Saturday, 26 April 2014

The title of The Book of Negroes

A few days ago we started reading a new book in the English class.  This book is a historically based novel, which contains a lot of interesting and outrageous historical facts about the life and customs of the people of 19th century.  But a controversial debate had occurred in the class even before we started reading.
The name of the novel is The Book of Negroes and a lot of people find this title to be very offensive and insulting.  As we know, in some countries it was even decided to change the original title for “Someone knows my name”, “ Aminata”, etc.
            Frankly speaking, I don’t find this title to be offensive at all. Moreover, I believe that this title carries the promise of the book, it has a significant historical meaning, and it, somehow, provokes you to read it.  This title is as scandalous and outrageous as the actual events described in the book are. Also, as we know “ The Book of Negroes” was originally the name of a unique historical document, and I think it is at least thanklessly to assume the history as something offensive. No matter how it affects your personal feelings, history is something everyone should know and respect.   Therefore, I believe that namely this title makes the book even more significant to all readers.

   

No comments:

Post a Comment