Book: The Book of Negroes
Author: Lawrence Hill
Pages read: 44-68
Aminata
Diallo, the main character, has been kidnapped along with so many others from
villages around hers. They were then put onto boats and brought across a vast
body of water. This reminded me of the advice Aminata gave in the first
chapter, “do not trust large bodies of water, and do not pass them.” It’s not
difficult to see what she was referring to. What I really found interesting
though, is how Chekura (a boy she met along the way) had told her she’s lucky
to be sold to the toubabu. Because the things that would happen to the one’s
left behind, are far worse. It’s kind of like the lesser of two evils, you
know?
Later
on, Aminata wonders why the toubabu
would go through all this trouble to have them work on their land, “surely they
could gather their own mangoes and pound their own millet.” After reading that,
I couldn’t stop thinking about how true that really is. I will never, ever
understand slavery in the slightest bit. No one should. It’s disgusting and
cruel, and unnecessary. To me, it’s sickening to think about. I found that she
had a good point, put so simply.
The
first time the word “toubab” is used, Aminata is asking about a man who joined
their captors, “is he a man or an evil spirit?” Even though I was unsure what a
toubab actually is, I imagined it’s something more on the negative side. By
continuing to read, I learned that toubab is the name which the captors refer
to the men they’re about to be sold to. Then, I looked it up, and a web
definition I found was: “Toubab” is a Central and West African name for a
person of European descent (“whites”).
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