Roots Readalong Post 4: Finished!

Finally we have reached the end of the month, and with it, the end of the Roots readalong hosted by Christina at Reading Thru the Nite. This is the fourth and final post, but you can see my thoughts over the other 3 sections of the novel in the following places:

-Chapters 1-30
-Chapters 31-60
-Chapters 61-90

I'm both happy and sad to be talking about the end of the novel. On one hand, I'm very happy that I am finished with the book. It was a huge book (my edition was 899 pages), and my hands will be grateful not to hold it up anymore. It is a great sense of accomplishment to finish such a chunky book in four weeks. On the other hand, I'm sad to leave behind the rich history found in the novel. I'm going to explain a bit more about that in a moment.

The fourth chunk of the book continues the story of Kunta Kinte's family. Now, considering we were with Kunta for about 550 pages of the book, I was skeptical of how Haley was going to bring us from 1820 to the present day in 300 pages when he spent 550 pages on 55 years. I was right in feeling that it would be rushed. From the point of Kizzy (Kunta's daughter) on, I felt like I never really got to know any of the characters, with the exception of Tom and Irene. A lot of the family history felt rushed as Haley tried to bring the history of his family through the Civil War and into his own personal history. Babies were born, barely described, and a page later, the eighth child was born. Names got confusing and I wasn't sure who was who until the end of the novel when Haley finally brings himself into the narrative and focuses on the reverse lineage of his family.

In addition to feeling that the ending was rushed (funny to say that for a 900 page book), I was also a little irritated with the amount of attention spent on Chicken George and those cock-fights. Where I felt a lot of the other description of daily life was necessary to the progress of the novel, I always felt pulled away when the focus was on Chicken George. I think that the same message could have come across without so much detail (because let's be honest, aren't we all disgusted by the idea of animal cruelty?). Had Haley pulled back and focused more on the family, which is what readers were invested in, I think he could have packed an even stronger punch (and I say this from my perspective in reading this in 2012).

As for what I did enjoy, I was surprised to see that Haley confronted a question IN the novel that would pop up after it was published. Since Haley "traced" his lineage back to Kunta Kinte and the exact village he was from, many asked whether the novel was fact or fiction. Haley points out in the last few chapters that,

"To the best of my knowledge and of my effort, every lineage statement within Roots is from either my African or American families' carefully preserved oral history, much of which I have been able conventionally to corroborate with documents," (884).

Obviously, as a reader, we know that Haley didn't know what Kunta thought or felt, but I think his inferences in the novel are pretty remarkable. He captured the sense of horror and helplessness of many slaves, and Kunta's identity confusion upon being made a slave in America seemed very realistic. And while I still don't forgive Haley for downright plagiarizing certain passages, I still think that this is an incredibly powerful and moving novel.

I think that many assume that issues of race and racism are issues of the past. I hope that most of us know that isn't true. Racism and hatred are still so prevalent. And what bothers me is how many don't "get" what actually happened. I've heard some say, "Slavery was so long ago. Get over it." But I think that those people are wrong. Why do we need to forget something that forged this country? Let's face it, the system of slavery helped shape America into what it is, and to forget that it happened, to brush it under the rug, says that those who died on the ships coming from Africa, those who were beaten to death in the fields, or shot while escaping, died for nothing. It is an ugly past, but one we need to continue to teach-to say, "Look at what we were, where we are, and where we still need to go."

Whether or not Roots is that platform...I'm undecided. I think it is an important novel, certainly, as it brings to the forefront some extremely powerful images and emotions. And I certainly think that we should read it, talk about it, and learn from the message it delivers. And while it is not a perfect novel, no work ever is. It is the imperfections that mark a great work and give us something to talk about, don't you think?

So for those of you unsure of whether Roots is a novel you want to tackle, I think you should. Beyond learning more about the history of the United States, it is also well-written. You'll want to keep reading, and rooting, for the people in it. Because while it may be fiction, the slavery was real.


*Finishing Roots marks another book finished off my Chunkster Challenge list! That's 2 down in 1 month! Go me!*

Roots Readalong Post 3: Chapters 61-90.

Welcome to post 3 of 4 for the readalong of Alex Haley's Roots, hosted by Christina of Reading Thru the Nite. Christina divided the book into 4 big chunks, and we are reading a chunk a week before posting our thoughts. You can see my first post here, and my second post is here.

I took a break at the halfway point to read David Copperfield, so I was a little hesitant to jump back into Roots. We left off with Kunta Kinte learning his place as a slave on Master Waller's plantation. He had already tried to escape 4 times before going there, and he was beginning to learn that while he might want to hold on to his African roots, the others around him were uncomfortable with his strangeness.

This section followed in that vein. By the time this section started, Kunta had been living life as a slave on this plantation for a number of years. While he didn't agree with all of the slave customs, he adapted the ones that he was okay with. But he still had a constant battle between his old African ways and those of the other slaves. They were scared of the things he believed, but he was also scared to abandon his heritage. Haley truly succeeded in capturing that kind of dissonance between Kunta and the other slaves.

This section also shows Kunta marrying (Bell, as I knew he would) and having his first and only child, Kizzy. Both Kunta and Bell are older when they have Kizzy, but both seem happy to have a family. The family dynamics were interesting. Being taken from Africa, Kunta had certain beliefs of hos his wife and child should act, whereas Bell didn't know much about her ancestors. It was an interesting dynamic, as they learned what quirks to live with and what traditions to abandon. Again, Haley focused on Kunta's displeasure at the other slaves' lack of knowledge about who they truly were. Kunta made it a point to educate Kizzy as much as possible her other family across the ocean.

Once Kizzy is born, it is clear that Haley is setting us up for some heartbreak. Kizzy is "adopted" by the white niece of the master and seems to live a softer life than some of the other slaves. The niece even teaches her to read and write. I actually wasn't all that surprised by this knowledge. Many white children were brought up with slave children. Rich plantation owners' wives couldn't be bothered to rear their own children, so often the slave mothers took in the white children as their own until they were independent. Relationships between whites and slaves were common until white children hit puberty. Then those slave companions and friends were discarded. In retrospect, it seems incredibly hypocritical-that those who most hated blacks would allow their children to be so close and intimate with them.

Eventually their friendship comes apart and Kizzy begins to form a friendship with Noah, a field slave. Both are in their teens and they fall in love. This portion of the novel was hard to read. I can relate to that kind of teenage obsession-the want to do anything for the other, even when there can be severe consequences for your actions. So when Noah runs away and is caught with a forged traveling pass, I just knew that Kizzy had something to do with it.

The scene where Kizzy is taken away, and her resulting rape by her new master, was incredibly hard. It took me a chapter or two to realize that we weren't going to hear anymore about Kunta or Bell-not because their story was finished, but because Kizzy never knew what happened to them after she was taken away. And if, in fact, Haley was descended from them, then the story had to move elsewhere. I had to go back to read the last little piece of Kunta's story:

"He would never see Kizzy again. His face contorting, Kunta flung his dust toward the cabin's roof. Tears bursting from his eyes, snatching his heavy gourd up high over his head, his mouth wide in a soundless scream, he hurled the gourd down with all his strength, and it shattered against the packed-earth floor, his 662 pebbles representing each month of his 55 rains flying out, ricocheting wildly in all directions," (546).

I love that passage for its passion. And I think it captures something about slavery that Haley was hinting at in the first 545 pages of the novel. Eventually, all men and women who were captured in Africa and brought to the New World broke. Some probably gave up their African roots early on after being broken by harsh masters and overseers, but others, like Kunta, held on to a false hope that eventually they could and would return home. That smashing of the gourd? So symbolic.

From that scene, we follow Kizzy to her new home in North Carolina. She is now one of five slaves on a small farm-owned by a poor white. Time passes much more quickly once we are in Kizzy's narrative. Where we lived with Kunta and truly got to know him well, I feel like Kizzy was just a transitional character to get us to George, her son by the master. True, we see a lot of heartache from Kizzy in her narrative. Her new master is much harsher-he rapes her, beats her, and seems a lot meaner than Master Waller. She is also sent to work in the fields-a big change from her place in the household on the old plantation.

Once George arrives, it seems as if the narrative transitions drastically to his life. Born as the master's illegitimate son, it seems as if he has more hope than his mother. He eventually finds a place helping Uncle Mingo, one of the master's slaves and in control of the fighting roosters that the master breeds.

To be honest, I was incredibly disinterested in this last portion. I find the idea of cock-fighting to be disgusting and disturbing, so the descriptions of the fights I glossed over a bit. I am hoping that the next section flies over it a bit quicker.

The sections ends in the middle here, so I am curious to see how Haley is going to get us from around 1820 to the 1960s in thirty chapters. I have really enjoyed the description and insight in the first 3/4s of the book, so I think it will feel rushed from this point forward.

I do have to say that I am still a bit disturbed by the plagiarism in the novel. While I know that the proven plagiarism took place in the first section, I still find myself questioning the integrity of the author who chose to do that. But I cannot fault him for the power of what he has to say. I am moved by every description and I want to know how it'll all come together.

Roots Readalong Post 2: Chapters 31-60.

Welcome to post 2 of 4 for the Roots readalong hosted by Christina at Reading Thru the Nite. Last week we all posted about the first thirty chapters of this chunky book, so this time we are talking about the next 30. You can read my thoughts on the first part here.

I actually started reading the second portion of the novel immediately after writing and scheduling the post for the first part. I was hooked on the novel and needed to know what happened to Kunta Kinte. It seemed almost perfect that the first portion of the novel focused solely on his life in Africa. It gave me, as the reader, the opportunity to fully understand and appreciate what Kunta left when he was captured.

I didn't have long to wait in my reading to have the mood and the tone of the whole novel change. While I knew that Kunta would be captured and sent over to America to be a slave, I was surprised by how quickly it happened and how everything changed. I'm aware that having everything change completely was what happened when someone was captured, but it took my breath away. I actually couldn't even stop myself from turning pages until 100 pages later in the narrative.

Two chapters into this section, Kunta is alone in the woods searching for wood to make a drum when he is captured. It was just as horrific as you could imagine. He was shackled and abused, branded with hot iron in the middle of his back. He is beaten, repeatedly, and whipped so that blood runs from his back.

It gets worse when he finds himself on the boat, shackled to a strange man from another tribe, without any knowledge of what's going on or where he is going.

Their time on the ship was actually hard for me to read. In my last year of college, I had to take a few summer courses to wrap things up. One of those courses was a class in African-American Woman's history. For the course, we had to travel to the Charles H. Wright Museum in Detroit. In the museum, there was a section created to look and feel like a slave ship. You could see how dark it was, with men lying so close together on rough boards, with no room to sit up. It was the most significant part of that class. For so long I heard about what it was like from history textbooks, but to see it? It changed everything.

And as intense as that experience was in the museum, multiply what Haley has written in this portion of Roots. The description and heartache of Kunta's journey on the slaving ship was simply powerful. Reading descriptions of men crying, voiding their bowels where they lay, then having food served in the same place...horrifying. But the scrubbing of raw sores, the whippings and rape of the women, as well as the complete lack of compassion...wow. I was completely hooked on what Haley was writing. It truly gripped me. I felt for all of those men.

They eventually reach America and the men are sold. Kunta is brought home and immediately tries to escape...and he tries again and again. Eventually on his fourth try, his captors give him the option of either losing have his foot or being castrated. He chooses to lose part of his foot, and they immediately take an ax to it. Kunta is then sold to his master's brother, where he is treated far better. He receives care from a woman named Bell while he recuperates from his foot injury. Once it is mostly healed, he is given crutches and the job of gardener. The other slaves are slow to warm and Kunta repeatedly battles his own inner struggles to understand why these other blacks have given up who they are.

A few of the men start to befriend Kunta, and he eventually becomes his master's driver. This whole period of time also takes the reader through the Americna Revolution, as the slaves gather information from what they overhear. This big section leaves off with Kunta discovering another African-someone he can communicate with-at the very end and twenty years from the time he first landed in America.

I really took a lot from this part of the book. The descriptions of his capture, the voyage, etc were all heart-breaking and took that 100 pages of reading without a break. There was the same attention to detail in this section as the first. Once Kunta was in America, I think the confusion between who he was and what he was becoming was done perfectly. He was constantly at odds with those around him and was often angry at those who seemed to forget who they were and where they came from. He always swore to not become complacent, but by the end of this section, it appears that he has settled into his life as a slave.

Moving forward, I am curious to see where Kunta's narrative ends-what choices he will make and when he'll finally realize that Bell is right in front of him. :) To say that I am addicted to this novel is an understatement. I can see why this novel had such an impact and why it has endured. Let's just hope the second half lives up to the power of the first.

Roots Readalong Post 1: Chapters 1-30.

Today is the first post for Christina's readalong of Roots by Alex Haley. A small group of us (5 total) are reading this during the month of February. It is a pretty big book; my edition is 899 pages. But, I was excited to read it.

I feel I should mention that this was a title originally in consideration for my 250 list. When I was compiling books to choose from, I had around 260. I wanted a more even number, so I eliminated enough to bring it down to 250 (in the future I'll read those other titles). This title was eliminated because of some controversy, and I think it is important to understand what that was.

When Roots was published, it was a bit of a juggernaut. It sold over a million copies in the first year, launched a TV mini-series, and inspired many to investigate their own roots. You have to admire and respect that kind of impact. When a book comes along and has the ability to inspire so much, you should take notice!

But then there is the controversy. Apparently Haley copied quite a few passages (Wikipedia tells me 81!) from another book (The African by Harold Courlander). It ended up going to trial, as obviously, you can't do that. That was why I originally took the book off my list. I figured if I had a lot of books on my list, fully and completely written by the authors whose names are on the covers, then I was good.

Anyway, I bring all this up so that I can remind myself to take this whole book with a grain of salt. Haley stated that the book was about his family and his roots, but there is some uncertainty about whether the book is really non-fiction or fiction. It falls somewhere in the middle, and with the shenanigans surrounding the authorship, you have to keep it all in perspective. I am choosing to remember that the ideas behind the book are more important than all of it.

After 30 chapters, I am hooked on this book. Haley can really write (unless its those parts he stole). The books begins by introducing us to Kunta Kinte, a very young boy born in Africa as the first son of Omoro and Binta. Most of these early chapters are spent introducing the reader to Kunta's life in his village of Juffure. There are amazing descriptions of everyday village life, interactions, and the beliefs of those in the village. We basically grow up with Kunta and go through his childhood in stages.

I was a bit fascinated by the rite and passages he must endure as he gets older. There are "kafos," or stages where young boys are placed depending on age. As they grow through their kafo to the next level, they take on bigger and better responsibilities. They also start to earn more respect as an individual in their society. Early on, as a member of the first kafo, Kunta is left unclothed. When he moves up to the second kafo, he earns clothing and the responsibility of watching his father's goats-protecting them from panthers and lions.

As Kunta grows older, he begins to realize more and more that aging brings with it new responsibilities. It is with age that he will gain wisdom and the right to marry, have children, and make decisions in Juffure.

The second chunk of what we read for this first section covers Kunta's transformation to manhood. With the other boys of the third kafo, he is taken away to be trained in the ways of men. They learn to hunt, fend for themselves, navigate by the stars, and how to act like men (basically that they are above children and women). This portion was completely fascinating. It was a completely different society for me to understand, and I loved how Haley described all of it. On one hand, I think a reader could be irritated by all that description, but it worked. I think that knowing the place Kunta came from on such an intimate level will add to the power of his eventual capture.

Once he and his fellows are deemed men, they return to the village and their new duties-to monitor things around the village for safety, and to watch over the women. This was an interesting transformation, especially in his relationship with his family. His mother is empty-nesting over losing her eldest son to being a man, but they eventually figure it out. I also liked the change in relationship with his younger brother, Lamin. Before leaving for manhood training, they were close. Since returning, Kunta must treat him a bit like a child since he is now a man. The two eventually go on a trip together to search for gold, which mends their relationship a bit.

The 30th chapter ended here, and I have a feeling we are closing in on the piece where Kunta is captured by slave-traders. I am sure that there will be a lot to discuss in that next section.

But I have to say here that I am having a hard time putting the book down. I want to know what happens to these people and even though I know that some nasty and seedy parts of human history will be coming up, I need to keep going. I have to commend Haley for his ability to draw me in this much. No wonder the book was a massive hit when it came out!

I am curious to see how he describes the parts coming up-the ship, being sold as a slave, etc. I have some familiarity with these kinds of things, having read a lot of narratives and textbooks in college (I also took an African-American Women's history class that gave me a new perspective). I am sure that it will be powerful and moving.

Has anyone seen the mini-series? Read the book? Your thoughts?