A Reflection On Alex Haley’s Novel Roots

In Alex Haley’s novel Roots, he expresses the struggles and challenges that African American men and women had to gain power and freedom. I feel in most of the parts he compares the challenges he faces to Kunta Kinte’s challenges. It also tells about the things women and children had to do to gain respect and freedom to be able to do the things that men are being recognized for and not just cooking, cleaning, and raising kids that are not theirs. They had to go through being beaten and their children being snatched away from them when they are first born. Men and women both had to go through things in the past so we can have our freedom today. I believe Haley wrote this book to express to people that honoring the men and women who fought for our freedom is very important because we would not be able to live how we are living now.

How you were treated depended on your race. Race played a huge role in roots. With Kunta Kinte being an African American he was treated differently. African Americans were forced to work in cotton fields and as maids in the house if they were a lighter. Even in wars when they were wounded Caucasian people received better treatment than African Americans. Nurses felt that Caucasian people lives were more important, because they felt that they were more important. Women, African American men , and Indians did not have the same rights as Caucasians. African American children did not recieve any medical

Slaves did a lot to gain power and freedom. Many slave owners went against the rules and most slaves broke the rules by reading and learning how to spell. They taught others how to read so they could gain enough knowledge, then they could also have enough power to escape and start a new life which is understandable. Most of the kids that grew up and fought in wars died from starvation and diseases. Kunta Kinte were similar to those kids he didn’t have to fight in wars, but fighting for his freedom was war. He went through so much to protect his family. His family was sold by slave owners at auctions, so he had to fight on his own. It was difficult for his sisters and mother because growing up women was different. Men was supposedly stronger than women back then. Women became stronger by coming together and working as one.

Women were treated differently from men. They had most women in the house depending on if you were a lighter shade, and women who were a darker shade were in cotton fields. Women that worked in houses were responsible for cooking, cleaning, and raising the slave owner’s children. If was difficult for them because of the women that worked in the cotton fields had their children snatched away at birth and sold to different slave owners. They did not have to time to heal after giving birth. They were forced to go back to work. I feel that most women were strong they just were too afraid to standup to the owners by themselves. When other women joined in they were stronger. They felt that they had somebody to pick them up and encourage them to keep going and fighting for their freedom if they fail. Together a group of women is stronger than one. Not only did the women fight for freedom they also fought for their rights. Men had more rights than women. Men were allowed to fight in wars while women took care of wounded soldiers.

Religion was very important during slavery.

Works Cited

• Haley, Alex. Roots: The Saga of an American Family.