me drag up in the fishnet?" (p. 156)
Georgia talks about how she was disappointed to see such and "african" boy. Although many slaves are African themselves, you see that their culture has completely changes, as have their lifestyles. Unlike the rest of them, Chekura and Aminata have tried to keep the culture of their homeland, but the others do not approve. Although many of them miss their old lives when they were not slaves, they understand that they have to change in order to protect themselves.
3. "Something stirred deep down in my belly and between my legs. But i didn't trust those feelings." (p. 159).
As we see the journey of Aminata flash before our eyes, we also see her change and grow physically and emotionally. This includes her feelings towards Chekura. They long for each other as they are the only two people who can understand what they have gone through. As their relationship builds, they become more romantically involved with each other, and they both know what is to come. However, Aminata knows that she is still not ready, and Chekura respects that.
4."I could not shove his heaving body off of me, so I lay as still as I could. I just wanted to live through this, and have it end. Live through it and have it end" (p.161).
This line shows how vulnerable a slave like Aminata is in this situation. Appleby, the careless master obviously does not care about the slaves' feeling and well being. At this point, Aminata is so vulnerable that she gives up on fighting and realizes that she has not power in this situation. This quote shows how slaves are taken advantage of and treated in this world.
5. "I was bursting with pride and purpose. My own baby, by my own man! This was the baby I would keep and love" (p.165).
Aminata shows her pride with the fact that is pregnant with Chekura's Child. Aminata and Chekura are very much in love and although Georgia is very concerned for her, she did not care about what anyone thought at that point. She was filled with nothing a mother's love for her child, but everyone knew that that only put her at more risk, especially when it came to Mr. Appleby.
Word Wizard-Anisha Sangha
1. Coaxed
Page #- 166
Paragraph#- 1
Phrase from the text (context): "While we talked and laughed and brought our foreheads together to rest one against the other, Chekura rubbed my toes and soles and the tops of my feet with oil he had coaxed from Georgia, but at first he demanded nothing of me."
Definition and/or meaning in context: To influence or persuade (a person or animal) to do something by talking in a gentle and friendly way.
2. Loins
Page #- 186
Paragraph#- 1
Phrase from the text (context): No child to show from my loins, and no man to stand proudly by me while I told my people about the strange ways of the buckra.
Definition and/or meaning in context: The areas of a person's body that includes the sexual organs.
3. Coromantee
Page #- 171
Paragraph#- 10
Phrase from the text (context): "I can tell just by looking that she's not Coromantee."
Definition and/or meaning in context: Was the name given to the Akan slaves from the Gold Coast or modern Ghana.
4. Tansy
Page #- 163
Paragraph#- 1
Phrase from the text (context): "After Appleby's attack, Georgia had me drink a hot potion of tansy and ground-up cedar berries."
Definition and/or meaning in context: A common Old World composite herb that is naturalized in North America and has a bitter-tasting finely divided aromatic leaves and clustered yellow flower heads lacking ray flowers.
5. Hucksters
Page #188
5. Hucksters
Page #188
Paragraph#- 2
Phrase from the text (context): "You'll find fruiterers and hucksters all about this town."
Definition and/or meaning in context: Someone who sells or advertises something in an aggressive, dishonest or annoying way. *All definition were retrieved from Merriam-Webster's online dictionary except the definition from #3 was from Wikipedia.
Stagecrafter-Anisha Sangha
1.
No comments:
Post a Comment