Aminata Slavery

Title: The term slave is characterized as a “person who is the property of and wholly subject to another’’ (Dictionary). However, it can also be extended and defined as the extraction of individual rights and their survival. Firstly, slavery coupled with the slave trade are both nostalgic tales in history which date from the 1800’s. During this time period, there were many old southern socio-historical events such as: the first African slaves, the toxic inequality between the whites and blacks, the Great Revival Movement etc… However, the sterling movement of the “Black Power Era’’ that took place in 1963, changed the civil rights of many which disjointed the segregation between both societies (white and black). Furthermore, the African-American …show more content…
Firstly, sexual assault was one of many forms of abuse during this time period. In Hills novel, the main character, Aminata, loses her virginity at the age of fourteen from her slave owner. This particular event, shows evidently how her slave owner owned everything about her, including her virginity, which contributed to her having a fear, which redefined her vanished existence. It redefined her because ‘’rape culture’’ does not exist, it is not something she chose to do. Secondly, in the Help, racism shows the illusion of power and how it caused identity crisis for many. A perfect example of this is when Hilly convinces many of her friends to build an isolated bathroom for their black maids, because they supposedly carried “different kinds of diseases” ( Stockett, 10). This scenery represents the segregation between both cultures, and how the blacks hard work wasn't valued and respected during this literary period. Unfortunately, when others do not worship you, your self-esteem and self-identity are reflected by this in a repugnant way. Furthermore, back then many African-Americans had ultimately lost most of their cultural connection with African. In The Book of Negroes, Aminata loses her cultural identity when she is taking away; she is not Aminata from Bayo anymore, she’s now identified as a African, Guinea or Meena Dee. After this …show more content…
To begin with, how to survive the loss of both parents is an obstacle that is difficult to overcome. Hill perfectly describes Aminata feelings and thoughts after the loss of both her parents “ Each and overtime, my thoughts were stranded, flattened, and sucked out of my mind, and replaced with visions of my mother motionless in the word and my father, lips quivering while his chest erupted’’ (Hill, 28). This grievous personal identity loss (death) shows the reader how this event scrutinized her for life and how she no longer has someone reflecting and looking out for her. Secondly, with the loss of something or someone, many will suffer and won’t be able to feel whole. In Hills novel, Aminata senses this feeling when Appleby sells her and her child to separate owners. Even though she was lucky enough to raise her daughter May till the age of 7, a piece of her was still taking away. This calamity represents a loss of justice and ipseity because a “child's life is lie a piece of paper on which every person leaves a mark on”; it affected her mentally tremendously. Thirdly, coping with change and finding closure after a loss is very difficult and sometimes impossible . A perfect example of this in The Help would be when Aibileen considers to commit suicide after her sons, Treelore, death. Even though she tries to compensate with her loss, by developing a