The Book of Negroes

After our discussion in class, how do you feel about the title The Book of Negroes. Please comment on censorship, the book burnings, and the appropriateness of the title. Based on what you already know about the novel, what other names might be fitting?

The Book of Negroes was a historical document in which the black loyalists who had escaped from slavery, wrote names and descriptions about themselves in order to share they’re stories of what they had endured in slavery. The book has a direct correlation with this historical document, since the main character was enslaved and escapes to become a black loyalist. The title is appropriate since the story relates to the title. I think that burning the book cover is an extreme way to show that they don’t approve of the book title, since the author has also provided many other books with alternate “more appropriate” title. There has been other names that the book has been called, but the most suitable one for the story is The Book of Negroes.

Quick Write: Which essay did you like best? Make sure you explain/support your answer.

The essay that I liked the best was In the Trenches. The author of the book is narrating the descriptions of what it was like in trench warfare. He kept all his writing organized in chronologic order, with a few flashbacks. The descriptive writing made the reader feel as though they were experiencing the war. He used enough detail to keep the reader intrigued, but didn’t exaggerate too much that we would lose interest.  Harrison also exploits the use of figures of speech; the most common literary device he used was similes and metaphors. The author of the essay personalized the character to the reader by talking in present tense, to build a feeling of suspense in the readers.