![]() Cora (Chapter 6)Īn observation made in one of Cora's darkest moments, while hiding in Martin and Ethel's attic in North Carolina, this quote reveals a deeply pessimistic view of America. America was a ghost in the darkness, like her. Now that she had run away and seen a bit of the country, Cora wasn't sure the document described anything real at all. The way poor Michael reciting the Declaration of Independence was an echo of something that existed elsewhere. In this quote, Cora recognizes that truth-just like freedom-is unreliable. Cora, on the other hand, fights relentlessly for her freedom. Ridgeway, for example, looks at American slavery and sees the natural order, the way things should be. ![]() Characters often view the same situation differently. In the novel, Whitehead is deeply concerned the nature of truth and narrative expression. Truth was a changing display in a shop window, manipulated by hands when you weren’t looking, alluring and ever out of reach. This interpretation suggests that the "true face of America" is not hope and freedom but rather the racist violence and oppression that Cora encounters along her journey. Lumbly's words, then, could be read as irony, revealing the false optimism of the Railroad. More often that not, the places where the Railroad lead do not bring freedom, but rather, more suffering. Yet Cora's succeeding adventures reveal brutalities just as dire as the ones she left behind on the plantation. Lumbly gives voice to this optimism: the Railroad is the ticket to that freedom. In that moment, America still holds the promise of freedom. This quote from the engineer comes as Cora boards the Underground Railroad for the first time. Look outside as you speed through, and you'll find the true face of America. If you want to see what this nation is all about, I always say, you have to ride the rails. Rather than any high-minded ideal or notion of liberty, Ridgeway had a different idea of what America is really about: theft, property, and expansion above all else. This quote describes Ridgeway's conception of "the American imperative," the central principle of the nation. Here was the true Great Spirit, the divine thread connecting all human endeavor-if you can keep it, it is yours. ![]() If the white man wasn't destined to take this new world, he wouldn't own it now. If the red man was supposed to keep hold of his land, it'd still be his. If niggers were supposed to have their freedom, they wouldn't be in chains. This sad reality demonstrates the deeply racist setting that is America. Abolitionists may struggle for black freedom, but despite their best efforts, the only true equality for a black person is found in death, dissected by a doctor. This quote describes the irony of white supremacy. Yet when his classmates put their blades to a colored cadaver, they did more for the cause of colored advancement than the most high-minded abolitionist. Her words predict a bloody reality for the future: in an almost biblical take, Cora thinks violence will beget more violence. She concludes that it is fear at the root of their violence. ![]() Cora (Chapter 6)Ĭora reflects on the system devised by North Carolina to deal with their fear of slave rebellion. One day the system would collapse in blood. That was Sea Island cotton the slaver had ordered for his rows, but scattered among the seeds were those of violence and death, and that crop grew fast. They erected a new scaffolding of oppression on the cruel foundation laid hundreds of years before. Thus this perspective casts a damning eye on the nation, suggesting its promise is inherently corrupt. The very basis of this machine is evil: based on theft and literally sustained by the blood of slaves. Cora (Chapter 4)Ĭora's description of America imagines the nation as a machine, an engine perhaps like that of the Underground Railroad. It was an engine that did not stop, its hungry boiler fed with blood.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |