Charlotte Doyle Persuasive Essay

During the 1800’s, society was separated by race, socioeconomic conditions, and gender. The novel The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi portrays the struggle of a thirteen year old girl during her travels across the Atlantic Ocean in 1832. Avi discusses the themes of racism, classism, and sexism and shows how the protagonist Charlotte conquers each during her personal journey from a dependent child to an independent woman. Over the course of the novel, Charlotte transforms as she overcomes racism. In the beginning, Charlotte does not want to be Zachariah’s friend because he is black. “In truth, I didn’t care for the black man…” (Avi 42). When Zachariah tells Charlotte his plan to tell an officer about Captain Jaggery she tells him she does not think that the white officers will believe Zachariah because is he is black, “’A black man, Zachariah, a common sail, testifying against a white officer…’” (Avi ). Zachariah tries to convince Charlotte to be friends with him by saying that they have two things in common. Charlotte does not immediately agree but as the novel goes on she and Zachariah become good friends, “‘Miss Doyle is so young! I am so old! Surely there us something similar in that. …show more content…
When she finds out the other families can not make it on the ship, she does not want to board a ship with just men because of the way she was raised, it is not proper to do so. She eventually gets used to the crew. When Charlotte wants to join the crew, they tell her that she can not because she is girl “‘I want to be the replacement for Mr. Johnson.’ ‘You’re a girl’” (Avi ). Charlotte proves them wrong because she ended up climbing the main mast and joining the crew. Asking to join the crew shows that Charlotte believes women can do anything men can do. The crew accepted her and she slept in the forecastle with them. Charlotte and the crew both end up realizing that women and men are