Analysis Of Sharon M. Drapers Copper Sun - 1144 Words

In the novel, Copper Sun, Sharon M. Draper quotes a fictional auctioneer: â€Å"Do I hear more than ten pounds for this fine example of African womanhood? Hardly a scratch on her. Bright enough to be taught simple commands, like ‘Come here’ and ‘Lie down’† (52). Amari, the terrified teenager the auctioneer was talking about, was recently taken from her home, chained, and crammed into a slave ship set for America. While on the slave ship, people underwent hunger, sickness, thirst, rape, and death. Though Sharon M. Draper wrote these characters as fictional, they correctly portray people that have lived during that time period. Because of this, Copper Sun is historically accurate and correctly depicts the story of an African girl, as well as the†¦show more content†¦According to FMM in an article titled Francisco Menendez, this was true because in the 1740’s, England attacked Fort Mose, but most of the citizens there were already moved t o the protection of St. Augustine. Sharon M. Draper was able to accurately depict the characters, while also giving them their own story. Although most of the characters in the novel are fictional, many of the places they go to are real. Towards the end of the story, Amari, Polly, and Tidbit escape the Derby’s and head for Fort Mose, a place in Florida where slaves can be freed, which in fact, is true. In an article by PBS, called Fort Mose, Fort Mose was a society of laborers and growers who integrated approaching fugitives, slaves, and Indians from nearby places into an involved family chain. Fort Mose was located two miles north of St. Augustine, and was controlled by the Spanish at the time (PBS). Another major setting in Copper Sun is the Derby Plantation. Though the plantation is not a real place, it resembles what a plantation was like back then. For instance, the hut Polly and Amari lived in was a single room with little outside light and made of rough wooden planks. Like the other huts, the floor was dirt, but other huts around them were made of mud and clay (Draper). SciWay supports Draper’s por trayal of the huts in their article, The Lives of African-American Slaves in Carolina During the