The Book of Negroes - Blog Post #4

During the fourth part of the Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill the literary theory type I focused on was Post-Colonial. In this section of the book the main character Aminata has another child who is taken away by her previous owner, after Aminata decides to start fresh in a little colony back home in Africa  in a place called Sierra Leone.
In relation to Post-Colonialism, the Western world believed men were more superior to women and those who were part of the European descent. It was also known that in a Post-Colonial world there was a loss of individual identity. Aminata is an African American women and a victim of slavery who brought herself to learn how to read and write and eventually teach others. Her great ability to read, write and teach was rare for someone in her situation because of the strong superiority towards men. Also her loss of personal identity ties in with when she was taken into slavery at a young age, she was stripped of her freedom and sense of ones-self.
In the story there is a cast difference between the standards of different cultures. For example Aminata was both African and a women which was very unique to the people there because she could read, write and teach wonderfully. "Would you point me to Mr. Meena?" (Hill 371) this quote was said by an army officer named John Clarkson, as Aminata stepped forward to volunteer for his offer as an assistant. He was looking for someone who was well educated and was astounded at her abilities. The reason he was in such shock at her response was because she was an African American women which was essentially the" bottom of the food chain" of culture decent status, it is incredibly unlikely for someone like her to be as privileged as she is. It would not have been quite a curve-ball for Clarkson if someone of a different origin had stepped forward.
Overall throughout the book the differences of the world of colonization's are bold between the operation of slavery, levels of superiority due to the differences between cultures and ethnicity, who is educated and who is not based on your origin and the list goes on.