Roots: The Saga of an American Family Community Quotes

This is an important moment of insight not just about Mandinka culture, but also Kunta as a character. From a young age, he was taught that his community includes everyone who has ever been a part of it and ever will be a part of it. That's a really different way to look at things than how we do in the modern world, isn't it? And doesn't it make an awful lot of sense?

One thing we learn about Mandinka villages is that they're extremely egalitarian. While each village has its own internal power structure, it seems that the people have ways to fight back if their leaders are acting inappropriately. Sounds like a good system to us.

Kunta's manhood training is hugely important to his growing sense of community. For the first time, he realizes that he has duties and responsibilities, and that a failure to live up to them will have a negative impact on those people closest to him.

Remember how we told you that Mandinka culture is decidedly egalitarian? This is just about all of the evidence you should need. What's more, the kintango is directly tying the boys' sense of masculinity with their sense of equality, which is quite powerful when you think about it.

After being kidnapped, brutally beaten, and locked aboard a slave ship, the captured Africans are left with nothing—except each other. The only way for them to survive such an awful experience is to band together and form a new community.

Kunta finds a powerful sense of comfort in his fellow Africans, even at his darkest moments. He might not know how he'll escape this awful predicament, but he knows that whatever happens, he wants his people on his side.

Kunta has intensely mixed feelings towards black people born in America. On one hand, he hates them for seemingly abandoning their heritage. On the other, he keeps seeing glimmers of that heritage pop up at times, unbeknownst to even them.

Kunta is so stoic he makes Batman look like a children's entertainer—and that's why we love him. Still, this internal conflict is amplified by his fears of abandoning his culture in this strange and unfamiliar land.

Kunta fights it as long as he can, but he finally breaks down and accepts the friendship of the other slaves, in the process joining their community. He still holds on to his cultural heritage—and thanks Allah for that—but he no longer sets himself apart from them. It's a little strange at first, but it's an amazing feeling.

Although being torn away from her family at such a young age is an awful experience for Kizzy, it's made a whole lot better by the little community she forms with Miss Malizy, Sister Sarah, and Uncle Pompey. They provide her comfort when she needs it most, loves her son like their own, and develops close relationships with her grandchildren.