Does life always turn out the way you expect it to be? "Copper Sun" by Sharon M. Draper is about a girl named Amari and her peaceful tribe in which she lives in. Amari couldn't dream of a better life than what she was living. Everything was perfect until slave traders came and interrupted their peace. The traders killed everyone except the young females and males. Amari even experienced the death of her family right in front of her eyes. There were many things in the story that got me thinking on how cruel the world was back in the days.
One thing that caught my attention was how roughly the traders treated the slaves on the boat. They should try and give them at least a bit of respect. "The sailors were now even angrier than before. The whips slashed across the backs of the remaining slaves once more, as if those still alive had to pay for the loss of the two who had died. No one else tried to jump." A mother and daughter jumped off the ship and tried to escape but were caught by the slave traders and were thrown into the sea, then they were eaten by sharks. As if it weren't already bad enough for the slaves held captive, they were beaten again for others mistakes. These slaves already had to face harshness by the traders, could anything else get worse?
Yes, things did get worse. The slaves barely got any food or medication. The only time they did was the day before people came to see and buy them. Everyone on the boat that were females were abused sexually as well. How can someone do this? Do they not feel ashamed they they are trading people as a job? They have to feed their families with the dirty money that they earn.... disgusting.
In the book when Amari was on the ship, she had one hope to this guy who taught her English words. He didn't abuse her and he always gave her water. I honestly respect this guy because he is a gentlemen. Despite the fact knowing that the man might get into trouble for teaching words to Amari, he still did it for her benefit. Another man also helped the slaves. It might not have been the greatest help but he was generous enough to actually think about them."Listen, my brothers, I know not all of you can understand me, but I can see that some of you are Ashanti and Ewe. I will be whipped if they catch me 'talking African,' as they call it, but I must tell you some things. You must learn their language quickly-it is called English- but try not to forget your own. Submit and obey if you want to live." The guy kept going on about details on where the slaves were and what was gonna happen to them. This information was a bit helpful to the slaves because at least they knew someone looked after them. Not all of the traders were terrible, they were just forced to work like that.
I can't even imagine how my life would have been if I were Amari. Would I be able to control my self and handle it as well as she did? Without my family I'm nothing... but she kept going. Survival was the only thing Amari hoped for, she wanted to live and escape to a better area. It doesn't always work out for slaves when they escape but for Amari it did. Though I can't relate to this book, it was one of the most interesting books I have read so far.
