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ta nehisi coates is an american author of historical fiction books best known for his first independent novel, the water dancer. He is also the author of the New York Times number one bestselling book Between Me and the World, which was also a National Magazine Award Finalist. In addition, he has won the Hillman Award for Analytical Journalism, the National Magazine Award, and the George Polk Award for his account of the reparations case. he lives in new york with his family, his wife and son.
the water dancer
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From its beautifully crafted cover art to its intricate yet simple plot riddled with tragedy, Coates’s book feels like a renunciation of life and soul as the pages are suffused with its creator’s breath with words that they dance to form the human form of those. who paid the final price. the water dancer is one of the most influential books you’ll ever read on slavery.
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The author concretizes the tribulations of slavery as he focuses on the emotions of Hiram Walker, a girl who is separated from her mother Rose when she is sold into slavery. Hiram is only nine years old. Coates then shifts the focus from her to an older woman known as Thena, whose five children are sent to Natchez; she becomes the meanest and most difficult shell of a woman to break until one day the look breaks that shell of a child who has no mother. How much can your body take?
hiram’s caucasian father is howell, the owner of the plantation called lockless. riding down the street, his son draws attention by imitating his elder in response to the song and the call. howell tosses him a coin and hiram thinks the coin is a way out of slave life. But it’s not long before Hiram is called to the big house to take lessons alongside his brother, Maynard, and serve as Maynard’s protector. It’s quite a task because Maynard is slow, boring and has been spoiled by a superficial life, while Hiram is smart. hiram thinks his white father is embarrassed that his black son has such intelligence while his white son has difficulty with schoolwork and everyday life.
hiram has several gifts. the first is the gift of memorization. she can recreate a drawing from her memory or tell an entire story word for word. she can distinguish each card in a deck and even remember all the symbols on a carved disc case. The other giveaway from her is where Coates introduces the element of magical realism. Throughout the story, Hiram will learn how to present this gift and how to use it. when the author writes about hiram’s gifts, she is able to evoke a storm of emotions in the main character.
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Most power structures incorporate violence as a means of achieving balance. the powerless person learns to use a weapon, develops muscles, or enlists in the service of a mafia. in an interview published on the internet, ta-nehisi coates says that he wanted to write something different and attributes part of his work to isabel wilkerson’s novel the heat of the other suns, which helped him a lot to understand the positive side of life endurance. So Coates uses mythology and writes something bigger than violence, something that surpasses violence. but it is vital to always remember that we can never forget the tragedies and suffering that have already been inflicted so that they are never repeated.
we need books like water dancer because humans tend to forget too soon. one of the most significant impacts of this novel was how it gave insight into how white masters operated the plantation system. how they degenerated the soil until nothing grew and how they undermined themselves. when the plantations could no longer support them, they began to sell their slaves and migrated west, seeking new land and stealing people.
kudos to ta-nehisi coates for creating a cast of complex characters, from thena, the baddest woman, to sophia, the subject, and nathaniel walker, who becomes hiram’s love interest, but makes it clear from the start principle that belongs to no man. Coates writes as if she knows everything about the emotional lives of both men and women and through this she has woven one of the best books on slavery.
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