Essay #2 on The Underground Railroad PDF

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Nicole Tipple Writ 106 Professor Ghoshal Essay 2 Final Draft History and its Lack of Emotional Appeal At first glance, an examination of the totality of historical fiction seems rather trivial—showing little to no purpose other than displaying a historical concept; but with some deconstruction, the genre reveals itself to be much more complex. Historical fiction adopts the factual material from a moment in history with the intent of using it in the development of a fictional narrative, opening the door for the use of a variety of literary devices that would be inoperative otherwise. The genre of historical fiction, as displayed in Colson Whitehead’s novel, “The Underground Railroad”, stresses interpretation of history through fictional humanization and other literary devices, which creates a catalyst for emotional appeal in the reader—an appeal that is non-existent in our preconceived concept of “history”. “History”, as it is widely taught today discusses the overarching ideas of many historical topics, leaving a broad, nonmemorable recollection of countless tragedies followed by the desensitization of the modern day population to large death quantities similar to those transpired during slavery. Historical fiction novels attack the general way we have been presented history, taking wide-ranging topics and breaking them down by developing individual accounts of a certain time period rather than looking at the big picture. In the present day, slavery is relatively non-existent, survived solely through summarized recounts in history textbooks, leaving a generalized, underwhelming view of the situation. On the other hand, historical fiction novels like “The Underground Railroad” offer the ability to envision day-to-day life from a historical time period, allowing us to explore old ideologies from a different perspective, all while manipulating our preconditioned views. Whitehead abuses the human emotional response by creating humanistic accounts of plausible historical stories, creating an emotional tie between the fictional characters and the reader. Cora, the novel’s protagonist, is the primary focus throughout the story and although physically she is one individual, realistically she is representative of an entire historical

population, experiencing many of the same tribulations slaves did when they attempted to escape in the 1800s. Compartmentalizing the stories of past individuals into one concrete character gives the reader a chance to invest in an emotional connection that isn’t possible from a history lecture. The culmination of history can be overwhelming due to its seemingly endless, general content, but by breaking large concepts like slavery into individual accounts, the reader is given a more definitive, personable view on topics that were previously unexplored. History and historical fiction are virtually identical, realistically only being separated by one major difference; history is an account of the past, presented through facts while historical fiction recognizes the facts but is flexible with the author’s use of fiction. At face value, historical fiction appears to be virtually pointless; why would fiction be relevant in history, a recollection of the past based on facts? A historical novelist, Steve Wiegenstein, discussed the purpose of historical fiction in his writing “Understanding the Past” where he states, “We turn to historical fiction not for a comprehensive understanding of an era or event but for a sense of what the lived experience of that era would have been like; not for what happened, but for how it felt” (Wiegenstein 132). Fiction novels tend to focus and develop some form of “entertainment value”, an added variable for the reader’s amusement. While historical fiction novels do have an “entertainment value” per say, it differs from the conventional joke, temporary smile kind of amusement presented in a majority of fiction books. Throughout “The Underground Railroad”, the humanization of history is injecting life into the characters giving them individual personalities and a sense of relatability, instilling an emotional attachment in the reader. The “entertainment value” of the novel is developed through literary devices that alter our predisposed, generic idea of historical events. Introducing human qualities to the characters in the novel pushes the reader to explore a realistic view of history without censoring the horrors of the past behind large numbers that desensitize the audience. Due to the depth and severity of the topics in historical fiction novels, the phrase “entertainment value” in unrepresentative of the reader’s reactions, whereas terms like emotional appeal give a more descriptive explanation of the feelings emanated in these stories. In novels resembling Whitehead’s, the emotional appeal is the consistent stressor that urges the reader to continue

reading, a result of the undeniable connection built between characters such as Cora, as well as the reader as a result of humanization. The idea of using emotional appeal to strengthen writing while maintaining a connection with the reader is far from a new concept. Aristotle, a Greek philosopher developed the rhetorical model of persuasion, a model with three separate categories (ethos, pathos, and logos) that discuss human appeal (European-Rhetoric.com). Each Greek word corresponds with an appeal (Ethos appeals to ethics, pathos appeals to emotions, and logos appeals to logic) that represents what should appeal humans by nature. Historical fiction and history differ in that they use two seemingly contrasting methods of appeal, pathos and logos (the third method is irrelevant), to discuss the same topic from the past. Previously, it was mentioned that history and historical fiction are relatively indistinguishable aside from the factuality of the content, but now we can see that they meet two completely different human appeals, resulting in divergent reactions from the audience. If we were to scan through “The Underground Railroad” and highlight the appeals it would be littered with pathos (the appeal to emotion), and focus primarily on the emotional appeal. Throughout the novel, Cora witnesses a vast group of her acquaintances get murdered and after the first couple of deaths, Cora, as well as the reader seem to become desensitized to the tragedy, similarly to how readers of a historical textbook become desensitized while looking at the neverending deaths of the time period. The author uses Cora’s point of view to develop the emotion that would otherwise be diminished by discussing the lists Cora writes about her peers. On page 215, the author describes Cora writing herself an inventory of the people who had passed away in an effort to show that the lost people, “were not reduced to sums but multiplied by their kindnesses” (Whitehead 215). By recognizing the individuals that had passed away and not allowing them to be “reduced to sums” Whitehead was able to create pathos—an emotional appeal that instilled itself in the reader, appealing a different part of the brain then any history textbook could have. The pathos provided by historical fiction gives the reader a chance to engulf themselves in the novel and explore history as if they were there rather than just reading words on a page. In opposition to historical fiction, we could leaf through an introduction to history textbook, where we would find that a large amount of the appeal can be

categorized under logos due to history’s rooted nature in reason and facts. Fictional novels such as “The Underground Railroad” have a wider range of appeals due to the factual concepts within historical fiction books, which gives them an edge over their non-creative counterparts. History textbooks lack pathos, a connection to emotional appeal that is essential in topics related to history. In an effort to negate the feelings of desensitization that occur within a typical textbook reading, novels such as “The Underground Railroad” use pathos to instill emotion within the audience. The author uses the fictional humanization of characters in the book and other fictional nuances to create pathos, this idea of emotional appeal, but how do these fabricated subtleties not take away from the truths of history? While the characters maybe be representative of those that lived during the time period, they are still fictional characters and any discrepancies between what is plausible within history and what actually happens to the characters may cause the novel to lose some of its credibility but Whitehead continuously represents the nuances of historical truth in the novel to combat this. “The Underground Railroad” is relatively accurate when put in comparison with historical accounts of the time, even when discussing minute, extraneous ideas. In a scholarly article titled “The Underground Railroad Reconsidered” the author Daniel O. Sayers discusses the marronage of slaves or the process of their flight from slavery, the same process that we watch Cora undergo in the novel. In the article Sayers mentioned that, “…some maroons spread out over the landscape, incorporating themselves into established and developing Euro-American communities as best they could under the circumstances” (Sayers 437). In the novel, Whitehead includes many of these nonessential details, building logos in the process. While in Tennessee, Cora notes there is , “A young negro leaned against the wall of a stable… A freeman from his appearance, dressed in striped gray trousers and a vest of cowhide” (Whitehead 218), an idea that would be rather negligible if it didn’t contribute to the historical accurateness of the novel. While the freeman seems to serve little purpose while reading the novel, it shows an account for a historically accurate idea —the idea that many escaped slaves found their way into living within Euro-American communities. Details comparable to this in a regular fiction novel would serve a negligent function, however in a

historical fiction novel like “The Underground Railroad”, it adds truth to an otherwise fictional story, developing the “history” side of “historical” fiction and thus adding the appeal of logos. History is an immense subject with almost limitless information, which limits history textbooks abilities to delve further into topics, presenting them at their surface value. Taking a look at two examples, one fictional and one non-fictional that present the topic of slavery, it becomes clear that the subject is neglected in our textbooks, despite its importance in United States history. In John J. Newman’s textbook, “United States History”, slavery is mentioned throughout periods of time where it existed, like the civil war, but is not even given a chapter in the book even with slavery’s relevance in American history. Throughout “The Underground Railroad”, Whitehead personifies characters and recounts the time period in detail-- discussing many of the distinctive hardships that people went through. For example, in the novel, Cora had finally made her way to the north, staying on the Valentine farm and enjoying her chance at being a free individual, separate from the rains of those on the Randall plantation. Similar to many slaves that lived during the time period, she was presented with the perception of being free, when in actuality, the color of her skin made the concept of freedom relatively impossible, which was the case for many slaves that escaped to the north during slavery (Whitehead 287). Through the use of historical fiction, the reader is able to recognize negligible realities like these that occurred during slavery’s existence, but minute details like this would never make their way into a history book. While looking under the index of Newman’s textbook, it is shown that in the novel’s totality (734 pages), only nine mention slavery at all and with further examination we can recognize that only two of those nine pages discuss what happened during slavery, rather than its relevance to another topic. In this spread of pages, the topic is narrowed down to a brief summery expressing that slaves were treated as property, with a focus on the economics of the time period, leaving a measly three sentences to discuss the realities of slave life. In these couple of lines Newman states that, “Conditions of slavery varied from one plantation to the next. Some slaves were humanely treated, while others were routinely beaten. All suffered alike from being deprived on their freedom” (Newman 172). In this narrow presentation of slavery, the audience is never given the opportunity to explore the topic, which results in limited knowledge about the

subject matter that lacks the emotional appeal represented in historical fiction that is used to reinforce the content. Whitehead presents an extensive account of slavery in “The Underground Railroad” that gives the reader an opportunity to explore the time period, whereas textbook’s like “United States History” that only display a brief overview of the subject matter restrict the audience’s understanding of the time period. Historical fiction as a genre is typically overlooked when considering ways to teach history, often being replaced with a couple pages in a history textbook . Today, slavery is generally taught as an overview, recognizing things that happened in the past but never plunging further than the material on the surface. Colson Whitehead’s novel, “The Underground Railroad” uses the concept of historical fiction to interpret slavery through fictional humanization and other literary devices, motivating emotional appeal in the reader with a specific story, albeit fictional. By developing pathos, novels resembling Whitehead’s are able to give the world a new account of history—one that is likely to be more memorable due to the influence on human appeal. While the novel uses fiction to explore history, it does so without fabricating the realities of the time period, using concrete facts to build logos while teaching the audience about slavery simultaneously. Historical fiction novels allow the reader to explore outdated philosophies by presenting the information from a different perspective with pressure on having an authentic mindset from the time. Historical fiction authors such as Whitehead use the idea of “entertainment” value, better described as emotional appeal (pathos) to their advantage, manipulating the reader into learning details from a historical time period that they wouldn’t otherwise obtain from a textbook or a history lecture. The genre breaks down expansive topics such as slavery into individual accounts that are representative of overall ideas in history, without overwhelming the reader with seemingly endless content. While at first glance historical fiction seems to be a rather trivial concept, with further examination it proves to be much more complex, using literary devices to leave the reader with an memorable knowledge of history.

Works Cited “Ethos, Pathos & Logos – Modes of Persuasion (Aristotle).” European Rhetoric, www.europeanrhetoric.com/ethos-pathos-logos-modes-persuasion-aristotle/. Newman, John J., and John M. Schmalbach. United States History: Preparing for the Advanced Placement Examination. Amsco School Publications, 2018. Sayers, Daniel O. "The Underground Railroad Reconsidered." Western Journal of Black Studies, vol. 28, no. 3, Fall2004, pp. 435-443. EBSCOhost, ezproxy.montclair.edu:2048/login? url=http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.montclair.edu:2048/login.aspx? direct=true&db=a9h&AN=19912086&site=eds-live&scope=site. Whitehead, Colton. The Underground Railroad. Doubleday, 2016. Wiegenstein, Steve. "Understanding the Past: A Historical Novelist Considers the Power of Fiction to Explain History." Publishers Weekly, no. 52, 2017, p. 132. EBSCOhost, ezproxy.montclair.edu:2048/login? url=http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.montclair.edu:2048/login.aspx? direct=true&db=edsglr&AN=edsgcl.520578965&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Revision Summary: I added the source of a textbook and went back to correct more grammar. By taking out a nonessential passage I was able to create a more concise view on my topic and explore farther into detail without shifting from my claim. I focused on the paragraph regarding the textbook as a source going into my final draft and believed it worked well for me....