Roots: The Saga of an American Family Slavery Quotes

In West Africa, as with most societies of the world at the time, slavery had a decidedly different function and practice than in the Americas. This is a great example: though it might be detrimental, status as a slave was not necessarily a limit to one's social status.

This is so shocking to Kunta because Nyo Boto is the toughest, most outspoken woman in the whole village. Who could own a person like her? This is yet another indication that slavery functioned differently in Africa and America.

Omoro has witnessed the reality of the slave trade firsthand, and what he sees horrifies him. This isn't indentured servitude or the imprisonment of criminals—it's a borderline industrial system of mass incarceration. Slavery's inhumane in any context, but the suffering Omoro witnesses is enough to convince him of the toubob's unique evil.

Could you imagine one of the massas in the novel giving a member of the Kinte clan permission to marry one of their daughters? They'd rather start working in the fields themselves.

Kunta makes a run for it almost as soon as he's enslaved. Even though his body's been broken, he simply won't accept subjugation at the hands of such clearly evil men. Sadly, however, he learns that it's a lot harder to reach freedom than he might think.

The irony of this logic is nuts. First, you kidnap people from their homeland and force them into slavery. And then you worry about them revolting up against you? That part should have been obvious from the get-go.

This is a small indication of how massive the slave trade was in America. What's more, it explains why slave-owners were so rabidly paranoid about their slaves rising up against them.

Or, you know, they might just be upset that you've kidnapped, enslaved, and oppressed them. That kind of thing tends to ruffle one's feathers. Although this statement is patently absurd, we see similar ones spouted by slave-owners on a near constant basis throughout the novel. In many ways, they refuse to see the reality of the system they have built.

Kunta never loses his burning desire for freedom, but there comes a point when he knows that his chance for escape has passed. It's a tough realization to make. Still, it helps him understand his fellow slaves a lot more, as he had long criticized them for so willingly accepting their lot.

Although we've focused on the human aspect of slavery for the most part, it's important to remember that it was very much an economic system in America, one that was linked to the growth of technology. This might explain why the practice was important enough to the American South to start a war over.