Letters From A Slave Boy Analysis

Alexis Gurganus
Mr. McNellage
English 12 CPA
14 February 2017
Period: 6th
Letters from a Slave Boy
Letters from a Slave Boy is a book written about a young slave named, Joseph Jacobs. He was born into a slavery in Edenton; his mother and grandmother were both slaves. His mother got pregnant by a white man. In 1830 Joseph, would have been considered lucky as a slave. He lived with his free grandmother Molly in North Carolina. His slave owner was his white father, Samuel Sawyer. Since Josephs father is his slaveholder he did not make him do any work, which is why he was considered lucky. Joseph has a little sister named Lulu and she is way younger than he is. Harriet’s slaveholder, Dr. Norcom was very cruel to her, he threatened and hurt …show more content…
He felt that if he could have found a place where he and his family could have been free they would not be experiencing life without each other. He figured out later that he could be either white or black due to him having black and white parents. At first, he wanted to be black because he did not want to feel like anyone was making him out to be something that he was not. He wanted to stand up for what he felt was right he was trying to do whatever he felt would get him closer to his mother. After he had been on the run for a while he figured out that slaves who ran away and got caught would have to serve time in jail. So, Joseph decided that he wanted to be white because of all the good treatment he was getting. He could finally go into the whites only store without getting in trouble or threatened to get thrown into jail. Although he stayed as a black person at the end of the book because he felt like that was the right thing to …show more content…
During this time, African Americans had to work as slaves, no matter if you had a white parent or not. Once you were born into a slave family you were stuck like that forever. It allows everyone to be able to see the realities of slavery in the ninetenth century. This novel lets you get a feel of how tough slavery used to be. Letters from a Slave Boy is a book based on historical fiction. It teaches you how to be yourself an enjoy life being free. Joseph tried not to think of him and his family as slaves while he was growing up. Joseph was a very strong and determined young boy, he had a lot of difficulties he had to deal with, but he did not let anyone get in his way of what he had planned to do. When he had his mind set on something he was going to get it done no matter the circumstances that were bound to follow.
This book teaches many different lessons throughout it. You should enjoy every moment of your life because it could be way harder. This story teaches you that no matter what you are going through you should not take in for granted. Letters of a Slave Boy is written in letter form to help understand Josephs emotions and feelings throughout the book. When he first started out writing his letters he had grammar problems, and he was hard to understand what he was trying to say at times. As the letters continued his grammar improved a huge