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The Underground Railroad
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Underground Railroad--Ajary through South Carolina, Spoilers OK (Aug 2019)
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It took 21CL to finally nudge me to read this, my first by this author, and I am glad I did. When we first meet 10-year-old Cora, she has just been orphaned by her mother’s escape from the brutal Randall brothers’ plantation in Georgia. That trauma is immediately followed by the scheming of several heartless adult slaves (Ava, Blake, Moses) to move Cora into the worst cabin and steal her patch of garden. But Cora early establishes her survival cred, with the aid of an axe. (Where did that come from, I wondered? And why would the garden-thieves allow her to hang onto it?) To me, the one redeeming feature of the awful new slave cabin she moves into was the degree of female solidarity among those crammed into her slave cabin that proves a lifesaver in her future trials. Did other readers share this take, or did the author overdo the negative depiction of all but a handful of slaves to highlight the qualities of a his favorite individuals like Cora and Caesar?
Once Cora and Caesar manage to flee the daily horrors of plantation life, I thought the novel really opened up imaginatively and the chase begins that will drive most of the plot. Local abolitionists lead them to a hidden tunnel in which an actual “underground railroad” (UGRR) secretly runs from the South northward. Abolitionist “conductors” help runaways find hidden entry points to the railroad, run by “station masters.” While the UGRR was an eye-catching idea that everyone talks about when they try to describe this book, was it really more than an unnecessary distraction in the plot?
But I was impressed by the fact that, In addition to its central role as an escape vehicle, it is one of several occasions in which the author pays tribute to the hard, meaningful labor of countless workers lost to history: “She never got Royal to tell her about the men and women who made the underground railroad. The ones who excavated a million tons of rock and dirt, choked in the belly of the earth for the deliverance of slaves like her. Who stood with all those other souls, who took runaways into their homes, fed them, carried them north on their backs, died for them.”
Each of the states they pass through serves to represent an imagined variation on the standard model of slavery. South Carolina appears at first to be a surprisingly supportive welfare state, offering blacks regular visits to doctors and nonfarm employment.
With the railroad escape and the early pages of this chapter, I appreciated what seemed to be authorial license for us to relax a bit and imagine an alternative history for the South. That is, until the hints grew louder of a hidden agenda that would again threaten Cora. That was enough to keep me on board for the coming chapters.
I, too, am hoping to increase my knowledge of the UR. I appreciate this discussion to help me get the most out of this book and plan to read more Colson Whitehead in the future. Also, I am anticipating the fall movie, Harriet. I live in a SC town that is in the process of building a memorial to honor Harriet Tubman.Attending an author talk, I learned that HT suffered a Temporal Lobe Injury. In GA, Cora sustains "a gross injury to her temple" from "the silver wolf" which leaves "a rueful scar shaped like an X." Could Cora be a characterization of HT?
Sarah, It would not surprise me if that ailment was an intentional reference to Tubman, but I would not see that as Whitehead trying to suggest that Cora is a fictional version of Tubman. I think he wants her to be her own character, but just as throughout the book he tries to characterize many different types of people and types of communities, borrowing bits and pieces from real people and giving them to his characters is a way of covering a range of people and places.
David wrote: "Sarah, It would not surprise me if that ailment was an intentional reference to Tubman, but I would not see that as Whitehead trying to suggest that Cora is a fictional version of Tubman. I think h..."Makes sense, thank you!
I'v only read up to p. 44, but I find the mention of Harriet Tubman in the discussion quite fascinating, esp. if she is supposed to replace Jackson on the twenty dollar bill. That is certainly a significant change; no wonder you know who wants to stop it.I agree too that the identification is not exact. It may be helpful to know that in Greek mythology Cora is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter, and she was made queen of the underworld by Pluto. She is identified with Roman Proserpina.
So the name Cora has its own relevance but can certainly encompass Tubman.
I've read through to the end of this section. I was surprised that the underground railroad was made literal. I'm not qute sure why Whitehead did this, but it makes it easier to transport Cora longer distances than she could possibly cover with Cesear or alone. It's almost as if we're being presented with a tour of the various states and their attitudes towards African-Americans. The opening scenes on the plantation were certainly grim and reminded me of the film Twelve Years a Slave and the kind of "pornographic" view of suffering that offers. While it was a stark reminder of the horrors slaves endured, it made me very uncomfortable. I can better understand the fierce denial of this past. Reparations in some form are certainly due. The references to the sterilization of blacks and the study of the progression of syphilis were also a stark reminder of other horror blacks endured. Whitehead is providing a lot of history here. He has done his research. What I find strange is the mix of fact and fiction, yet I find we are meant to believe in the truth of what Whitehead presents. The book really is a stark reminder of the history of slavery in the US and helps us better understand present realities. As William Faulkner put it, "The past is never dead. It's not even past."
Elaine wrote: "I was surprised that the underground railroad was made literal. I'm not quite sure why Whitehead did this, but it makes it easier to transport Cora longer distances than she could possibly cover with Cesear or alone.I don't have an answer to this question, but the idea of making the railroad literal is on-brand for Whitehead. In his first novel, The Intuitionist, Whitehead imagines an alternate past where the elevator represents the most important technology of travel in a city of high skyscrapers. When I was a little kid, I thought the underground "railroad" was a literal railroad. I'm sure many people did, perhaps Whitehead, too, so the idea to make it literal might have come naturally. But I don't think he does enough with the idea to make it clear why this helps the story much. Perhaps it just is how it makes her wider and almost random travel possible.
"It's almost as if we're being presented with a tour of the various states and their attitudes towards African-Americans."
From what I understand, this was very much his intention. The different places Cora visits not only show a range of differences by location, but also a range over periods of time presented as if they all existed at the same time. That, for me, is a major strength of the novel. It also reminded me a bit of Watership Down and Gulliver's Travels, the latter of which is explicitly referenced in Whitehead's book.
Yes, I came to the reference to Gulliver. The book does have the feel of being taken to a very strange land, but not a fairytale -- rather a nightmare. It also reminded me of Cormac McCathy's The Road.
David wrote: " The different places Cora visits not only show a range of differences by location, but also a range over periods of time presented as if they all existed at the same time...."And, to me, that, along with the literal railroad, both aided and hindered any "accurate" understanding of the history I gleaned from the book. I felt it sort of pushed me to notice more closely non-fictional sources I might encounter -- but not as well or as much as I might have liked.
(My face-to-face book club is reading Sula this month. I'm glad a) it is relatively short, b) the chapters can be read almost as stand-alone short stories, making it easier to encounter in small pieces, with a day between to consider what has been read. We read Beloved years ago as a club read, but we are a considerably different group now.)
Lily wrote: "(My face-to-face book club is reading Sula this month. ..."Toni Morrison died today.
I've been skimming through the comments here--just wanted everyone to know that I am still here and will hopefully take a bigger part in the conversation starting tomorrow. I expect to be home this evening and will try to get a chapter or two in by tomorrow. I thought that after I was able to at least start the book, I'd create the other half of the spoiler thread. Thanks to everyone who's contributed so far.
Tamara wrote: "Toni Morrison died today."Thx, Tamara. I just got the Boston Globe announcement in my inbox. There may have already been another one already there, but I hadn't noticed it yet.
Since she taught at Princeton and some of us lived fairly close or worked there, she was also a bit of a local legend.
8/6/2019 -- 88 years old.
I was able to finish this section this evening. Thinking of it purely in narrative terms, so far I would say that it's rather riveting, actually. I can only hazard a guess as to why Whitehead decided to make the UR literal--I tend to agree with some of the other posters...I think this gave him the ability to send Cora all over the region and give the readers a kind of panoramic view of the deep south, the middle states, border states, and the true 'north'.
I'm curious though whether or not Whitehead is combining time as well as space. The only date references I saw were those of the newspaper clippings, which suggested to me the events of the novel were taking place sometime in the 1830-1840s. Some of the things described in the South Carolina chapter seem out of place, chronologically--they did happen, of that I'm sure (the eugenic ideas and the experimentation with syphilis): does it make a difference if these things happened at the time of the novel, or if it wasn't until nearly a century later?
It seems to me that along with trying to illustrate the regional differences of slavery and institutional racism, he's also trying to incorporate differences through time. Does this hurt or help the effectiveness of the book?
It's also interesting for me to compare what my impressions of the UR were before, with this novel's portrayal of it. If you had asked me about the historical institution, I would have had a very positive impression of it--as a group of people who were not only able to recognize that something was wrong with their culture, but willing to defy it. The book treats a very different aspect of that story
I'll be opening up the spoiler thread for the remainder of the book tonight
@14Bryan "If you had asked me about the historical institution, I would have had a very positive impression of it--as a group of people who were not only able to recognize that something was wrong with their culture, but willing to defy it. The book treats a very different aspect of that story ..."Bryan, what words would you use to (succinctly?) describe that "very different aspect of that story"?
I think I sensed such, but was never able to state it.
It is interesting reading through your comments on the first half of the book. Before I started, I was afraid that a big part of the book would contain graphic descriptions on violence as a shocking moment. And there is a lot of violence depicted but I thought the focus was on the thoughts of the protagonists how they perceive their cruel environment. Having the UR as a real institution is for one a tool to get Cora quickly from one place to another. But I was wondering how were they able to keep a schedule for the trains if they had to working in secret. Another reason might have been that Whitehead simply had the idea what an impact if might have had if it was not only a network but a real railroad and tried to draw this picture in the novel.
Mod
I don't think the allegory works at all once you start to think about it at a practical level - building an underground railway would be hugely expensive, and also very difficult to do unseen, so the timetable seems like the least of its concerns! But the allegory is a convenient way to allow Whitehead to concentrate on more interesting elements of the story.
I agree with Brian. The time also seems out of joint. When Cora gets to North Carolina we seem to have jumped forward in time. Later, in the second part, the ironic reference to the "freedom trail" reminds me of the end of the trail -- which was the end for indigenous peoples. The whites had won the war. The freedom trail also signals the massacre of blacks. According to Whitehead, slavery was abolished in the state, but the blacks were driven out. I wonder, does anyone know if this has any historical truth, or is the truth just not as literal?
I guess I wasn't as enamored with the book as some of you seem to have been. I thought it had a strong beginning but then lost focus about half-way through. It jumped around a lot with the various characters. I read it two years ago and posted my review. Maybe if I read it again, I would revise my opinion. But for what it's worth, this is the review I wrote after I finished it:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Lily wrote: "Bryan, what words would you use to (succinctly?) describe that "very different aspect of that story"?..."Hi Lily
I had to laugh when I saw the 'succinctly'--that must have come from changing my avatar name.
Before, if I were to think of the Underground Railroad, I would have thought of it as an indication that put the lie to every shabby justification of slavery that anyone had managed to come up with. Essentially, I would have thought of it as the glimmer of hope before slavery came to an end. The book, by conflating times and places (and I am still only to the end of this section--so it's kind of a short-sighted appraisal) is less about hope than chronicling a list of abuse.
It is possible that I shouldn't look at the historically factual UR as a positive thing. Nor do I know yet (or if ever) whether that was the author's goal. I'll have to read the rest of the book for that.
I'd like to add that I don't think it's wrong if Whitehead's goal was to chronicle a list of abuse.
I think it's important to remember when reading and thinking about the book that it was not Whitehead's goal to provide a purely factual chronicle of the US during slavery nor do I think he cared much if the physical underground railroad he imagines would withstand realistic scrutiny. To worry too much about those things is to focus on details that don't really matter. What does matter is that Cora goes on a great journey to different places and even different times to present us with a wide range of experiences of the US during the centuries of slavery.
David wrote: "...What does matter is that Cora goes on a great journey to different places and even different times to present us with a wide range of experiences of the US during the centuries of slavery...."LOL. You may have just done what I asked of Bryan. ("Succinctly" was no intended "tongue in cheek" that I remember, but maybe I was jokingly responding to Bryan's moniker the night/day I wrote that..) I hadn't thought of the novel in the way you describe, as having that "purpose" of compressed presentation/exposure/emotive history lesson. Still don't know if I agree or if I think Whitehead was successful, but, what you say "rings true" to me....????
David wrote: "To worry too much about those things is to focus on details that don't really matter..."Hello David--
I think we'll have to agree to disagree--I think those things matter a great deal when thinking about the book. To me, if an author chooses to depart from the facts in the manner that Whitehead does, I feel he or she had a reason for doing so--most likely it is because he or she feels that that it is a better way to get across facets of the story that they are trying to tell. I may never really know what Whitehead's ultimate goals were, but these changes that he opted to incorporate into the history indicate to me that one book couldn't contain all of what he wanted to say, unless he broadened the realm of possibility, as he did. So I think the manner in which he tells the story is one of the clues we have that does indicate what his goals were.
The very fact that events that take place in the South Carolina chapter reflect the situation that African-Americans faced years after slavery had been abolished seems to me to be significant. I think there are some likely reasons for this: one that springs to mind immediately is that although slavery came to an end, horrific things were still happening. There may be other, broader implications for writing the chapter the way that he did--each reader will probably have their own reactions.
I think looking at these things gives us an indication of what the author is hoping to communicate to his readers, and, speaking for myself at least, can help me look beyond the emotional appeal of Cora's great journey and see if there's something for us today as well.
Bryan, I think you misunderstood my comment because in your last one you say nothing I disagree with. I was responding to a few comments previously that referenced how Whitehead's combination of various temporal realities into one story affected their ability to gain a factually accurate picture of the history as it was and comments that wondered about the practical limitations of their being a real railroad.
David wrote: "Bryan, I think you misunderstood my comment because in your last one you say nothing I disagree with. I was responding to a few comments previously that referenced how Whitehead's combination of va..."It sounds like I did misunderstand--mea culpa!
As I learn deeper information about the URR, I don't feel that Whitehead has grossly departed from historical facts. An innovative packaging of events, characters, and timelines is creative and interesting. Having taught high school history for decades, I believe that often you can impart more useful information if you use techniques that require more than rote memory and a prescribed time frame to understand facts and concepts.
If any of you have around a copy of Jacques Barzun's
From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life, 1500 to the Present
, you might find it amusing to turn to pp583-4 with its anecdote on the expansion of US territory and of the early uses of the railroad. (Too indolent right now to copy into a spoiler here.) I spent a few minutes musing whether Whitehead might have been familiar with this passage, or at least its description of the challenges of early use of railroads for transport.I see Whitehead writing more as almost an activist than as a historian -- what are the issues that perhaps still matter, even perhaps have piled on top of each other into today.
I lived in Vermont for awhile. One of my favorite spots is Smugglers Notch, just above the Stowe Ski Resort. Today unaware young tractor trailer drivers with faulty or ignored GPS systems still get stuck in the sharp hairpin curves necessitated by granite boulders. The trail has a legend of being one along which livestock, booze, and slaves have traveled at least since Europeans settled and probably earlier. I remember visiting one large old multi-story frame block home in a nearby town, whose story included having been moved by mules, but on whose former site, was situated so that slaves living in the attic until they could move on into Canada might have a view of the likely approach of bounty hunters. Those days left me with an eerie sense during the years when I worked in telecommunications and the world moved from telephone caller id to GPS itself. Now we know physical escape from being traced is a very different game, except perhaps being careless or losing power in some remote wilderness area.
Sorry for the rambling.
Sarah wrote: "Having taught high school history for decades, I believe that often you can impart more useful information if you use techniques that require more than rote memory and a prescribed time frame to understand facts and concepts...."So true. (That's what I meant when I suggested what he writes can make one more aware of what one encounters elsewhere.) Still, time can sometimes posit causal relationships. But I don't think that is what Whitehead is after here -- his intended audience? Is he attempting to move them in some way in today's world? I haven't looked at his other works or bio or very many reviews. Nor have I felt particularly moved by TUR to do so -- more just an as other things come across view. And part of what I hope insights here in this discussion will provide.
(Are the use of quilts stories in TUR? I don't remember. Sue Monk Kidd uses them in The Invention of Wings , although if I recall correctly the veracity of these stories of signals along the way have been challenged. But then, so much of history can be fruitfully re-imagined or re-positioned, as you seem to probably do with your students.)
On page 16...I don’t like how Whitehead introduces new characters (Ajarry, Jockey, Moses) or how he flips between names and affiliations when they aren’t established in the narrative for that long. For example, without having read book flaps, reviews, or any other information, sticking strictly to the narrative, it didn’t immediately dawn on me that Ajarry was Cora’s grandmother, the way Whitehead flips between grandmother, Cora’s grandmother... Ajarry thought she’d be reunited with her father down there in the dark....Cora’s grandmother...Ajarry... Ajarry...Ajarry, and it’s Cora’s grandmother again (3,4). So early in the game I found it a little jarring trying to keep up with who was who.
Looking back, having written this out, I notice Cora’s grandmother is used more so stateside, and Ajarry when the narrative moves overseas in these initial pages... intentional, yes? Stateside, Ajarry is a slave, next to nameless, not seen as a person, but an owned commodity. I’m reading Les Mis right now, Hugo gives the destitute the same treatment. By keeping them nameless compared to the more affluent society who were not only characterized by name but listed family through the generations, Hugo shows how easily forgotten the poor and vulnerable are. Is this, to some degree, what Whitehead is doing as well?
Question
Like the dawn. Cora slunk over to Hob, where they banished the wretched (16). What does this mean, dawn as a metaphor to Cora schlepping over to Hob... I didn’t understand it?
Ami, I didn't find the introduction confusing. We have Cora saying "no" to running north. Then we are told that this answer was her grandmother talking (ie; she was saying what her grandmother would have said). The rest of the paragraph is about Cora's grandmother being captured and enslaved. During that paragraph we learn her name is Ajarry. As for the switching from "Ajarry" to "Cora's grandmother" and back, I think Whitehead does that just to remind us that we should be thinking about Cora and that Ajarry matters mostly because of her relationship to Cora.For your question, I think you have mistakenly linked those two sentences. The sentence. "Like the dawn" is a follow-up to the one that precedes it, namely, "She wasn’t surprised when his character revealed itself—if you waited long enough, it always did." Cora's thought is that just as if you wait long enough the dawn comes, if you wait long enough his character reveals itself. Then the next sentence ("Cora slunk over to Hob....") is a new thought.
I think David's got this section pegged, Ami.
David wrote: "Ami, I didn't find the introduction confusing. We have Cora saying "no" to running north. Then we are told that this answer was her grandmother talking (ie; she was saying what her grandmother woul..."Well that makes better sense. Good grief. Thank you.
I've just reached the end of South Carolina - it took me a while to get into the book. I still feel quite detached from it, my mind is registering events and people, but I feel no connection to them. I feel Whitehead's decision to make Cora such a general representative figure is partly responsible, there isn't much to grab onto with her.The idea of the fantasy railroad I like, but it seems strange that it's a safe place (for the slaves anyway, the helpers are certainly in danger) while the places they end up have hidden threats and dangers. The railroad is the refuge they head for. That's another interesting twist on the actual UR.
Pamela wrote: "...The railroad is the refuge they head for. That's another interesting twist on the actual UR. ..."And symbolically interesting? Representing having made a decision of travel, to move, to try to escape? To putting one's fate at or in the hands of others and other things?
Don't know. Just playing with what Whitehead might have been doing.
Have been watching Jason Bivins' (North Carolina State University) on "Thinking about Religion and Violence," one of the Great Courses offerings. Not sure that it clarifies as much as increases awareness of the complexity and deeply embedded issues around societal creation and treatment of "other" in our midst, even when one is skeptical of what seem to be underlying, unstated assumptions. I wonder if the same may be true for me relative to Whitehead and TUR, when I think back to reading the book.
Link for Bivin's Course: https://www.thegreatcourses.com/cours... I didn't find him or the course among Goodreads listings.
Pamela wrote: "The idea of the fantasy railroad I like, but it seems strange that it's a safe place (for the slaves anyway, the helpers are certainly in danger) while the places they end up have hidden threats and dangers. The railroad is the refuge they head for. That's another interesting twist on the actual UR."Hi all, This is my first actual participation in a group read (I've been reading along with you but not really participating.) Anyway, I think this is a key point -- that the railroad, when they were stuck in the south held huge promise and hope, but in reality... it just took them to more reality.
This to me is very similar to The Great Migration (another time-frame that Whitehead has referenced) where so many blacks left the south for what they perceived would be "the promised land" of the North and West, but when they got there, they found that there were few jobs, few places to live, etc.
Whitehead has jumped from writing fantasy and zombie books to more realism, but I find one thing very present in all of his books: a feeling of hope mixed with harsh reality, and I think that's what Cora and everyone else experiences here. They are almost afraid to hope (no, I won't leave this plantation) but when they dare to hope, often their hopes are dashed. I've found this sense of both hope and brutal reality in every one of his books that I've read.
speaking of hope - I hope that makes sense.
ETA: I, too, thought the Underground Railroad was a real railroad when I learned about it as a little kid. My grammie was quick to knock some sense into my head, but it stuck with me. I wouldn't be surprised if many many kids thought this early on, so I'm a bit shocked that Whitehead was the first to actually do this.
Lily wrote: "And symbolically interesting? Representing having made a decision of travel, to move, to try to escape? To putting one's fate at or in the hands of others and other things?" Yes, I would agree that it is interesting in that sense. I definitely got more of an impression of that decision process in the next section, too. I think I was expecting that the consequences of the choice to move would result in the time on the railroad being anxious and menacing - however, symbolically it seems that it's where they arrive that is the danger, not the journey itself.
Ella wrote: "Whitehead has jumped from writing fantasy and zombie books to more realism, but I find one thing very present in all of his books: a feeling of hope mixed with harsh reality, and I think that's what Cora and everyone else experiences here" That made sense to me, Ella, hope breaks through despite the terrible situations the characters experience.
I haven't read anything else by Whitehead so was interested to see he wrote zombie books - that may explain why I'm finding his style very flat and detached, even the most gruesome moments seem very matter-of-fact.
I think I read in some review (please forgive my lack of memory) that this flat detached style was preferred because of how incredibly harsh the circumstances are -- so instead of gilding the lily, so to speak, the sort of matter-of-fact prose makes it...something like easier to read or more digestible? I do think there is a certain amount of distance to the whole thing. And that bothered me at some points. He's brilliant at some points, but at others he's playing with so much history and so many ideas that other times it became sort of overwhelmed by all of the research. I agree that it could've done with some breaks for humor. Love is great, but humor would've made it even better. I find also that the darkest circumstances always come with a certain amount of humor.
21st Century Literature
Books mentioned in this topic
The Invention of Wings (other topics)From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life, 1500 to the Present (other topics)
Sula (other topics)
Beloved (other topics)
The Road (other topics)
Authors mentioned in this topic
Sue Monk Kidd (other topics)Jacques Barzun (other topics)
As I mentioned in the other thread, I'll not be able to join in the reading until after the first week of August, but I did want to go ahead and set up this thread for those who have already started reading or who are going to begin shortly. I'll be keeping a low profile to start, though I plan on reading along with this thread as people post.
As Hugh suggested, we'll use this thread for the first four sections/chapter, ending with the South Carolina chapter.
I've been thinking about the subject matter of this book for a while now, especially since I found out it won the poll. What I'm particularly interested in is comparing my previous ideas about the Underground Railroad with Whitehead's--I distinctly remember learning about the UR even back in grade school, and for that, we have to go back to the early 70s. I've been trying to recapture my impressions of learning about it--a young white student surrounded by others of the same. We're talking about a long time ago, but memory tells me that it made an impression, learning about this clandestine activity to subvert something so blatantly wrong, but time and culture kept me somewhat aloof from it.
This is not what I'm expecting from Whitehead's treatment of it, though I'm not sure exactly what to expect. I've purposely not read any reviews so that I can let it take me by surprise (or not) as it will. But it also seems to me that some of the figures of the UR have garnered attention lately, at least here in the US. There is the $20 bill (which seems to have stalled somewhat lately), where Jackson would be replaced by Harriet Tubman, and I've also noticed a small cottage industry of T-Shirts and such with quotes referring back to the UR. Then, of course, there is Whitehead's book--I don't know exactly how it fits into that, and I'm eager to find out.
Well, maybe all that should have gone into the background thread--without the book in front of me, I did want to at least start out with something that might get the ball rolling. I look forward to everyone's comments, and will try to take part as much as I can for this first week.