“Lawrence Hill has dedicated his life to learning, to teaching, and to helping. Through his efforts, Canadians have gained a better understanding of our shared history, and of the Black experience” (Lawrence Hill). Lawrence Hill has written many fictional and non- fictional pieces throughout his career, consisting of novels, short stories and essays. Some of the titles include Any Known Blood, The Illegal and Blood: The Stuff of Life. Hill’s most popular novel, The Book of Negroes received a massive amount of attention in Canada and other countries like United States of American, Australia and New Zealand (Hill). The book is about a girl abducted as a child from her village in West Africa and forced to walk for months to the sea, Aminata Diallo
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When Hill started writing the book his daughter was the same age as the character he was creating. Hill explains his thought process at the time, “I thought of (my daughter), and I asked myself to get into the story and to believe in the character I was creating” (Flurescu). I personally believe there could not have been a more heartfelt connection of his protagonist, there was no other way he really going to see the world from an 11-year-old girl’s point of view than his own daughter’s. His daughter’s middle name is Aminata, this is what inspired him to name the protagonist (Flurescu). Now every time he sees his character’s name, it will be his reminder of his daughter’s influence. He continually asked himself these questions throughout his writing process, “What if this was my own daughter, how would she have survived what Aminata… has to endure, how would she keep going?” (Flurescu). I believe that Hill created Aminata to have the strong will power she possess as an inspiration to his daughter, he wants her to know that she has the same characteristics within her; no matter what life throws at her. An example of her personality, “Aminata displays (sanity) when she gets her son taken away from her as well as when she is humiliated by her master” (Rochman). This is the type of creativity Hill has within him, by using an influence so close to his heart he was able to create a beautiful and realistic story to inspire others, like his
When Hill started writing the book his daughter was the same age as the character he was creating. Hill explains his thought process at the time, “I thought of (my daughter), and I asked myself to get into the story and to believe in the character I was creating” (Flurescu). I personally believe there could not have been a more heartfelt connection of his protagonist, there was no other way he really going to see the world from an 11-year-old girl’s point of view than his own daughter’s. His daughter’s middle name is Aminata, this is what inspired him to name the protagonist (Flurescu). Now every time he sees his character’s name, it will be his reminder of his daughter’s influence. He continually asked himself these questions throughout his writing process, “What if this was my own daughter, how would she have survived what Aminata… has to endure, how would she keep going?” (Flurescu). I believe that Hill created Aminata to have the strong will power she possess as an inspiration to his daughter, he wants her to know that she has the same characteristics within her; no matter what life throws at her. An example of her personality, “Aminata displays (sanity) when she gets her son taken away from her as well as when she is humiliated by her master” (Rochman). This is the type of creativity Hill has within him, by using an influence so close to his heart he was able to create a beautiful and realistic story to inspire others, like his