Dialectics of African Identity and Slavery in Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad

Abstract

This thesis is an attempt to show dialectics of African identity and slavery of Cora from the perspective of Neo-slave narrative with reference to Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad; it focuses on how Identity and slavery interplay with each other in course of Cora’s identity formation. The protagonist Cora, in the novel experiences dehumanize behavior form her slave owners. Cora, endures from racism, however, she escapes from the South to the North through the Underground Railroad. Colson Whitehead explores the identity of African American females as a medium of slavery. By taking theoretical insights on Neo-slave narrative proposed by Ashraf H.A Rushdy, Bernard Bell and Toni Morrison; this research paper deals with the Dialectics of African identity and slavery with Cora’s point of view. Cora is abused by white masters and she suffer mentally and psychologically. She faces the problems of dislocation, identity, racial discrimination and social injustice due to slavery. She is detached from her identity, culture and rights but consistently fights to resist against injustices. Keywords: Racism, dehumanization, neo-slave narrative, dialecti