Throughout American history, the ideal of freedom has been a perpetual belief held as a cornerstone of the country. Despite this assertion, many within the nation have been chasing freedom since the 1600s. African Americans have an especially unique relationship with the pursuit for liberation, due to their roots in slavery. Within the renown alternative historical novel, The Underground Railroad, author Colson Whitehead chronicles the life of the slave Cora, and her pursuit for freedom and complete liberation from slavery within the south during the 1800s. For the duration of the story, the changing concept of freedom is depicted through the adversity and difficult decisions Cora has to make to chase freedom. Throughout the novel, Colson Whitehead …show more content…
Was she out of bondage or in its web: how to describe the status of a runaway? Freedom was a thing that shifted as you looked at it, the way a forest is dense with trees up close but from outside, from the empty meadow, you see its true limits. Being free had nothing to do with chains or how much space you had. On the plantation, she was not free, but she moved unrestricted on its acres, tasting the air and tracing the summer stars. The place was big in its smallness. Here, she was free of her master but slunk around a warren so tiny she couldn't stand. …show more content…
Frederick Douglass was an American born slave who described his life as a slave in his book, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Throughout his book, Frederick continuously illuminates the fact as to why it is so critical for slaves to not be allowed to read or be educated. For example, at the age of seven, Douglass is living with Hugh Auld and his wife. At first, his wife teaches him to read before her husband demands her to stop as “it makes the slaves unmanageable”. In addition, later on throughout the text, as Douglass worked in Baltimore’s trade industry, the white men began to fear free slave men working alongside them as they were increasing in numbers and the possibility of them being replaced grew along with ultimately having their jobs taken away. This is first-hand evidence for the truth about freedom for not just a slave, but a free slave as well. On the other hand, very similar to Cora in the Underground Railroad, Harriet Jacobs reveals her brutal and harsh life as a slave in her book, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. However, unlike Cora, Jacobs recounts her real-life and first-hand experiences as a slave. Not only did she have to go through and forcefully agree to exploiting herself into situations she had no control over, but she fought for her