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Slavery In America Through Day Of Tears

846 Words4 Pages

Liam McGahay
Period 4
English
4/24/23

Acknowledging Slavery In America Through Day of Tears

The book Day of Tears by Julius Lester is about “the Weeping Time,” which is the name of the largest recorded slave auction in the history of the United States. It shows perspectives of imagined characters on Pierce Butler’s plantation. Day of Tears follows Emma, a young girl who is enslaved on the plantation during “the Weeping Time” auction. Enslaved people are rapidly being sold from the plantation and Emma is promised she will not be sold. However, much to Emma’s dismay, she is ripped away from her family and sold onto a farm in Kentucky along with another enslaved person, Joe who is around her age. The two become very close despite their troubles …show more content…

For example, in Chapter 6 when Pierce Butler sells Emma, Will ( Emma’s father) resents Butler for breaking his promise that he wouldn’t separate the families on the plantation. This is shown when Will says to Butler, “How could you do this? We grew up together. We was like brothers. How could you do this?” (87). The man Will had grown up with had sold away Will’s daughter. Slavery ripped families apart from each other, broke hearts, and tore true love in two. This piece of dialogue demonstrates that slavery is incredibly heartbreaking and has a huge effect on people which is why we should prevent it from happening …show more content…

For example, during “Interlude V,” a character named Jeffrey who was enslaved explains that at “the Weeping Time," he was separated from his true love, Dorcas. He explains that he ran away from his new plantation every chance he had to find his love and when he did (after slavery had finally ended), she had already married and had kids. After he leaves Dorcas’s house he thinks, “Now I have nothing. I hope the lord will forgive me for what I’m about to do and will have mercy on my soul. All I want is the peace of death which escaped me in life.” (79). Soon after, Jeffrey commits suicide. This internal monologue shows the pain and heartbreak that went into the industry of slavery and how it still affected people after it had ended. In conclusion these inner monologues prove the industry of slavery was an evil act of greed that inflicted heartbreak and sadness wherever it

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