The Journey to the North: Cora’s Awakening and Rebirth in The Underground Railroad
School of Foreign Languages, Wuhan Institute of Technology, Wuhan 430205, China
| Abstract: | The Underground Railroad written by Colson Whitehead, an African-American writer, tells the story of Cora, a slave girl’s escape journey from south to north, from suffering to freedom. From the perspective of ethical literary criticism, this paper analyzes Cora’s escape to the North in the novel by using its core concepts: Ethical environment, ethical identity and ethical consciousness. Whitehead creates a unique ethical environment through the ingenious integration of the slavery and the historical events of racism in the United States. In the ethical environment where slaves are brutally oppressed, Cora yearns for the north and flees from the southern plantation for freedom. As Cora travels north through different places, her ethical identity changes constantly, and eventually she becomes a non-domestic slave from private property that can be disposed of at will, and gains her freedom. In the process of escape, Cora suffers from the bullying of the whites and the indifference of her compatriots, but her ethical consciousness keeps her from being complicit, standing up for others, feeling shame after betraying those who help her, and even being willing to pay for it with her life. Even though Cora is tortured, her ethical consciousness always shines. This interpretation delves into the persecution and suffering of black slaves brought by slavery in the United States, and draws people’s attention to this dark period in history, as well as to the present and future of the African-American community. |
| Keywords: | Colson Whitehead; The Underground Railroad; Ethical Literary Criticism; Ethical Environment; Ethical Identity; Ethical Consciousness |
| DOI: | 10.57237/j.jsts.2024.02.004 |
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Received: 2 November 2023
Accepted: 10 April 2024
Published Online: 13 April 2024
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