The Underground Railroad | Colson Whitehead | Cliff Note Books
“The Underground Railroad” is a novel by Colson Whitehead that tells the story of Cora, a young enslaved woman who escapes from a Georgia plantation and journeys north on the Underground Railroad, a network of secret routes and safe houses that helped slaves escape to freedom.
The novel is divided into several sections, each of which takes place in a different state along Cora’s journey. As Cora travels north, she encounters a variety of people, both kind and cruel, who help or hinder her escape.
Cora’s journey is made more difficult by the slave catcher Ridgeway, who is obsessed with capturing Cora and bringing her back to her owner. Ridgeway represents the institutionalized racism and violence of the slave system and serves as a foil to the many individuals who help Cora along the way.
As Cora travels north, she is forced to confront the deep-seated racism and violence that pervades American society, even in supposedly “free” states. She grapples with issues of identity and belonging, as she struggles to find her place in a world that has always viewed her as property.
Overall, “The Underground Railroad” is a powerful and deeply moving novel that explores the complex legacy of slavery in America. Through Cora’s journey, the novel exposes the brutal reality of slavery and its lasting effects on American society, while also celebrating the resilience and strength of those who fought against it.
QUOTES
“The world may be mean, but people don’t have to be, not if they refuse.” – This quote, spoken by a character named Fletcher, emphasizes the power of individual choice and the possibility of kindness in a cruel world.
“In America, it is traditional to destroy the black body—it is heritage.” – This quote, spoken by a character named Dr. Stevens, highlights the violent legacy of slavery in America and its continuing impact on black bodies.
“The whites came to this land for a fresh start and to escape the tyranny of their masters, just as the freemen had fled theirs. But the ideals they held up for themselves, they denied others.” – This quote, from the narrator, exposes the hypocrisy of the American dream and the way it has been used to justify oppression and inequality.
“The place was too big, too full of history, too heavy with the memory of all the lives he’d lived. He doubted he’d ever find his way out.” – This quote, about a character named Royal, captures the sense of being trapped and lost in a world that is hostile to black bodies.
“They encouraged you to put your trust in your body, for your body was surely more resilient than your mind.” – This quote, about the brutal conditions of slavery, emphasizes the way in which enslaved people were forced to rely on their physical strength to survive.
“Freedom was a thing that shifted as you looked at it, the way a forest is dense with trees up close but from outside, from the empty meadow, you see its true limits.” – This quote, from the narrator, captures the complexity and elusiveness of freedom, and the way it can be defined and experienced differently by different people.
AUTHOR
Colson Whitehead is an American novelist, born on November 6, 1969, in New York City. He was raised in Manhattan, where he attended Trinity School, a prestigious private school. He went on to study English at Harvard University, graduating in 1991.
After graduation, Whitehead worked as a journalist, writing for publications such as The Village Voice and The New York Times Magazine. He also published his first novel, “The Intuitionist,” in 1999, which was a critical success and won the Quality Paperback Book Club’s New Voices Award.
Over the next decade, Whitehead continued to write and publish novels, including “John Henry Days” (2001), “Apex Hides the Hurt” (2006), and “Sag Harbor” (2009). In 2011, he published “Zone One,” a post-apocalyptic novel set in New York City, which received critical acclaim and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.
Whitehead’s most widely acclaimed work to date is “The Underground Railroad” (2016), a novel that reimagines the Underground Railroad as an actual railway system that transports escaped slaves to freedom. The novel won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2017, as well as the National Book Award and the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction.
Whitehead has also received numerous other awards and honors throughout his career, including a MacArthur Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a Whiting Writers’ Award. He currently lives in New York City and teaches creative writing at Columbia University.
CRITICISMS
Historical Accuracy: Some critics have argued that Whitehead’s portrayal of the Underground Railroad as an actual railway system is historically inaccurate and undermines the real history of the Underground Railroad.
Graphic Violence: The novel contains several scenes of graphic violence, including descriptions of rape, torture, and murder. Some readers and critics have found these scenes to be disturbing and excessive.
Stereotyping: Some readers have criticized the book for relying on stereotypical portrayals of black characters, particularly in the portrayal of Cora’s mother as a “Mammy” figure.
Lack of Depth: Some critics have argued that the novel does not go deep enough in exploring the psychological and emotional experiences of its characters, particularly Cora.
Ambiguity: The novel leaves some elements of the story open to interpretation, which has been a source of frustration for some readers and critics who feel that the book should provide more clarity and closure.
THEMES
The Legacy of Slavery: The novel explores the lasting impact of slavery on American society and the ways in which its legacy continues to shape race relations today.
The Quest for Freedom: The novel follows Cora’s journey as she seeks freedom from slavery and struggles to find a sense of identity and belonging in a hostile world.
The Role of Community: Throughout the novel, Cora encounters a variety of individuals and communities who help or hinder her escape from slavery. The novel explores the importance of community and the power of collective action in the face of oppression.
The Violence of Racism: The novel contains several scenes of graphic violence, which serve to highlight the brutal reality of slavery and the violence that is often inflicted upon black bodies.
The Limits of Empathy: The novel challenges the notion that empathy alone can solve the problem of racism and highlights the ways in which well-intentioned individuals can still perpetuate racist attitudes and behaviors.
The Complexity of Identity: The novel explores the complex and often fraught process of forming an identity in a society that views black bodies as property. Cora’s journey highlights the challenges of defining oneself in a world that is hostile to one’s very existence.
SYMBOLLISM
The Underground Railroad: The novel reimagines the Underground Railroad as an actual railway system, which serves as a powerful symbol of hope and escape for enslaved people. The railroad also represents the idea of a hidden, subterranean network of support and resistance.
The North: Throughout the novel, the North represents the promise of freedom and the possibility of escape from slavery. However, the reality of the North is often more complicated than Cora expects, and the novel explores the ways in which racism and oppression continue to exist even in “free” states.
The White Man’s Bible: This book, which is given to Cora by her mother, represents the idea of a white supremacist ideology that seeks to justify the oppression of black bodies.
The Scars: Both Cora and Ridgeway, the slave catcher, bear physical scars that serve as reminders of their past traumas. These scars also symbolize the lasting impact of slavery on American society.
The Museum: The museum that Cora visits in North Carolina is filled with grotesque exhibits that celebrate the exploitation and abuse of black bodies. The museum represents the idea of American history as a kind of carnival of horrors.
The Lighthouse: The lighthouse on the coast of South Carolina represents the promise of safety and escape, but it is also associated with danger and violence. The lighthouse serves as a symbol of the complex and often contradictory nature of freedom.
DISCUSSION
The Underground Railroad: The novel reimagines the Underground Railroad as an actual railway system, which raises questions about the power of imagination and storytelling in the face of oppression. Why do you think the novel chooses to represent the Underground Railroad in this way? How does this representation shape our understanding of the struggle for freedom?
Race and Identity: The novel explores the complexity and fluidity of racial identity, particularly through the character of Cora. How does Cora’s understanding of herself and her identity change over the course of the novel? What does the novel suggest about the challenges of defining oneself in a world that is hostile to one’s very existence?
Historical Accuracy: The novel blends historical fact with fictional elements, which raises questions about the role of fiction in representing history. How do you think the novel’s fictional elements enhance or detract from its historical accuracy? What responsibilities do writers have when representing historical events in fiction?
Symbolism: The novel is filled with rich symbolic imagery, which raises questions about the role of symbolism in literature. What are some of the symbols that the novel employs, and what do they represent? How do these symbols deepen our understanding of the novel’s themes and ideas?
Social Justice: The novel is a powerful critique of racism and oppression, and it raises important questions about the ongoing struggle for social justice. How do the novel’s ideas and themes relate to current events and debates about race and identity? What can we learn from the novel about the challenges and possibilities of working towards a more just society?
SUMMARIES
Chapter 1: Georgia
The novel opens with the introduction of the protagonist, Cora, a young slave living on a plantation in Georgia. Cora has been an outcast on the plantation ever since her mother ran away when she was a child. Cora forms a tentative friendship with a fellow slave named Caesar, who tells her about the Underground Railroad and suggests that they should try to escape.
Chapter 2: South Carolina
Cora and Caesar escape from the plantation and make their way to South Carolina, where they are given a relatively warm welcome by the townspeople. However, the reality of the state’s racial policies soon becomes clear, as Cora discovers that the government is carrying out a eugenics program that forcibly sterilizes black women.
Chapter 3: North Carolina
Cora and Caesar continue their journey north, but they are soon pursued by a slave catcher named Ridgeway, who is determined to capture Cora and bring her back to Georgia. In North Carolina, Cora takes refuge in an attic space with a group of other escaped slaves, but they are soon discovered and brutally punished by the town’s authorities.
Chapter 4: Tennessee
Cora manages to escape from North Carolina with the help of a sympathetic white woman named Lumbly, who takes her in and helps her to recover from her injuries. Cora stays with Lumbly for several months before deciding to continue her journey north.
Chapter 5: Indiana
Cora arrives in Indiana, where she is taken in by a community of abolitionists who provide her with a job and a place to live. However, Ridgeway is still on her trail, and she must constantly be on guard. Cora also grapples with the trauma of her past experiences and the challenges of forming new relationships in a world that is hostile to black bodies.
Chapter 6: South Carolina (II)
Cora arrives in South Carolina again, but this time she finds herself in a very different situation. The state has become a fascist police state, where black people are forced to live in ghettos and are subject to extreme violence and exploitation. Cora becomes involved with a resistance movement and is eventually forced to flee again.
Chapter 7: Valentine Farm
Cora takes refuge at a farm run by a former slave named Mabel, who is also Cora’s mother. Cora learns about her mother’s past and the trauma that led her to abandon Cora when she was a child. Cora struggles to reconcile her conflicting feelings towards her mother and ultimately decides to continue her journey north.
Chapter 8: Indiana (II)
Cora arrives back in Indiana, where she is reunited with her friend from the plantation, Lovey, who was captured and brought back to Georgia. Cora becomes involved in a scheme to rescue Lovey and other captured slaves and learns more about the Underground Railroad’s operations.
Chapter 9: North Carolina (II)
Cora returns to North Carolina and takes refuge in an attic space with other escaped slaves. She is eventually captured by Ridgeway and taken back to Georgia.
Chapter 10: Tennessee (II)
Cora is imprisoned in Georgia and is subjected to brutal treatment. However, with the help of other prisoners and a sympathetic doctor, she is eventually able to escape.
Chapter 11: Ajarry
The final chapter of the novel is a flashback that tells the story of Cora’s grandmother, Ajarry, who was kidnapped from Africa and brought to America as a slave. The chapter serves to contextualize the events of the novel within the broader history of slavery and colonization and to emphasize the ongoing legacy of these systems of oppression.