Roots: The Story of an American Family (Themes)

Themes

Assimilation and Separatism

Kunta Kinte's story illustrates an enduring theme of African-American life: the conflict between assimilation and separatism. In Africa, Kunta would never have been confronted with this issue, but in the American colonies he is subject to the powerful pressures of assimilation.

Kunta tries to hold onto his African identity, which has always defined him. Yet he is forced to accept a new name. As a slave, his entire social context has been redefined. Kunta cannot fully express himself because he is not free; he has lost his autonomy, which had so defined him as a young man in Africa.

Moreover, Kunta is very lonely away from his home, family, and culture. In order to assuage his loneliness, he reaches out to the other blacks. Eventually Kunta realizes that he prefers life on the plantation to certain death, which he risks if he attempts to escape again.

Yet the knowledge that he has to surrender part of himself to survive is soul crushing, and he realizes that he has lost an essential part of himself. However, Kunta does pass on as much of his African knowledge as he can to his daughter, Kizzy, who in turn passes stories of her father on to succeeding generations, who cherish their African heritage while seeking the American dream of freedom and success.

Coming of Age

The first part of Roots is a coming-of-age story: the young hero, Kunta Kinte, learns how to be an adult. This is not an emotional or intellectual journey so much as it is a process of learning the steps to adulthood. As a young child, Kunta hears stories that teach him his place in the world. When he is older, he has a job taking care of his father's goats and he attends school. At ten, he embarks on his manhood training, formally becoming an adult in his culture, which means he has his own farm and his own hut.

Kunta's continued growth into adulthood is halted by his descent into slavery. He must come of age all over again, learning a new language and culture. However, Kunta can never fully become an adult in a slave society. Like a child, he is forever subject to the whims of others. He has no freedom of movement, and most heartbreakingly, he cannot save his daughter Kizzy from being sold. Although Kunta behaves with an adult sense of responsibility, he is always subject to the humiliating realization that he is treated as less than a man, human being, and adult.

Human Rights

Roots is a story that illustrates the incompatibility of slavery with basic human dignity. The crux of incompatibility is the manner in which individual family members are sold without regard for family ties.

For instance, Kunta and Bell have their daughter sold away from them, and Kizzy suffers the same fate when Tom Lea sells her daughter-in-law and grandchildren from her. It is in these heartrending scenes that the cruelty of treating humans like property is most evident.

Slaves who are sold away from their families never see them again, cannot attend a loved one's funeral, hold a grandchild, or celebrate a son's marriage. Master Waller can order Kunta to drive him to see his family whenever he wants, but when he sells Kizzy, Kunta knows he will never see her again. Although both Master Waller and Master Murray are portrayed as relatively fair owners, the constant threat of separation shows how inhumane slavery is and how their participation in slavery makes them inhumane.

Topices for Further Study

• Create a your own account of Kunta and Bell's Create a your own account of Kunta and Bell's time on the Waller plantation after their daughter Kizzy is sold. What do you think happened to these characters?
• Research your family tree. How far back can you go? What do you know about your family's history and heritage?
• Research the Haitian slave revolt and Kunta's hero, Toussaint Louverture. How did slave life in Haiti differ from slave life in the American colonies? How did conditions in Haiti make a successful slave revolt possible?
• Examine the central beliefs of the Quakers, who were the first American abolitionists. Did their religious faith and practice influence their commitment to abolitionism? How did other religions in the antebellum period treat the question of slavery?