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Alejandro Suarez History 389 4-3-13

Grey Roots

Roots so far has been following Kunta Kinte from the time he was captured to

him being sold off into slavery as a young boy. He has to struggle to adapt into his new world in which he knows nothing about. In episodes 3 and 4 we see him as a much old man. He has now been living in the slave system for many years and has learned the culture in which everyone follows. We see how Kunta now follows the slave system that was so new to him only a few years ago and how he has changed with time and experience. ! At rst Kunta is on a standard plantation where the slaves are treated pretty

horribly. They are worked hard and have to do a manual labor. Kunta grew up to be a very strong buck and is valuable to the plantation. He still never changed his mind on being free though. The pursuit of freedom runs through his veins and pumps through his heart because he knows and remembers what it is like to be free. As many other slaves have been born into slavery and it is all they know, Kunta never truly conformed to the idea. He eventually runs away only to be captured and have half of his foot chopped off never allowing him to physically and metaphorically run again. Here is where the will to ght starts to dim because Kunta never really attempts to run away again even though he still persists on being free. ! Despite the fact that Kunta does not attempt to run away anymore he still puts up

a fair amount of resistance with the culture around him. He names his daughter Kizzy

which is Mandinka for stay put. He tells her the stories of his village and life before slavery and of how he was captured. He also teaches her the Mandinka language which they use only when they are alone. All of these in act to prevent the complete white wash of Kizzy like what happened with Fanta earlier in his life. Kizzy continues to acknowledge the fact that she is half Mandinka as she shares and keeps the stories her father told her alive through her so George. While Kunta has slowed down on trying to escape the spirit to be free is not dead. Noah is a young slave that is very much like a young Kunta who asks him to tell him all he knows about escaping. He eventually runs away, but is caught and beaten. ! The women on both sides are drastically different from each other. The slave

women in these episode were shown to be caring, strong gures that also play devils advocate. With every african related thing Kunta does while raising Kizzy, Belle strongly opposes. She does this for her daughters safety because the owners do not approve of slaves talking about their african heritage. This is obvious with the name change of Kunta to Toby and all the other slaves whos names were americanized. Belle also slaps Kizzy when she shows that she can read. This being the worst thing a slave could possibly do and has the potential to split the family apart if she is caught. Kizzy, like her mother is also a strong woman who cares for her family and like her father is proud to be part Mandinka which might be the reason people wanted to see there family tree like the times article posts. Kizzy is shown to actually be very intelligent despite her lack of opportunity to learn. This is shown through her ability to read. She learned when she was young and vey quickly. She also does not marry on the fact that the man does not have a past that he was taught. He had lost connection with his real past and not his

white self. The two large slave women in these episodes are the opposite of the one white female Missy who is pretty dimwitted and almost represents the majority of the white population in the south. She believes that men are better than woman and that slavery was put in by god because whites are more superior. ! Life on the plantation is very different from what we have seen. Normally slaves

are not given the best of living conditions or clothing. They are constantly over worked and treated like dirt. On Dr. Reynolds's plantation slaves are able to marry and have families.They have possessions which they own and nice clothes to wear. They are able to more or less live out normal slave lives minus the fact that they are treated as property and dont have rights. They still are not allowed to believe in what they used to and they can not show the ability to read or write. The only condition is that they do not break any rules like running away. If that happens than Mr.Reynolds sells them off. ! In these episodes we learn a lot about the characters. We learn Kunta will never

no matter how much they try ever forget about his african past and will keep it going as much as he can. Kizzy is shown to be intelligent and prideful in who she is and where she came from. We also see how plantation life on the Reynolds farm is very different from others. It almost humanizes slavery and makes it believe that it is not that bad.