Alex Haley's Roots: A Tale of Search Against Uprootedness (original) (raw)

Abstract

, a famous American biographer, scriptwriter and novelist published his most famous and historical novel ROOTS in the year 1976. He did something no black person had been able to do before: he got Americans to view history from a black perspective. The vehicle he used was 'ROOTS: The Saga of an American Family' his 688 page fictional interpretation of the genealogy of his family beginning with a kidnapped African boy brought to the United States as a slave in the mid-1700's. Haley traced in it his ancestry back to Africa and covered seven American generations, starting from his African ancestor, Kunta Kinte. 'ROOTS' touches the pulse that how alike we human beings are when we get down to the bottom beneath these man-imposed differences Thus ROOTS is an example of a man's sudden uprootedness from his motherland, from his culture. The suffering, pain and agony that he goes through and it speaks about the untiring struggle for his existence. Alex Haley, a famous American biographer, scriptwriter and novelist published his most famous and historical novel ROOTS in the year 1976. He did something no black person had been able to do before: he got Americans to view history from a black perspective. The vehicle he used was 'ROOTS: The Saga of an American Family' his 688 page fictional interpretation of the genealogy of his family beginning with a kidnapped African boy brought to the United States as a slave in the mid-1700's. It became an immediate bestseller for this book had given African-Americans their sense of identify; he had given them a history. It is worth repeating the subtitle of the book, 'The Saga of an American Family', for it demonstrates that Haley was trying to make a broad statement about everyone's roots, not just those of African-Americans, and no doubt he struck a chord. As Alex Haley once stated-"Roots is not just a saga of my family. It is the symbolic saga of a people." It was as if the entire country was having an identity crisis and readers of any race could better understand their own lives through the multi-generational saga Haley had written. Haley traced in it his ancestry back to Africa and covered seven American generations, starting from his African ancestor, Kunta Kinte. 'ROOTS' touches the pulse that how alike we human beings are when we get down to the bottom beneath these man-imposed differences. He emphasized on the point that in every place there lives three group of people; first are those we could see walking around, eating, sleeping and working. Second are the ancestors-"And the third people-who are they?"asked Kunta. "The third people, "said Omoro, "are those waiting to be born." These lines clearly state the triumph of meaninglessness of existence by experiencing Kinte's recognition in the deep roots and bonds of culture and relationships. As the color of an

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