Delusion In The Underground Road

Ayden Duong
Ms. Collins
English 1 – Period 5
5/22/2023
Title: Subtitle
"O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave" writes John Stafford Smith in the American national anthem "Star Spangled Banner". John Stafford Smith writes about the freedom and greatness of America in this song. He sings about how America is a land for the free and the home of the brave. However, the national anthem is not completely true, as we see through the novel The Underground Railroad. The novel shows the enslavement of black people and the abuse of black people. They are not given a chance to be free and start their own lives. In the novel The Underground Railroad, author Colson Whitehead exposes the American Dream as a delusion, as seen through the marginalization

For example, when Cora reflects on the Declaration of Independence, she realizes that it is false: "The white men who wrote it didn't understand it either, if all men did not truly mean all men. Not if they snatched away what belonged to other people, whether it was something you could hold in your hand, like dirt, or something you could not, like freedom" (Whitehead 119). Cora recognizes that the white men who wrote the Declaration of Independence were not thinking about the freedom and rights of black people, they were only seeking to benefit themselves. The fact that the basic rights of black people are not protected and can be taken away at any moment, makes their chance to achieve the American Dream impossible. For example, when Cora and Molly were on the way to the library, they were stopped by a teamster: "'Master said the only thing more dangerous than a n*gger with a gun, was a n*gger with a book. That must be a pile of black powder then!'" (Whitehead 278). The master of the teamster is implying that the only thing more dangerous than an oppressed black person able to fight back, is an educated oppressed black person who can potentially pose a greater threat to their society. The zero tolerance for black education ensures that black people will never be able to learn and work towards their

To begin, when Cora is examining the white exhibits, she thinks about how false they are and how they hide the truth: "The whites came to this land for a fresh start and to escape the tyranny of their masters, just as the freeman had fled theirs. But the ideals they held up for themselves, they denied others" (Whitehead 119). Cora describes how the white men wanted to conquer this land to achieve their own freedom and live by their ideals, which are only upheld for them and do not apply to black people. The white people did not believe that they needed to treat black people equally as them, rather, they were just objects that they could use for their own benefit. Furthermore, while Lander speaks about common delusions, he brings up America: "'And America, too, is a delusion, the grandest one of all. The white race believes--believes with all its heart--that it is their right to take the land. To kill Indians. Make war. Enslave their brothers. This nation shouldn't exist, if there is any justice in the world, for its foundations are murder, theft, and cruelty. Yet here we are'" (Whitehead 291). Lander describes America as the grandest delusion because based on the morality of a common person, once exposed to the oppression and exploitation of black people, they would conclude that America is not fit to be a thriving country. The