the underground railroad summary

However, on her way back to Randall she is bitten by a snake and dies, her body swallowed up by the swamp. This causes a man named Big Anthony to run away, though Big Anthony is soon captured and tortured to death over a gruesome three-day period. As a teenager, Ridgeway becomes a patroller, terrorizing and abusing black people, before deciding to become a professional slave catcher. Sam’s house is burned to the ground. Ajarry has three husbands and five children, and the only one of the children that survives is Mabel, Cora’s mother. from your Reading List will also remove any That night, Boseman undoes Cora’s chains in order to rape her. As Cora is carried off by Ridgeway, she sees Martin and Ethel being stoned to death. CliffsNotes study guides are written by real teachers and professors, so no matter what you're studying, CliffsNotes can ease your homework headaches and help you score high on exams. In one town where they stop, Cora makes eye contact with a young black man named Royal. A brief chapter tells the story of Ethel’s life. Soon, Cora is given a new job as a “type” in a museum. Cora waits there, but neither Sam nor Caesar joins her. Unable to find Caesar, Cora goes to Sam, who advises her to hide in the railroad station underneath his house. Although most fugitives only stay at Valentine temporarily, Cora is reluctant to leave, just as she was reluctant to leave South Carolina. When Cora was born, Mabel was repeatedly raped by Moses, one of the black bosses on Randall. After the dinner, Boseman attempts to rape Cora but is interrupted by Royal, Justin, and Red, three free black men who shoot Boseman and rescue Cora. Everyone labors equally and lives in community. She goes to warn Sam, who tells Cora that Ridgeway is after her and hides her down on the underground railroad platform. Boseman, meanwhile, has been traveling with Ridgeway for three years and he wears a necklace of shriveled ears. Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts. They shoot Lander and Royal and drag off many others. While the issue is being debated, a group of whites raids the farm, killing Royal and a number of others. After spending days trapped in the station under Sam’s house, Cora is rescued by an engine passing by. Before the feast, Cora talks to her friend Lovey, a kind and simple young woman who—unlike Cora—enjoys dancing. She is once again taking classes, and she shares a cabin with a woman named Sybil and Sybil’s daughter, Molly, with whom Cora has an affectionate bond. Although he is technically free, Homer mysteriously decides to stay with Ridgeway and he even voluntarily chains himself to Ridgeway’s wagon at night. Cora, meanwhile, steps onto the handcar waiting in the station and begins slowly conveying herself to freedom, swinging at the tunnel with a pickax as she goes. When Mabel disappeared, she gave no indication to Cora that she was leaving. Cora falls ill after months of hiding in the attic. Their journey is interrupted when a group of free black Underground Railroad agents rescue Cora from Ridgeway. Eventually Cora becomes feverish; Martin and Ethel give their maid, Fiona, a week off so that they can bring Cora downstairs and nurse her back to health. In the altercation, Cora kills one of them, a teenage boy, in self-defense. She encounters a group of wagon drivers and sits up with an elderly black man named Ollie, who offers her food and water and suggests that they catch up on each other’s stories. Cora shouldn’t have come, Martin says, because North Carolina is growing increasingly hostile toward runaway slaves and those who harbor them. The Underground Railroad study guide contains a biography of Colson Whitehead, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. The Underground Railroad covers five primary periods in the life of Cora: 1. When Terrance Randall enlists him to find Cora, and he learns she is Mabel’s daughter, he becomes obsessed with finding her and eradicating the Underground Railroad from the South. The narrative jumps into the future, with Cora now living on Valentine farm, a free black community in Indiana. From the creators of SparkNotes, something better. A legally freed slave named Mingo argues that protecting fugitives puts them all in danger by angering white people. The conductor tells her that he isn’t supposed to be carrying passengers, and he leaves her at what appears to be an abandoned station in North Carolina. After a while she grows too tired and, in between sleeps, continues her journey on foot. Many of the towns they pass through have been ravaged by natural disasters. They have a servant, Fiona, a young Irish woman who cannot know about Cora’s presence, lest she alert others and get Cora, Martin, and Ethel killed. They form a mob and ransack the farm, killing many members of the community, including Royal. She declines, thinking it is a joke or a trap. The narrative jumps to Cora’s adolescence—she is still living on Randall. About to descend into the station, Cora ambushes Ridgeway and pushes him down the cellar stairs. resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel. Shortly after, a group of pig hunters finds them in the woods. Cora spends every Sunday tending to her garden, which she inherited from Mabel (who inherited it from Ajarry). Ridgeway eventually gets irritated by Jasper’s singing and shoots him. I'm sorry, this is a short-answer forum designed for text specific questions. Teachers and parents! A few days later, Cora emerges from the Railroad. Separated from her family and reduced to her value on the auction block, Ajarry ends up in the southern state of Georgia on the Randall tobacco plantation. Fiona becomes suspicious and alerts the authorities, who search the house during a weekly festival and capture Cora. Arriving in South Carolina, the station agent, Sam, welcomes them, and provides them with the alibis of Bessie Carpenter and Christian Markson. Martin shows Cora the Freedom Trail, a seemingly endless line of lynched black bodies left hanging on display, and he explains that black people are not allowed in North Carolina anymore. They are nearly caught by a group of white hog hunters; Lovey is captured, and Cora kills a white boy in order to escape. A station agent named Martin finally arrives. Old Randall hired Ridgeway, a notorious slave catcher, to find Mabel, but he was unable to do so. They shoot Boseman and overpower Ridgeway and Homer, chaining them to their own wagon. Ridgeway captures Cora and demands that she lead him to the railroad station. Ajarry has three husbands and five children, and the only one of the children that survives is Mabel, Cora’s mother. Chapter 1: Ajarry. Eventually, she reaches the mouth of the tunnel and she can tell from the sun that she has made it north. Ethel is a nervous, reluctant bystander until her chance to play missionary when Cora falls ill. They travel through towns struck by wildfires and yellow fever. By using our site, you acknowledge that you have read and understand our. The novel The Underground Railroad opens with the story of Ajarry, a young woman who is captured by slave traders on the African continent and sold in America. Cora and the Underground Railroad agents, including one named Royal, travel on the Railroad to a farm in Indiana owned by John Valentine, a free black man. While the two are fighting and away from their weapons, Royal and two of his companions rescue Cora. Once there, Martin Wells discovers her on the platform and he is alarmed by her arrival, as the station is supposed to be closed. Cora spends most of her time in the farm’s library, and one day John joins her there to discuss the future of the farm. Not affiliated with Harvard College. When Mabel runs away, she is thrilled by the taste of freedom but she immediately decides that she must go back for Cora. Ajarry’s one small act of liberation on Randall is to begin a vegetable plot on a small piece of land between slave cabins that her daughter Mabel and eventually her granddaughter Cora will inherit. How was Cora's identity portrayed throughout the book? They move from Virginia to North Carolina, where Martin is from, when his father dies. It is eventually revealed that Bessie is, in fact, Cora, who (along with Caesar) assumed a fake identity in South Carolina with the assistance of a white saloon owner and underground railroad agent named Sam. Soon after Cora was placed there, she had a confrontation with a man named Blake who built a wooden house for his dog in Cora’s garden. In an interlude before the last chapter of the novel, readers finally learn the fate of Mabel, Cora’s mother. Cora takes classes in literacy with Miss Handler, and she undergoes medical examinations at the local hospital. Ridgeway has built up a reputation for being the most effective slave catcher in the South, often traveling to the far northern states to recapture runaway slaves. When a young slave named Chester is beaten by plantation owner Terrance Randall, Cora intervenes and is beaten. The Underground Railroad essays are academic essays for citation.

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