The evening before the debate, Royal brings Cora next year’s almanac to read. Come another 10 years, Mabel would find herself apologizing to her daughter for “making her a stray” […] They pick up their quilting to pass the time until dinner. The above question calls for your opinion, and response. This is the effect of trauma. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead. In this chapter, Cora finds a certain kind of freedom in the Valentine farm, working together for community. Every one of these tasks also occurred on the Randall plantation. Cora holds Royal’s head in her lap and weeps. Cora thinks the underground railroad is a “miracle,” and so too is her escape to freedom (304). In his final days, he became obsessed with capturing Cora, increasing the reward on her head. What is the point of freedom if it can’t be enjoyed? Part 12.
In her dream she tells him her life story, just as she did on the farm, and then they make love. of the first paragraph, we get a sense of the issues that preoccupy
Suddenly Ridgeway grabs her. The next evening they sit in the front row in the meeting house, next to Mingo and his family. The politics of the farm are present in the meeting house. Not affiliated with Harvard College. Ridgeway looks diminished and unkempt, in much worse condition than he was before Cora escaped in Tennessee. The men had chained Ridgeway and the dying Boseman to the wagon and kept them blindfolded as they rode to the Tennessee station of the Underground Railroad. He knows he is sick, Mingo sits in the front row; he advocates reducing the number of runaways the Valentine farm takes in to reduce the danger of white retaliation.
Even though the Valentine farm brings a new blessing every day for Cora, “a bitter part of her refused.” Cora remembers what happened in South Carolina: she had happily settled into a setting of “false promises,” and now she is wary (252). Copyright © 1999 - 2020 GradeSaver LLC. Each chapter before it that tells Cora’s story goes by the name of the state where the action takes place: first Georgia, then South Carolina, then North Carolina, Tennessee, and finally Indiana. They must try to continue the miracle. She leaves the celebrations and heads home to her cabin. Ridgeway puts a pistol to her head and forces her to lead them to the Underground Railroad station in the woods. The Underground Railroad Character Analysis | LitCharts. This twist in the chapter title suggests Cora makes it to freedom, a which the metonymy of “North” signals. Sam stays long enough to participate in the corn shucking bee. He has been away for a few days on a mission for the Underground Railroad, and Cora has been worried. The Underground Man despises the How was Cora's identity portrayed throughout the book? The meeting is presided over by Gloria Valentine, while her husband, John, is in Chicago meeting with the bank to renegotiate a loan for the farm.
Indeed, this final chapter turns the shameful status of an outcast into something powerful, an experience that gives Cora the strength to persevere even all on her own. The Underground Rothstein, Talia. Why or Why Not? in an unhealthy climate out of spite. In a touching scene, Cora and Royal hold each other in her bed in the cabin. Her reflections harken back to the biblical language that surfaces occasionally through the novel, especially in the Tennessee landscape. By the end We learn that the Underground Man has retired early from They must protect their relationship with whites so that they can continue their quest for black uplift. This inability to act stems from several important factors. He cannot even manage to be a wicked civil servant. Part 5. Everyone’s labor is required.
Symbols & Motifs.
Cora misses the turn off to the station twice. There’s a chance the Valentine farm may have to uproot and establish their community elsewhere. Enjoy this free preview Unlock all 78 pages of this Study Guide by subscribing today. Next, Lander takes the podium. Instead, he takes
Slave Narratives and the "Real" Underground Railroad, Read the Study Guide for The Underground Railroad…, Delusion and Reality in The Underground Railroad, Past and Future Blues: A Comparison of Historical Themes in 'Sonny's Blues' and 'The Underground Railroad', View the lesson plan for The Underground Railroad…, View Wikipedia Entries for The Underground Railroad…. He reminds the crowd that their very existence is a miracle, a delusion. He describes himself as sick, wicked, and unattractive, and notes that he has a problem with his liver. She reaches the end of the tunnel and exits into the sun.
The Question and Answer section for The Underground Railroad is a great Royal apprenticed with a printer, and set out for Manhattan when he was eighteen. This chapter, however, is titled “The North.” In it, Cora escapes a final time from Ridgeway, carries herself through a tunnel of the Underground Railroad, and hitches a ride west. In her final escape from Ridgeway, Cora reclaims the motif of an intimate couple’s dance to use for her own empowerment. He writing Notes from Underground. She dreams of Royal in her bed. Homer rushes to Ridgeway’s side, who mutters to him as he lies there, gravely injured. elements has paralyzed him. Cora and Molly head home. Persuaded by a fellow slave named Caesar, Cora escapes from the Georgia plantation where she was born and travels north, riding in the boxcar of a secret underground train. but the culture of the city is built on bureaucracy and hypocrisy.
Accepting bribes is common and widely tolerated. Cora is the protagonist of The Underground Railroad. Character Analysis. She still has not heard word of what happened to her own mother, Mabel: when she first arrived on the Valentine farm, she asked everyone if they knew her, to no avail.
This self-reliance is a skill that Cora has cultivated her entire life as a stray.
She looks around the room, amazed by how large the community has grown. He describes himself as sick, wicked, and unattractive, Part 12 . The two fall down the stone steps in an embrace.
Why or Why Not? The text itself references that demise, preemptively calling the fateful meeting the “final gathering” of the farm (279). She uses the strength of her own arms to propel herself on the cart through the tunnel, and when she tires, she walks. Part 6. She notices a horseshoe brand on his neck.
to be rude and intimidating as a kind of game. of his own pain and humiliation.
Essay Topics. and sensitivity. The Underground Railroad essays are academic essays for citation.
Part 4. Next, Sam plans to head out west to California. Part 10. Summary. The Underground Railroad study guide contains a biography of Colson Whitehead, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. Chapter Summaries & Analyses.
He says that his liver hurts, but then immediately himself. But now, in the final moments of the novel, Cora is truly alone for the first time. The teacher, Georgina, is from Delaware. Ridgeway slaps her across the face and tells her she is going back to the plantation after he gets a look at the Underground Railroad. Eventually, he began to work for the Underground Railroad.
Summary. She walks north, guided by the sun, and comes to a trail, where she perches on a rock. himself even as he congratulates himself on his own intelligence Royal was the first freeborn black man Cora had ever met. He suggests she might use it one day, hinting that a time may come where Cora will have to run again. In addition, the racial animus of the farm’s white neighbors comes up several times throughout the chapter; eventually coming to a head in a raid that brings about the farm’s demise. She gets in the wagon and curls up in a blanket as they ride on. Summary Part I, Chapter I Summary Part I, Chapter I. Page 1 Page 2 Summary.
Elijah Lander, an educated free black man from the North, gave a speech to the farm residents on the difficulty of finding purpose after slavery.
The moment is broken when Lander is shot in the chest. The Underground Railroad study guide contains a biography of Colson Whitehead, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.