The Book of Negroes Literary Elements

Historical Fiction

The novel occurs over six main locations. It begins in Nigeria and follows the protagonist's journey to South Carolina, New York, Nova Scotia, Sierra Leone, and finally Britain.

The story is told in the third person but mainly from the perspective of the protagonist, Aminata Diallo.

The mood of the novel is generally a dark one which leaves the reader expecting nothing but misfortune to happen next. The tone of the novel is largely suspenseful, keeping the reader on the edge of his/her seat.

The protagonist of the novel is Aminata Diallo, a Nigerian girl who is shipped off to America as a child to be a slave. The role of the antagonist is manifested differently throughout the novel, but mainly through: the slave traders, Appleby, Solomon Lindo, the white community of Shelburne, and the British governing Sierra Leone.

There are two major conflicts in the novel. The first is when Aminata falls out of favor with Appleby. This leads to her subsequent separation from her son Mamadu when she is sold to Lindo.

The second major conflict occurs when the black community of Shelburne draws the ire of the white community. This culminates in Aminata's second child being kidnapped by a white family that she previously worked for.

There is no one point at which the novel climax given the suspenseful nature in which the events of the novel are told. However, there are two sequences of heightened suspense and anticipation.

The first is when Aminata is preparing to leave with her husband for Nova Scotia but is arrested as she is boarding. This leads to her being exonerated by Lindo in the court of law.

The second is when the black community of Shelburne falls out with the white community and this culminated in the kidnapping of Aminata's daughter by a white family.

Aminata's first child being forcefully separated from her foreshadows her second child being kidnapped from her later in the book.

The commonplace nature of slaves and the nonchalance towards the manner they are treated understates the true horrors of slavery.

Aminata's rape by her owner Appleby for the "crime" of being with Chekura alludes to the manner in which the whites assert dominance over the black people in Nigeria and other African countries by taking them as slaves for the "crime" of being black.

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Freetown is supposed to be a safe haven for freed black slaves as the name implies. However, it's location near another slaving town and the strict rules of the British render this impossible.

May's kidnapping from Aminata parallels the forceful taking of black people from their native lands to become slaves.

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