Roots: The Story of an American Family (Style)

Style

Narration

Roots is narrated by a third-person narrator. The device of a third-person narrator enables the text to change settings when the characters do. For example, when Kizzy is sold away from the Waller plantation, the narrative moves with her, recording her actions and thoughts on the Lea plantation. In this way the narrative moves from generation to generation, from Kunta Kinte to Bertha Palmer Haley.

At the very end of the book, the narration switches from the third person to the first person with the arrival of Alex Haley, the book's author. Haley records his own thoughts and actions in his own voice.

Setting

The setting of Roots changes as the characters are sold or move. It begins in Juffure, Kunta's village, and then moves to the ship in which Kunta is placed for his journey across the Atlantic.

The narrative then moves to Virginia, on the Waller plantations where Kunta lives. When Kizzy is sold away from the Waller plantation, the setting switches to Tom Lea's plantation in North Carolina. Kizzy's daughter-in-law and grandchildren are later sold to Master Murray in Alamance County, also in North Carolina. After emancipation, the family moves to Henning, Tennessee. At the end of the novel, Alex Haley journeys to Juffure and the narrative comes full circle.

Realism

Haley called his book "faction," a mix of fact and fiction. Although Haley creates the thoughts and dialogue of his characters, Roots is meant to be a realistic account of Mandinka culture and slave life in the American colonies and the United States. Haley frequently has his characters refer to historical events, and he relies on oral and written accounts in order to realistically imagine what the lives and thoughts of his characters may have been like.

Plot

The plot of Roots becomes more episodic as the story goes on. Haley presents the extraordinary events in the lives of his characters such as birth, marriage, death or sale, or important events like George's biggest gamecock matches or the Fiddler's inability to gain freedom. At times, the narrative skips years in the lives of the characters because not much of consequence occurs.