Roots - Alex Haley

[حسين عثمان أبكر]

Roots: The Story of an American Family Published 1976<O:p></O:p>
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Roots: The Saga of an American Family by Alex Haley became a sensation immediately after its publication in 1976. It was adapted into a popular miniseries and became one of the most-watched television programs in American history. Two sequels, The Next Generation and The Gift, quickly followed. <O:p</O:pRoots appealed to readers of every background: for African American readers, the story inspired pride and a greater understanding of the past; and for readers of other ethnicities, it was a powerful look at an American family's immigrant past. Moreover, Haley's work is widely credited with starting the American genealogy craze. <O:p</O:pThe continuing controversy over Haley's writing and research methods and the facts of his narrative has not dimmed his achievement. Roots is viewed as a mythic saga of African American history, portraying the ways in which enslaved Africans endured suffering and fought for their place in American society. It has earned a place among the popular classics of American literature and remains a profoundly influential and well-loved book.<O:p</O:p

[حسين عثمان أبكر]

ALEX HALEY


In 1921 Haley was born in Ithaca, New Yorklace. He grew up in "Henning, Tennesseelace, and even after his family moved, he spent his summers there. Haley's mother, Bertha, died when he was only twelve years old. Haley's father, Simon, was a respected professor of agriculture who died just before Roots was completed.

Haley was an indifferent student and eventually joined the Coast Guard. He found he had a talent for writing, and began to submit pieces to magazines. When he left the service at age thirty-seven, he had become the chief journalist for the Coast Guard, a position that had been created for him.

After struggling to make ends meet in his new civilian life, Haley received an assignment from Playboy to interview Miles Davis, the first of what were to become infamous as “the Playboy interviews.” Soon afterwards, he began to collaborate with Malcolm X on his autobiography, which after Malcolm X's death in 1965 became a bestseller.
After finishing his book on Malcolm X, Haley began researching his own family history. He traced the names of Tom and Irene Murray, his great-grandparents, and found a griot in Africalace with knowledge of the Kinte family.

After twelve years of research, he wrote Roots: The Saga of an American Family, which became an immediate best-seller. It was adapted into the wildly popular television miniseries of the same name. The miniseries was followed by another, Roots: The Next Generation, as well as the television movies Roots: The Gift; Queen, a drama about Haley's paternal grandmother; and Mama Flora's Family, centering on the life of his maternal great-grandmother.
After the publication of Roots, Haley spent much time lecturing around the country. On a lecture trip to Seattlelace in 1992, Haley suffered a heart attack and died at age seventy-one.

[حسين عثمان أبكر]

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Roots begins in a small African village named Juffure with the birth of a son to Omoro and Binta Kinte. The boy is named Kunta Kinte in honor of his famous grandfather, Kairaba Kunta Kinte, who saved the people of Juffure from a terrible drought. <O:p</O:pAt the age of five, Kunta graduates to the second kafo. He begins to herd goats and go to school. When he is eight, Kunta goes with his father on a journey to visit the new village his uncles, Janneh and Saloum, have founded. By this time, he has formed a close relationship with his younger brother, Lamin. <O:p</O:pAt the age of ten, Kunta completes his schooling and goes through his manhood training with his mates. He moves into his own hut and gets his own land to farm. By fifteen, he has built a thriving farm. One day, while hunting for wood with which to make a drum, Kunta is captured by white slavers, known as the toubob. <O:p</O:pOn the long journey to the <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comhttp://darg3l.com/ /><st1:country-region w:st=</st1:country-region><ST1:pUnited States</ST1:place, the slavers place Kunta in the hold of a ship with dozens of other men. After a harrowing journey across the ocean, Kunta and the surviving men and women arrive in <st1:State w:st="on"><ST1:pVirginia</ST1:place</st1:State>. Kunta begins plotting his escape. <O:p</O:pAlmost as soon as he has the strength, he tries to escape; he is quickly recaptured. He tries again three more times. On the fourth attempt, the two white patrollers who catch him cut off half of his foot. He quickly loses consciousness, and wakes to find himself on a new farm.<O:p</O:p

[حسين عثمان أبكر]

While he recovers, he is tended by a young African American slave who will later become his wife. Kunta soon meets Fiddler, a talkative man who teaches him English and tells him about events beyond the plantation. He is given the name “Toby,” but he insists to Fiddler that Kunta Kinte is his real name. <O:p</O:pKunta begins to work in the plantation garden. He realizes that he prefers life on the plantation to the certainty of death if he tries to escape, though he knows that this acceptance will come at a terrible price to his soul. After Luther, the driver, is sold for helping a young girl escape, Kunta becomes the new driver for the master of the plantation, a doctor named Master Waller. <O:p</O:pHis new position makes him a source for information about current events. Fiddler resents Kunta's new position, although it does not destroy their friendship. One Thanksgiving, after he has driven Master Waller to a ball, he meets another African, one of the most joyous experiences of his life. Soon afterward, influenced by Boteng Bediako's words to him, “[s]eeds you's got a-plenty, you jes' needs de wife to plant 'em in,” he marries <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comhttp://darg3l.com/ /><st1:City w:st=<ST1:place</st1:City> and they have a daughter, Kizzy. <O:p</O:pAlthough Kunta loves his daughter, he does not approve of the friendship she forms with Miss Anne, Master Waller's niece. When he drives Kizzy to Miss Anne's house, he tells her about Africa and teaches her many Mandinka words, something Kizzy will pass on to her descendants. When Miss Anne and Kizzy are teenagers, they begin to drift apart, as Anne starts courting and their difference in status becomes too much to ignore. <O:p</O:pKizzy begins an affair with Noah, another slave, which ends in tragedy when she is caught trying to help Noah escape. <st1:City w:st="on"><ST1:place </st1:City> and Kunta plead with Master Waller not to sell Kizzy, but she is sold to a man named Tom Lea. She never sees her parents again.<O:p</O:p

[حسين عثمان أبكر]

B Kizzy
Almost immediately, Tom Lea rapes Kizzy and impregnates her with her only child, a son Lea names George. Although Kizzy initially rejects George, she comes to love him—as do the other blacks in the quarters, Sister Sarah, Malizy, and Uncle Pompey. As soon as George is old enough, Kizzy teaches him about her father, Kunta Kinte.
By the time George is nine, he has begun to “preach,” amusing the blacks and whites alike. Tom Lea decides to apprentice George to Uncle Mingo, who cares for Lea's fighting cocks. When he orders George to move in with Mingo, nearer to the birds, Kizzy, in her anger, blurts out that Lea is George's father.

[حسين عثمان أبكر]

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George quickly becomes expert at handling the cocks, and begins to make money from “hack fighting” with other African Americans, using the master's rejected birds to stage side fights. After liaisons with women on neighboring plantations, George marries Matilda. <O:p</O:pThe religious and responsible Matilda—known as Tilda—quickly becomes part of the slave community on Lea's plantation. As George and Tilda's children grow up, George teaches them about their heritage. George's fourth son is named after Tom Lea, and grows up to become a blacksmith and the leader of the family. <O:p</O:pGeorge, Tom, and Tilda try to earn enough money to buy the family's freedom. Unfortunately their entire savings is lost when Tom Lea bets his and George's money at a cockfight against Lord John Russell. George is sent to ffice:smarttags" <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comhttp://darg3l.com/ /><st1:country-region w:st=England</st1:country-region> with Lord Russell as part of Lea's payoff on the bet, though Lea promises George his freedom on his return to the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><ST1:place w:st "on"United States</ST1:place> </st1:country-region><O:p</O:pIn George's absence, Lea's fortunes continue to decline. He sells Tilda and her children, leaving Kizzy, Malizy, Sarah, and Pompey on the plantation. Lea agrees to Tom's request that he buys the older folks, but Tom knows it might take years to do so. Uncle Pompey is found dead on the day they are due to leave.<O:p</O:p

[حسين عثمان أبكر]

D Tom
Tom diligently works to save money to buy freedom for his family members. He marries a half-Native American woman, Irene, who brightens the family's lives. They quickly start a family of their own; the youngest is Cynthia, who will grow up to be Alex Haley's grandmother.
When George arrives from England, he gets his freedom from a drunken Tom Lea. He arrives on the Murray plantation for a reunion with his family, but is soon forced to leave because free blacks are not allowed to live in the state.
Soon after, the Civil War begins. Tom works for the Confederate Army, is accused of stealing, and is nearly killed. The white boy who actually did the stealing, George Johnson, ends up begging for food from the slave cabins, and is made the overseer by Master Murray. Eventually Johnson endears himself to the slave community by working as hard as they do, and never exhibiting any prejudice. “Ol' George” remains a part of the community even after they are emancipated in 1865, at the war's end.
The family soon moves to Henning, Tennessee after George meets some whites who need their help building a new town. Tom earns the respect of the whites after he builds a traveling blacksmith shop. The African Americans in Henning build a strong community of their own, and they construct a church that becomes the center of the community.
Tom forbids his daughter Elizabeth from marrying a “high yaller” light-skinned black man. Tilda dies, followed by a heartbroken George. Tom's youngest daughter Cynthia marries Will Palmer, who becomes the owner of Henning's only lumber business.

[حسين عثمان أبكر]

E The Haleys
Cynthia and Will Palmer have a daughter, Bertha, who marries Simon Alexander Haley at a wedding that everyone in town—black and white—attends. Bertha and Simon quickly surprise Cynthia and Will with a son, Alex, who will grow up to write Roots.
Alex spends a lot of time in Henning as a child, developing a close relationship with his grandfather, Will Palmer, and his grandmother and great aunts, particularly after his mother dies. After growing up and becoming a writer, Haley decides to research the family stories he so often heard as a child.
Alex meets a linguist who pinpoints the origins of the remembered African words, and he journeys to Africa. He arrives in Juffure to meet a griot who knows of the Kinte family, and learns of a man named Kunta Kinte who goes to chop wood for a drum and is never seen again. Haley excitedly tells the griot that in his family story, an African named Kunta is captured after going to chop wood for a drum.
The men of Juffure give thanks to Allah for the return of one who has been long lost. The villagers call Haley “Mr. Kinte,” which touches him deeply. Haley decides to write a book that will be a symbolic saga of all people of African descent. After twelve years of research, he writes Roots.

[حسين عثمان أبكر]

IV CHARACTERS
A Bell
Bell is the cook on Master Waller's plantation. Eventually, she becomes Kunta's wife. When she is in labor, she tells Kunta about the two baby girls who were sold away from her when she was younger. In response, he gives their daughter the name Kizzy (the name means “you stay put”).
Bell is sometimes exasperated by her husband's African ways and by his refusal to accept Christianity, but they have a deeply loving relationship based on mutual respect. Like Kunta, Bell is devastated by the sale of Kizzy.

B Nyo Boto
Nyo is Kunta's grandmother, a woman who cares for the children of the village and fears no one. When he leaves on his first trip away from the village, she gives him a saphie charm to ward off evil spirits.

C The Fiddler
One of the most colorful characters in Roots, Fiddler is “half-free,” as he explains to Kunta, because his former master was drowned and he must stay near another master for protection. He plays his fiddle at parties and learns much about current events. He is the one, for example, who tells the other slaves about the Boston Massacre.
Fiddler is garrulous, likes to drink, and is a staunch friend to Kunta. He saves $700 hoping to buy his freedom, but is devastated to learn that Master Waller wants twice that amount to free him. In his anger and pain, he smashes his fiddle, and his playing is never the same after that

[حسين عثمان أبكر]

D Chicken George
Kizzy's flamboyant son, George is doted on by the adults on the Lea plantation. As he grows up, he becomes the apprentice to Uncle Mingo, and quickly becomes an expert trainer of gamecocks.
Often absent from his family's lives, George is not faithful to his wife, but is in his own way a loving father and husband. He plans to buy his family's freedom with money he's saved from cockfighting, but loses it all when Tom Lea—at George's urging—bets too much in a cockfight. George is forced to travel to England and work for Lord John Russell for several years, returning to find his family has been sold. Lea gives him his freedom, and he finds his family at the Murray plantation, only to be forced to leave the state.
When the family is emancipated in 1865, George rejoins them. The family journeys to Henning, Tennesee. After his wife Matilda's death, George dies from a bad burn.

E Alex Haley
The author of Roots, Haley is the son of Simon and Bertha Haley. He grows up in Henning hearing stories of his African ancestors and his other relatives. After a long career in the Coast Guard, Haley becomes a writer; he is eventually driven to research his family's past. The high point of his life comes when he hears of his African ancestor, Kunta Kinte, while on a journey to Africa. After twelve years of research, Haley publishes Roots.

F Simon Haley
A railroad employee who becomes a professor, Simon is Alex Haley's father. He is devastated by his wife's early death. Roots ends with an account of his funeral.

[حسين عثمان أبكر]

G Ol' George Johnson
After begging on the Murray plantation, Ol’ George is a white man who becomes the overseer. He earns the respect of the slaves by working hard and never exhibiting any prejudice. When the Murrays leave their plantation, he and his wife journey with them to Henning. Ol’ George becomes a part of the black community and is subject to the same treatment the black people suffer.

H Binta Kinte
Binta is the mother of Kunta Kinte and his brothers Lamin, Suwadu, and Madi.

I Janneh Kinte
Janneh is Kunta's uncle and the son of Kairaba Kunta Kinte and his first wife. Janneh and his brother Saloum have traveled over much of Africa before founding their own village.

[حسين عثمان أبكر]

J Kunta Kinte
The protagonist of Roots, Kunta Kinte is born in Juffure, Africa, to Binta and Omoro Kinte. Soon followed by three brothers, Kunta grows up according to the traditional ways of his village. By fifteen, he already owns a thriving farm, has traveled within the Gambia, and has made plans for a trip to Mali with his brother Lamin.
When Kunta goes one morning to chop wood for a drum, he is captured and enslaved by the toubob (white slavers). After a harrowing journey to the African coast, Kunta is placed in the hold of a ship, which arrives in Virginia several weeks later. He attempts to escape from his captors four times, and on the last attempt his foot is cut off by two white patrollers.
While he recovers, he is sold to Master John Waller. Kunta becomes the gardener on the plantation, and later is assigned to be Waller's driver. Gradually Kunta learns English, aided by his friend the Fiddler, who teaches him many of the words. Kunta becomes a part of the slave community, though he does not forget his African identity.
Unlike the other blacks on the plantation, Kunta refuses to become a Christian, and continues to pray to Allah. Likewise, he tells the other slaves his name is Kunta Kinte, not Toby, the name given him by his original master. Kunta marries Bell, the plantation cook, and they have a daughter, Kizzy. Kunta teaches Kizzy about his heritage, including his life in Juffure and many Mandinka words. Kunta and Bell are devastated when Kizzy is sold away from them at sixteen, after she has helped her lover Noah escape.
K Lamin Kinte
Lamin is Kunta's younger brother. Lamin accompanies Kunta on his trip to find gold.

[حسين عثمان أبكر]

L Omoro Kinte
The father of Kunta Kinte, Omoro is stern but loving. When Kunta loses a goat to a wild animal, he expects his father to punish him. Instead, Omoro tells Kunta that he still bears the scars from trying to save one of his own goats when he was a boy, and, out of his concern for Kunta, he tells him never to run toward a wild animal. Omoro also takes Kunta on his first trip, which gives Kunta a love of traveling.
M Saloum Kinte
Saloum is Janneh's brother and Kunta's uncle.
N Yaisa Kinte
Yaisa is Kunta's grandmother. When he is a child, she cares for him and tells him stories. Her death is Kunta's first experience of loss.

[المتغرّبة]

:61::61::61::61::61:
إYou are doing a great job here , brother > Keep it up .we are following

[حسين عثمان أبكر]

:61::61::61::61::61:
إYou are doing a great job here , brother > Keep it up .we are following

thanks for being around dear sister ,
many thanks to Ubu Hammam who introduced the story in the common forum

[السنوسي]

Dear Hussain....
It is a very nice story...
The reality of its events gives it special flavour.
It depicts a gloomy period of American History i.e slavery era. Ironically enough, the heroes of that era were the ancestors of the today's so-called human rights guards and the leaders of the free world.
I like it very much.
Thanks brother.

[حسين عثمان أبكر]

Dear Hussain....



It is a very nice story...
The reality of its events gives it special flavour.
It depicts a gloomy period of American History i.e slavery era. Ironically enough, the heroes of that era were the ancestors of the today's so-called human rights guards and the leaders of the free world.
I like it very much.
Thanks brother.

thanks dear brother for being here . slavry is the black mark in the history of mankind


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Kunta Kinte's story illustrates an enduring theme of African American life: the conflict between assimilation and separatism. In ffice:smarttags" <ST1:p</ST1:pKunta would never have been confronted with this issue, but in the American colonies he is subject to the powerful pressures of assimilation. <O:p</O:pKunta tries to hold onto his African identity, which has always defined him. Yet he is forced to accept a new name. As a slave, his entire social context has been redefined. Kunta cannot fully express himself because he is not free; he has lost his autonomy, which had so defined him as a young man in <ST1:pAfrica</ST1:place . <O:p</O:pMoreover, Kunta is very lonely away from his home, family, and culture. In order to assuage his loneliness, he reaches out to the other slaves. Eventually Kunta realizes that he prefers life on the plantation to certain death, which he risks if he attempts to escape again <O:p</O:pYet the knowledge that he has to surrender part of himself to survive is soul crushing, and he realizes that he has lost an essential part of himself. However, Kunta does pass on as much of his African knowledge as he can to his daughter, Kizzy, who in turn passes stories of her father on to succeeding generations, who cherish their African heritage while seeking the American dream of freedom and success.<O:p</O:p

[حسين عثمان أبكر]

B Coming of Age
The first part of Roots is a coming-of-age story: the young hero, Kunta Kinte, learns how to be an adult. This is not an emotional or intellectual journey so much as it is a process of learning the steps to adulthood. As a young child, Kunta hears stories that teach him his place in the world. When he is older, he has a job taking care of his father's goats and he attends school. At ten, he embarks on his manhood training, formally becoming an adult in his culture, which means he has his own farm and his own hut.
Kunta's continued growth into adulthood is halted by his descent into slavery. He must come of age all over again, learning a new language and culture. However, Kunta can never fully become an adult in a slave society. Like a child, he is forever subject to the whims of others. He has no freedom of movement, and most heartbreakingly, he cannot save his daughter Kizzy from being sold. Although Kunta behaves with an adult sense of responsibility, he is always subject to the humiliating realization that he is treated as less than a man, human being, and adult.

[حسين عثمان أبكر]

C Human Rights
Roots is a story that illustrates the incompatibility of slavery with basic human dignity. The crux of incompatibility is the manner in which individual family members are sold without regard for family ties.
For instance, Kunta and Bell have their daughter sold away from them, and Kizzy suffers the same fate when Tom Lea sells her daughter-in-law and grandchildren from her. It is in these heart-rending scenes that the cruelty of treating humans like property is most evident.
Slaves who are sold away from their families never see them again, cannot attend a loved one's funeral, hold a grandchild, or celebrate a son's marriage. Master Waller can order Kunta to drive him to see his family whenever he wants, but when he sells Kizzy, Kunta knows he will never see her again. Although both Master Waller and Master Murray are portrayed as relatively fair owners, the constant threat of separation shows how inhumane slavery is and how their participation in slavery makes them inhumane.