Historical Allegory In The Underground Railroad By Colson Whitehead

The Underground Railroad is a thrilling, genre-bending story written by Colson Whitehead. The story is based on an escape from slavery. It is about a young slave woman named Cora, who escapes from a plantation in Georgia. The story contains uncomfortable truths and extraordinary prose. The story starts in Africa showing how Cora’s grandmother Ajarry, is snatched by her captors. Her kidnappers then rape her which leaves her so devastated, that she tries to take her own life two times by starving herself and by trying to drown herself. Colson later introduces the reader to Mabel, Ajarry’s daughter. Mabel is able to run away from the plantation and its horrible owner, Randall. Randall conducts a fruitless and wild search for Mabel. We are later

This instance sparks the novel. This is because the author, Colson Whitehead takes the historical allegory on the group of abolitionists who assisted in ferrying the slaves out of the southern part of America and he turns it into a steampunk, sparkling reality. Caesar and Cora follow a trapdoor and then down to the subterranean platform, a place where the rails extend into darkness. At this point, a train heading to the north pulls up. This is an excellent conceit and as from this point forward, the author gives the book a new visionary life. The author of this book, Colson Whitehead is seen as one of the authors who are able to incorporate several genres in the same book effortlessly. In this book, he is trying to incorporate as many genres as he can, with a roguish adventure and science fiction meeting fantasy, all of these against the stage set of a recreated 19th century

She is able to experience love for a short while, but she ends up losing it when the mean slave catcher, Ridgeway finally catches up with her and she has to flee again. One interesting thing about this narrative by Colson Whitehead is how he is able to refine the narrative using a brilliant sharpness. Besides the chaotic intermingling of various genres in the novel, a particular metaphorical flavor surrounds Cora’s journey. In every state Cora goes too, the author is able to present the readers with a different face of the awfulness surrounded by slavery. For instance, in South Carolina, it appears to be compassionate in its approach towards the “negro problem.” However, it is clear that South Carolina is a state filled with dark secrets below its untouched exterior. On the other hand, in North Carolina, the black people are being pushed away from the state completely. In this state, there exist no black individuals except at the boundaries of this region. In North Carolina, there are mobs who are always on the move looking for and hanging any black person found in their territory, in this region, black corpses were seen scattered in every direction. When Cora, comes to North Carolina, she is forced to live in the loft. She later proceeds to Tennessee, a land tormented by the