Copper Sun

Sharon Draper's Copper Sun offered a very interesting view of slavery from different perspectives. I found certain parts of the novel very effective in showing the brutality and cruelty of life for slaves, such as the scene where Tidbit is used as bait as well as the images Draper creates of the journey through the Middle Passage. From a stylist point of view, the novel may in some areas neglect to show some of the realities of slavery and some of the things that happen to Amari, as well as her perspective on her situation, seem sugar-coated. However, I think that when one considers the adolescent audience Draper is attempting to reach, the overly optimistic outlook Amari takes is useful and appropriate. What I found very interesting in our discussions was more of an observation of collegiate thinking than a comment on the actual book itself. I found it very interesting that the primary arguments were between the style of the book, from college students who are used to picking apart every detail of style and purpose, and the appropriateness of the book for adolescents, from many education majors. I think it is important to look at the novel from both perspectives and realize that each argument has merit; as adults we have a different perspective in reading this novel and thus, may see Copper Sun as somewhat idealized and maybe even overly hopeful, yet for adolescents, the novel combines a great deal of historical reality with incredible images of slavery and still manages to give students some ray of hope.

When reading the Louie article, I found mention many of the elements included in the course of our classes, such as including writing and discussion elements into the class to allow students the opportunity to express their ideas and opinions. Allowing students to work through their feelings about what they are reading helps them understand and cope with the reality of the history they are studying about the treatment of actual human beings.

Reading this book near a holiday such as Martin Luther King Jr. Day does force you to reflect on the history of human rights in our country. Exposing high school students to the vast array of human rights difficulties, from slavery to women's rights to segregation, can give them a greater understanding of those realities. For me, this book offered images of slavery that I had never thought of or would not like to think about due to the harshness of those realities. It is for these reasons that teens should also read this novel and explore some of the darkest times in the history of our country.