Dive into the latest pick for oprahs book club with these questions about colson whiteheads breathtaking novel. The book i chose was the underground railroad by colson whitehead. The underground railroad is published by little, brown. Discuss the underground railroad by colson whitehead. The underground railroad by colson whitehead readers lane. In the nickel boys, colson whitehead continues to make a. The events thereafter are a flight through the slaveholding south, powered by locomotives through an elaborate network of rail tunnels.
Aug 18, 2016 the underground railroad represents a first in the nearly decadelong career i have enjoyed as a contributor to bookreporter. The questions, discussion topics, and suggestions for further reading that follow are designed to enhance your groups discussion of the underground railroad, a triumph of a novel by colson whitehead. Jul 07, 2017 the underground railroad is published by little, brown. Colson whiteheads underground railroad is a literal. The underground railroad julyaugust book of the month. The following version of this book was used to create this study guide. In this bravura followup to the pulitzer prize and national book awardwinning number one new york times best seller the underground railroad, colson whitehead brilliantly dramatizes another strand of american history through the story of two boys sentenced to a hellish reform school in jim crowera florida. Oct 07, 2017 the book i chose was the underground railroad by colson whitehead. This quest relies heavily on your agility skill, often making you complete a number of obstacles in succession. February 8, 2020 this is perhaps one of the most intense books that i have read in a very long time. Robert s ideology can be found in his new book, the new underground railroad. I found it to be rudimentary in the sense that anyone on any level can understand it.
The freedom trail symbol in the underground railroad. Her declaration stirred robert with a determination to empower individuals to step outside of the slavemaster mentality and. The slave and runaway experiences brought to life will foster empathy and deepen understanding of how the peculiar institution affected individuals and an emerging nation. Why colson whitehead made the underground railroad. When cora is about 16 years old, she hears about the underground railroad from caesar, a slave recently arrived on the georgia cotton plantation where cora was born into slavery. The underground railroad, by contrast, was personal. In the nickel boys, colson whitehead depicts a reallife. The underground railroad will also satisfy stony postmodernists who hold that a. Uttered privately to himself as he finished his second book, john henry days, back in 2001, they became the core inspiration for his recently published novel, the underground railroad. If an africanamerican writer like whitehead, whose last novel was the underground railroad, didnt hear of the dozier school until 2014, imagine how many other such stories still remain.
Aug 08, 2016 now, in his new novel, the underground railroad, whitehead returns to his childhood vision of an actual locomotive that carries escaped slaves through tunnels. In new york times bestselling author tracy chevaliers newest historical. Colson whitehead on the underground railroad, the book. The author talks about racism, writing and barry jenkins directing the television series based on his novel. The concept behind this book derives from robert s africanamerican heroine harriet tubman, who declared, give me liberty or give me death. Please put your comments for the underground railroad book club discussion questions in the comment area below discussion questions. The underground railroad, published in 2016, is the sixth novel by american author colson whitehead the alternate history novel tells the story of cora and caesar, two slaves in the southeastern united states during the 19th century, who make a bid for freedom from their georgia plantations by following the underground railroad, which the novel depicts as primarily a rail transport system in. Now, in his new novel, the underground railroad, whitehead returns to his childhood vision of an actual locomotive that carries escaped slaves through tunnels.
The bodies are mutilated and rotting, and the freedom trail thus represents the gory reality of white supremacy. Cora and caesars first stop is south carolina, in a city that initially seems like a haven. Initially i found this book engrossing, and i also found the authors style of writing very creative. Other examples of neoslave narratives include octavia butlers kindred, toni morrisons beloved, marlon james the book of. The first time caesar approached cora about running north, she said no. This train conveys cora, caesar, and other escapees first to a south carolina also. They can click on accompanying images to read popups with more information. Aug 27, 2016 its interesting to me that a book predicated on the question of what if the underground railroad was real is the one people are seizing onto.
Please put your comments for the underground railroad book club discussion questions in the comment area below. The calendar year hasnt even slipped into september, and colson whiteheads the underground railroad is already being talked about as the book of the year and thats with a slew of. The first 70 pages of the underground railroad are beautifully written and painful to read, but there is a sense of having been here before. Even though it is a work of fiction, whitehead based the book on stories that were true. The underground railroad leaves its tracks in history last week during national black history month, ground was broken on the national mall in washington, dc, for what will become the national museum of african american history and culture. Aunt harriets underground railroad in the sky edu 320. Colson whitehead on the underground railroad, the book that. The interactive slideshow with audio lets students read a short article at each stop. Colson whiteheads underground railroad is a literal train.
I chose this book because it had won a pulitzer prize in 2017, but also because of its topic. The underground railroad records is an 1872 book by william still, who is known as the father of the underground railroad. The underground railroad leaves its tracks in history zachs news says. Michael schaub, npr far and away the most anticipated literary novel of the year, the underground railroad marks a new triumph for whiteheada book that resonates with deep emotional timbre. The underground railroad represents a first in the nearly decadelong career i have enjoyed as a contributor to bookreporter. The underground railroad, the latest selection of oprah winfreys book club, chronicles the life of a teenage slave named cora, who flees the georgia plantation where she was born, risking. The underground railroad book club discussion questions.
But whitehead, whose eclectic body of work encompasses novels zone one, 2011, etc. Aug 06, 2016 nprs scott simon speaks with colson whitehead about his new book, the underground railroad, in which slaves ride a a real railroad through time to see racism in different eras. Colson whiteheads the underground railroad has been a runaway success. Dec 07, 2015 this book incorporates things like the north star. Oct 09, 2016 the underground railroad begins on a particularly vicious georgia plantation, where all anyone wants to do is escape. The underground railroad by william still, paperback. Aug 03, 2016 the underground railroad, the latest selection of oprah winfreys book club, chronicles the life of a teenage slave named cora, who flees the georgia plantation where she was born, risking.
The underground railroad pulitzer prize winner by colson. In other words, we picked the hotoffthepresses pulitzer prize winning the underground railroad, a book in which the historic agency by which slaves were smuggled out of the confederacy to freedom is an actual, physical subterranean structure that links decades of history along an odyssey like journey. Darcy reading challenge, i had to read a book that had won an award in 2017. While the obvious cause of ridgeways retreat into the world of his mind dictating his confused thoughts on the american imperative to his faithful scribe, is the injuries sustained in his precipitous fall, i wonder if it isnt also due to his inability to face the truth. Its interesting to me that a book predicated on the question of what if the underground railroad was real is the one people are seizing onto. Follow the north star 1972 underground railroad school. The new underground railroad offers solid financial and living advice in direct, easytounderstand terms expressly for those who may be looking for a better understanding of financial security. The underground railroad is not, in whiteheads novel, the secret network of passageways and safe houses used by runaway slaves to reach the free north from their slaveholding states.
Coras grandmother had never seen the ocean before that bright afternoon in the port of ouidah and the water dazzled after her time in the forts dungeon. In whiteheads ingenious conception, the underground railroad is no mere metaphorengineers and conductors operate a secret network of tracks and tunnels beneath the southern soil. The underground railroad leaves its tracks in history. Aug 14, 2016 the underground railroad is not, in whiteheads novel, the secret network of passageways and safe houses used by runaway slaves to reach the free north from their slaveholding states. We see that freedom is a perspective that changes with the person and the time. The underground railroad is an american masterpiece, as much a searing document of a cruel history as a uniquely brilliant work of fiction.
A conductor for the railroad, still was the son of a fugitive slave himself and a campaigner for social reform. This abridged edition of the underground railroad brings to light the terrors experienced by the thousands of africanamericans who sought a better life in then orthern states of america and in canada. In colson whiteheads latest, the underground railroad is. Nprs scott simon speaks with colson whitehead about his new book, the underground railroad, in which slaves ride a a real railroad through time to see racism in different eras.
Life is hell for all the slaves, but especially bad for cora. In the end, cassie is reunited with her brother, and they both have a newfound understanding of what their greatgreat grandparents had to go through in order to. Here, whitehead turns the metaphor into reality or, rather, alternative. The underground railroad oprahs book club audiobook. The underground railroad is bigger and better than youve. Underground pass is a quest named after the location in which it takes place. The underground railroad was originally the network of secret escape routes from the slave states of preabolition america. The nickel boys follows whiteheads 2016 novel, the underground railroad, which won both the national. The perilous lure of the underground railroad the new yorker.
This book was one of our most anticipated titles of july. New york times bestselling author of girl with a pearl earring tracy chevalier makes her first fictional foray into the american past in the last runaway, bringing to life the underground railroad and illuminating the principles, passions and realities that fueled this extraordinary freedom movement. You must venture into an underground pathway that leads to a new land, at the request of king lathas of ardougne, in order to help him destroy his corrupted brother tyras. Its exactly the sort of spin on the slavery narrative that critics will gobble up i rarely get to read books when they are in their acute hype phase, but i decided to put an audible credit towards critical darling colson whiteheads. In a surprise announcement tuesday morning, winfrey chose the underground railroad as the next title for oprahs book club. In this book, the underground railroad is just that. The randall plantation is about to be inherited by a particularly vicious and cruel man, so cora decides the time is right to join caesar in his escape attempt. Excerpt from the underground railroad by colson whitehead. Colson whitehead writes book of the year with underground. New novel takes the underground railroad beyond the. The freedom trail is an endless row of lynched black bodies in north carolina, left out on display to warn black people against rebellion. The underground railroad julyaugust book of the month colson whitehead the winner of the 2016 national book award for fiction and the 2017 pulitzer prize for fiction.
1389 511 1511 1106 419 989 122 668 801 319 895 1201 491 1026 1106 696 581 298 1396 1380 749 98 892 834 1473 1424 482 631 475 189 149 1639 461 539 730 1221 148 202 158 710 558 924 655 366 1407