Aminata Diallo Character Analysis in The Book Of Negros

Home, a place one is able to feel wanted, accepted, cared for, and free to express themselves to the fullest extent. An opportunity to appreciate and promote an individual's quirks and uniqueness, no matter the world's perception. The concept of safety is a key component required for one to acquire a sense of home. Home is demonstrated as a continuous alternate occurrence in Aminata’s life. In The Book Of Negros, Aminata Diallo refers to Bayo, Africa  as home: a place although filled with conflict, is made safe with the presence of her parents' love. The novel displays the effects of slavery and the damage it inflicts upon her as she is forced to grow accustomed to death in her temporary home . Lawrence Hill depicts the constant struggle of the main character, Aminata Diallo, in a foreign country in her attempts to find a place to settle and call home.

Aminata experiences safety in Bayo, Africa, a place she feels secure, loved, and at home. At this stage in her life, she has all the tools she needs to have a joyful and healthy lifestyle. In the novel, Aminata explains that in her early childhood, her "[mother] was like a river, flowing on and on  with [her] through the days, and keeping [her] safe at night" (9), she also describes her father as the spitting image of strength, and together they gave Aminata a sense of security. In the book of Negros, Aminata states that "[she] imagines[s] their hands steering [her] from trouble, guiding [her] around cooking fires, and leading [her] to the mat in the cool shade of [her]home",(9). In Bayo, Africa, Aminata had a home and with that she obtained the ability to aspire to find her place in society. Aminata’s father, Mamadu Diallo, worshipped in the Muslim faith, and her mother, Sira Kulibali, a midwife, helped shape her into a person with a good moral compass. Unfortunately, having lost her parents, this way of life did not last and Aminata is left with only memories of home and the qualities that she acquired from it as she’s led away from Bayo, Africa to the Americas. 

This event sparks an unknown willpower unrevealed as of yet, as she strengthens herself in hopes of the day she might return. The captors appeared to view Aminata and the captives as disposable.  Aminata reveals in the novel that she "lived in terror that the captors would beat [her], boil [her], and eat [her]." ( 25). Despite her dread for her life, Aminata motivates herself to persevere in the aim of the day they might return to Africa.  On the slave ship, Aminata suffers from nutritional deficiencies and imbalanced mental stability as her home changes from secure to insecure, unlike Bayo, Africa. Aminata describes the slave ship as an "animal" with  "an endless appetite" with many lives cut short because of it. The ship was engulfed with death, which would have been unusual in comparison to Bayo because death rarely occurred. Upon arrival in America, she sets her eyes on a strange land that will be her home for many years to come as she is sold to Appleby’s plantation. 

In Aminata's life, home appears to change quite frequently due to slavery as she is hoisted from one place to another. In America, it seemed like every place she ended up, trouble followed. In the novel, Aminata concludes that "no place in the world was entirely safe for an African, and that for many of us, survival depended on perpetual migration,"(246) and this was entirely true when it came to Appleby’s plantation. Aminata's life on Appleby’s plantation became extremely difficult as Appleby seemed to have become fond of her. After realising that Aminata had no interest in him, but instead had an interest in another man, he became angry and prompted him to sexaully assault her. Unfortunately, this was not the last form of terror in Appleby's plantation, as Appleby publicly humiliates her after discovering she was pregnant and eventually sells her baby Mamadu, driving her into depression. Aminata's time on Appleby's plantation was one of the most dark and gloomy experiences of her life. As Appleby sells Aminata to Solomin Lindof, who has more preferable morals about how to treat a person. Regrettably, Aminata discovers a rather damning truth that causes her to feel resentment towards him. As she is now tasked with discovering a way to abscond from him, it seems there is no safe place in America to settle down and call home.

In conclusion, home is an opportunity to recognise and encourage an individual's quirks and individuality, regardless of how the rest of the world perceives them. Lawrence Hill shows the main character, Aminata Diallo's, continual struggle in a strange nation to find a place to settle and call home. In addition to her parents' affection in Bayo, Africa, and eventually the harm done on her as a result of slavery. Aminta's household moves frequently, and she is obliged to adapt to these changes.