Julius Lester, in Day of Tears, weaves together the haunting story of an actual historical event occuring in Savannah, Georgia - the largest slave auction in American history. Pierce Butler auctions off the majority of his slaves because of his mounting gambling debts. The slaves have lived on the Butler plantation with their families for generations. Through dialogue, Lester effectively relays the horrors of slavery and the tragic aftermath that occurs to all of the people who participated that day. Lester's writing in this novel may seem simple at first, but it quickly becomes emotionally charged. The reader will feel as if he is experiencing the emotional losses, the degradation, the sorrow, and the cruelty as he reads about the experiences of several people attending the slave auction from multiple viewpoints : the slaveowner, slaveowner's ex-wife, slaveowner's children, slave seller, several slaves sold at the auctions (young and old), the mother and father of a slave sold, a slave couple desperately in love who are separated, etc. Lester uses both historical fact and fictitious details to demonstrate how all people were deeply impacted by that fateful rainy day on March 2nd and 3rd, 1859.
This book is highly recommended.
When I heard about this book I thought well this might be a great book to read. So I checked the book out and read it . I was right the book was a great book to read. The book is about slavery. In the book when it would rain the slaves would say that the rain drops were Gods tears.
ReplyDeleteThere was a main slave in the book her name was Emma. Emma was a 12 year old slave who lived on the Butler plantation with her mother and father. Emma took care of Mr. Butler's daughters. Mr. Butler treated his slaves like they were family, he didn't sale any of his slaves until one day Mr. Butler started gambling. Mr. Butler needed money to pay off his gambling debts so he started to sale his slaves. He went to a slave auction and he needed the money so he deciced to sale one of his slaves and that slave was Emma.
To find out the rest you have to check out the book. I would have to say that I would recommend this book to anyone. I would say that this book is a great book to read and anyone who likes slavery books would love this book.
it was a A+ book very educational.
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