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stephbgI've been meaning to read Roots by Alex Haley* ever since I watched the television series, probably some time in the 80s. Having recently completed Gone With The Wind I thought the time was right to track down a copy and see what slavery looked like from the other side, so to speak.
The first half of the book is the account of Kunta Kinte's life in West Africa until he was captured at age 17 in the late 18th century. I confess to some impatience; I had at some level assumed that the capture would happen sooner rather than later. In hindsight, some of this was probably a racist assumption that there wouldn't be enough culture to describe at length, with a practical undertone that it would be difficult to extract much historical detail at that distance. (I have since discovered claims of invention.)
These statements will no doubt get me into trouble, but it was impossible to know at the outset what was historical fact, what was recreation by research, and what was creative license. It's not a problem I usually have with SF. I must lay the blame for such introspection at the feet of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
stephiepenguin and alias_sqbr.
That said, the first half is rich with detail about the daily lives, habits, and culture of the peoples of The Gambia. Having completed the book it is now clear that this must have been a deliberate effort to contrast this with the heavily restricted cultural life of the US slave.
In GWTW I had noted a stumbling block to quick reading: the rendering of all negro dialogue as accented patois. The same device was used in Roots, and it slowed my reading pace considerably as I was required to sound out a lot of the dialogue phoenetically.
That said, it was a cracking read and a shocking story that illustrated many different characters, attitudes and events over a long period of time, although I've probably learned more about cock fighting than was strictly necessary. I remain amazed that such a thing at the USA exists in any coherent form at all.
I know GWTW has been criticised for its relatively sunny rendering of slavery, but there was plenty of collaborating detail in Roots. One thing in particular struck me was the paranoia that struck the white population whenever there was rumour of black revolt elsewhere. At the least provocation the white owners would turn their guns on the people they had trusted to care for their own children, sometimes for generations.
The final couple of chapters describe the author's journey to research his family history, and these are interesting in their own right, even if potentially dodgy.
I've started to read Shadow Lines by Stephen Kinnane, a love story between his aboriginal grandmother and the English colonist she married in the early 20th century. The English colonist was a cousin of my father's, so it is the story of part of my own family. It frightens me how much worse the WA aboriginals were treated in comparison to African and African-American slaves in the US.
(*) And now I see from Wikipedia that there have been accusations of plagiarism and lies, but these don't really affect my statements here.
The first half of the book is the account of Kunta Kinte's life in West Africa until he was captured at age 17 in the late 18th century. I confess to some impatience; I had at some level assumed that the capture would happen sooner rather than later. In hindsight, some of this was probably a racist assumption that there wouldn't be enough culture to describe at length, with a practical undertone that it would be difficult to extract much historical detail at that distance. (I have since discovered claims of invention.)
These statements will no doubt get me into trouble, but it was impossible to know at the outset what was historical fact, what was recreation by research, and what was creative license. It's not a problem I usually have with SF. I must lay the blame for such introspection at the feet of
stephiepenguin and alias_sqbr.That said, the first half is rich with detail about the daily lives, habits, and culture of the peoples of The Gambia. Having completed the book it is now clear that this must have been a deliberate effort to contrast this with the heavily restricted cultural life of the US slave.
In GWTW I had noted a stumbling block to quick reading: the rendering of all negro dialogue as accented patois. The same device was used in Roots, and it slowed my reading pace considerably as I was required to sound out a lot of the dialogue phoenetically.
That said, it was a cracking read and a shocking story that illustrated many different characters, attitudes and events over a long period of time, although I've probably learned more about cock fighting than was strictly necessary. I remain amazed that such a thing at the USA exists in any coherent form at all.
I know GWTW has been criticised for its relatively sunny rendering of slavery, but there was plenty of collaborating detail in Roots. One thing in particular struck me was the paranoia that struck the white population whenever there was rumour of black revolt elsewhere. At the least provocation the white owners would turn their guns on the people they had trusted to care for their own children, sometimes for generations.
The final couple of chapters describe the author's journey to research his family history, and these are interesting in their own right, even if potentially dodgy.
I've started to read Shadow Lines by Stephen Kinnane, a love story between his aboriginal grandmother and the English colonist she married in the early 20th century. The English colonist was a cousin of my father's, so it is the story of part of my own family. It frightens me how much worse the WA aboriginals were treated in comparison to African and African-American slaves in the US.
(*) And now I see from Wikipedia that there have been accusations of plagiarism and lies, but these don't really affect my statements here.
