Discussion 12.11.13

Today in class, the chapter, "Milk for the longest nursing," was discussed. This chapter touched a lot on dehumanization and Aminata's loss; her baby being taken from her. This chapter was one of the few chapters in this book that made me cringe. When Appleby shaved Aminata's hair off and called it "wool", I could not help but tense my jaw. This horrible man was taking away what symbolized her beauty, humanness and her womanhood. He did this out of anger towards Aminata "dressing like she was white." WHAT A STUPID REASON. Aminata is a human who should have just as much right to wear what she pleases and act how she wants but instead, she is under the supervision and owned by another human; a white man. To make things worse, if she does something unpleasing to him, she is humiliated and punished. When Appleby takes her baby away from her, I could nearly feel her heartache. She falls asleep with this pride and joy of hers in her arms and wakes up to him being taken away from her......the feeling of pain is unimaginable. It is unfortunate that the whites dehumanized the salves under no good cause. This disturbs me greatly and this chapter for me was not easy to read. Aminata did nothing to deserve the humiliation she endured in front of her people and she most certainly did not deserve having her baby taken from her. These both affected Aminata but she is a strong character and her story goes on... I can say that I look up to her character and I truly admire her resilience.