Ms. Cummings
English 12
December 20th, 2013 The Similarities and the Differences Between the Novel and the History
The slavery possesses a long history. The slave trade becomes more popular after the Europeans, especially the Portuguese and the British, arrived in America and Africa after the industrial revolution in 15th century. The United Kingdom was one of the superpowers during this period; it had the most colonies in Africa and America. “The Book of Negroes” is a novel which talks about an African girl, Aminata, who is captured by the toubab when she is eleven years old and her experiences in different places among America, Canada and British. This book is a fictional novel, but there are also many facts that are similar …show more content…
This book has some parts that are exaggerated or fabled; comparing this book and other resources which are about the truth is one of the best ways to know the real history of that period time.
It is a long time for either captors or captives to go from Africa to America, because the captors should find Africans from different villages in Africa. Aminata is captured when she is eleven years old; she takes over three months to get into the ship which carries her to America (Hill, 48). After Aminata is caught, she follows the toubab and she witnesses them capture more Africans from other villages(25-43). Ignatius Sancho had written a letter to his friend in 1778 which mentioned that “it often took many months to buy enough slaves to fill the ship” (Education Scotland).There are some differences between this novel and the history. The book mentions is the toubab use force to capture the slaves, but Ignatius Sancho wrote that they bought the slaves from Africa. These details show that the toubab have different …show more content…
Some of the plots cannot happen in the real condition. “The Book of Negroes” is a famous novel which talks about slavery. What the main character experiences has some parts that are similar to the history, and some parts are imaginary. To make the plots can keep going smoothly, what the author did is exaggerating some parts and making up some parts by him. Otherwise, the main characters might be dead before the book finishes. The journey from the Africa to the seacoast and the education of the slaves are two points that either this novel or the history mentions, but the details about these two parts have some similarities and some differences. Comparing the similarities and differences can help readers to know further about the truth of that