I must admit that I have no idea how I feel about this book. It was written as a play which made it a little different. The play tells the story of a pre-Civil War estate owner, his daughters, and his slaves. In an interesting twist, the wife divorces the estate owner because she is against slavery, while he is happy to be a slave owner. Unfortunately, he has gambling debts to pay and is forced to sell his slaves. Actually, this part of the story is based in a true auction. The author provides the historical background at the end of the book.
So far, so good. Having studied both the pre and post Civil War South, I found this book to contain every opinion or angle ever expressed about slavery. If one were to use this book as a stepping stone for a lesson on slavery (as it occured throughout the United States) perhaps that would be the greatest value. And perhaps that was the author's intent.
TITLE: Day of Tears
AUTHOR: Julius Lester
COPYRIGHT: 2005
PAGES: 92
TYPE: Fiction
RECOMMEND: Not really my favorite, but interesting perspectives
FlusiCat
No comments:
Post a Comment