Amistad book review
The novel Amistad is one that discusses a group of slaves that were originally transported from Africa by Spanish traders employed by Queen Isabella II. These traders, however, claimed that these slaves came from Havanna, Cuba. The book reveals that these slaves were not unaccustomed to slavery in their own country. Cinque said at one point that there were some people who were enslaved because of debts or other such problems. He knew that he did not want to be a slave in America because of the way that he would be treated, and he was somewhat ashamed to say that in his country, his people had been enslaved as well. Cinque knew that slavery was wrong and that he would not like to be one because of the mistreatment that they received in America and in other places. It seems like a double standard that these transported slaves were used to the idea of slavery in their own country, but thought that it was unfair for anyone else to make them slaves. During the trial, the prosecutor also believed that this was a little strange and he tried to use it against them to say that slavery was not wrong; it was a part of life in the enti
In my opinion, this book, even though it is historical fiction, has a great deal of influence on the way that we look back on slavery in America. The Amistad did in fact exist, but the story did not go along with history. I still believe that this is a very useful story because we get the story of what the slaves go through in a more personal way instead of the cut and dry way in which history books portray it. I enjoyed this story because it had much more feeling put into it that we do not get as history students reading accounts of slavery from a textbook did. Textbooks do not get into that much detail and we are very desensitized by what we have learned from them. This is very alive with feeling and the pain portrayed by Cinque during the time that he was on the ship pierces the empathetic nature of us as humans with feelings. This had the most impact on me as a historical account of slavery and made me nearly feel their pain. The strong imagery helped me to more fully understand what it must have been like for the slaves in those times. This novel is a very important and useful piece of literature in the understanding of slave trade and why it was outlawed. Cinque was the speaker for the rest of the slaves that had been transported and he told an account of what his people had to go through while they were on the ship called Amistad and even before that when they were on the original ship called the Tecora. They were brought to America on the vessel La Amistad and were supposed to be sold. The treatment on the Tecora was not pleasant at all any many slaves died in ways that were much more than torturous. Living space was tight and
Some common words found in the essay are:
La Amistad, Havanna Cuba, America Amistad, Africa Mende, II Spain, Spanish Cuba, Ruiz Montes, Davidson March, Isabella II, Tecora Africa, la amistad, slavery own country, slavery own, claimed slaves, isabella ii, slaves havanna, havanna cuba, own country, ship called, queen isabella ii, people enslaved, slaves havanna cuba, slavery wrong,
Approximate Word count = 1119
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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