The Underground Railroad Literature & Language Essay

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The Underground Railroad
The “Underground Railroad” is a fictional novel published by Colson Whitehead, an American author. He depicts the insecure interconnection of white and black campaigners who were helping slaves escape to freedom many years before the Civil War. Whitehead turns the Underground Railroad from a metaphor (figure of speech) (The metaphor here is a symbol of the escape route. There was no actual train just a route so the word metaphor is used) than actual train that transports fugitives to freedom to the North. The book depicts a very compelling experience that gives the reader an overwhelming and distressing perception into the horrific human costs of slavery.
The book is a chilling narrative of the life of a teenage slave named Cora, who risks her life for freedom from the Georgia plantation where she was born and raised. She is following in the footsteps of her mother Mabel, who had escaped to freedom many years before. Cora makes the attempt for freedom with another slave named Caesar. She and her friend are pursued by an extremely fanatic slave catcher named Ridgeway, who had also pursued Cora’s mother when she had escaped from the plantation. His failure to catch her had obsessed him with the thought of catching Cora and the determination of destroying the abolitionist network that had helped Mabel to escape. (A strong Thesis Statement: The desire for freedom was greater than the fear of death or torture for Mabel) The idea is taken from the book.
Cora while travelling from Georgia to South Carolina to Tennessee to Indiana Cora Besides eluding Ridgeway, must also elude other bounty hunters, lynch mobs and informers and is helped by committed railroad workers (both black and white) who are willing to risk their lives and freedom by helping escaped slaves like Cora and Caesar. She has ...