Roots

__**Roots By: Alex Haley**__= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

This novel is directed for the general audience; however it had a much greater impact on an American.
 * Who is this novel intended for?**


 * What is the message and purpose of this letter?** The purpose of this letter is to inform the reader of the speaker’s perception on the American Identity and to help create a perception of the American Identity in the reader’s mind. The overall message that Haley portrays on the reader is that each American is somehow traced back to descendants, and most (the ones that are not Native Americans) are traced back to different continents and regions of the world. This means that the common purpose and goal of every American is and was freedom and individualism. He alludes to the fact that America is made of immigrants with the common goal of establishing and new and improved life on the basis of freedom, liberty, and equal rights. He believes that all Americans whether white, brown, and especially black came to America to fight and “struggle for freedom”


 * How does the time period affect the literature theme and message?** This illustrious and famous novel was written and published in 1976, which was about a decade after the civil rights movement. The civil rights movement of African Americans greatly influenced Haley to write about African-Americans and their descendants in Africa. However this was intended not only to African-Americans, but to Americans in general to remind them about their common goal in this land. Through this novel he also tried to tie together and unite Americans following the ruthless and relentless Vietnam War.


 * Final Analysis and Conclusion** Exactly 200 years after the American Revolution and Declaration of Independence from Britain, people in the U.S. were still somewhat hesitant in describing the “American Identity”. However Haley boldly and quite accurately answers this controversial question. The American Identity according to Haley was made up of a surplus of mixed races, traditions, and customs, whose foundations came from, disperse areas and continents of the world and were all accepted and practiced thanks to the basis of freedom and natural rights; which resulted in a new and improved nation and society. The book does a great job in formatting the stories in which they all have in common the controversial question and recurring theme of the definition of The American Identity, and slowly helps us establish and idea and by the end of the unit, it helps us find an answer to this question.


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