The Underground Railroad

“The first time Caesar approached Cora about running north, she said no. This was her grandmother talking. Cora’s grandmother had never seen the ocean before that bright afternoon in the port of Ouidah and the water dazzled after her time in the fort’s dungeon. The dungeon stored them until the ships arrived. Dahomeyan raiders kidnapped the men first, then returned to her village the next moon for the women and children, marching them in chains to the sea two by two.” 

The opening line of the book showcases Whitehead’s mise-en-scène style, in which he introduces a plot element or character without preamble, and the full significance of that character or plot element gradually becomes apparent. Here, the important character of Caesar is introduced, although we do not yet know who he is. The idea of escape, too, is announced without preamble here. And Cora, too, is also mentioned. Here, Whitehead also foregrounds the concept of family legacy. Throughout the book, Cora’s kinship ties to her grandmother (but more importantly, to her mother) will exercise a great influence on her heart and mind. This familial legacy is also especially poignant within the context of enslavement, an institution that endeavored to rob black people of their family history, kinship, and personal history. 

“[Cora] was born in winter. Her mother, Mabel, had complained enough about her hard delivery, the rare frost that morning, the wind howling between the seams of the cabin. How her mother bled for days and Connelly didn’t bother to call the doctor until she looked half a ghost. Occasionally Cora’s mind tricked her and she’d turn the story into one of her memories, inserting the faces of ghosts, all slave dead, who looked down at her with love and indulgence. Even people she hated, the ones who kicked her or stole her food once her mother was gone.” 

This quote showcases the brutality of the plantation into which Cora was born. Cora’s mother’s life was not valued at all, nor was Cora’s. However, Cora poignantly inserts a memory of being beloved within the painful story of her origins. This demonstrates Cora’s deep desire for love and belonging, despite the hardness that she will eventually have to adopt to survive and cope with the great traumas she endures.