Roger Ekich Birthright Analysis

In Roger Ekirch’s story Birthright, James (Jemmy) Annesley, the heir to the Earl of Anglesey, was born in 1715 to Arthur Annesley 5th Baron Altham and his wife Mary Sheffield. After the move to Dublin, Mary was thrown out of the house for sleeping with another man, and James, who was abandoned by his father, was left to live in the streets and fend for himself. At the age of twelve, soon after his father’s death, James was kidnapped by his uncle Richard Annesley and transported to a plantation in Delaware, where he was sold into indentured servitude. By his uncle shipping him off, Richard was able to claim the lands and the title of the Earl of Anglesey. After thirteen years of virtual slavery, James escaped from a plantation, which was his third attempt, and in …show more content…
Family heirlooms, in this case titles and estates, were the most important things to them. By having titles, you were upheld to a higher status than the regular common folk. Which, furthermore meant, you had power and a say of what went on in not just the House of Lords but also the House of Commons. Another reason I believe Ekirch told the story of James was to show that no matter what trials and tribulations one goes through, it will always pay off and be worth it in the end. In Birthright James goes through many severe hardships, starting when he was only eight years old, to get where he was at the very end of the book. One of his biggest misfortunes was when his uncle Richard kidnapped him and sent him off to America to work as an indentured servant for twelve years on a plantation. Although it was a horrendous thing for is own uncle to do this to him, “kidnapping was a commonplace” (Ekirch 95) and young children, both girls and boys, were forced aboard ships in the harbor destined to go