47
November 1, 2006
Statistics
Quotes
"White people gots as many ages as you can count but slaves on'y got four ages. That's babychile, boy or girl, old boy or old girl, an'dead."- This quote truly does show the treatment the slaves got. They were treated like they were a nobody and to the master and the white folks, they had just these four names. They weren't even worth getting called a name.
"And those that did come back were never the same." - This quote is talking about a killing shack they had on this certain plantation. Slaves would be taken there by the white folks on the plantation and tortured either to death or where all there limbs were out of socket. This quote shows the poor life and living conditions the slaves had. They were constantly being beaten and harassed, sometimes for nothing.
Main Conflict
Details
2. Another detail that stood out to me was the sacrifices Tall John took to free 47 and many of the slaves. It wasn't any easy task what he did. This task eventually led to his death but also led to the slaves freedom.
3. Lastly, another important detail in this novel was the detail actually written in the novel by Walter Mosley. He wrote things that were specified into just how bad things were and what all they went through that led eventually to their freedom.
Historical References
1) Slaves actually lived like these slaves did. They had a "killin shack" at many plantations and many slaves were beaten and killed. Also, slaves as soon as they were old enough worked in the fields sun up to sun down. Lastly, women slaves were not supposed to get pregnant.
2) Secondly, slaves actually did travel to Canada to become free. Many moved there to create new families and become free people. They were long journeys but they left from the south to go up to become freed.
3)Thirdly, there were many people who sacrificed there lives in order to free slaves. Tall John in the novel was like many people were in real life. For example, many people took part in the Underground Railroad in order to free slaves.