Thursday, May 6, 2010
Solomon Lindo a bad character? Book of negroes
Solomon Lindo is someone who's character is hard to judge. He seems like a good man at first but later we find out that he had sold Aminata's son. But when looking back at his circumstances and the fact that he had taken Aminata away from Appleby he becomes very hard to judge. So, do you think Solomon Lindo was a bad character?
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To me, Mr. Lindo is ten times the man of Appleby. He gave Aminata oppourtunity and taught her arithmetic and language. He never beat her (except that one slap) and treated her like a person, not an object.
ReplyDeleteThe selling of her child could be a misunderstanding - we don't know the true, full story about it. The only things mentioned about it were from the fishnet and the frustrated face and words from Lindo. It could be much more complicated than what we think what happened. But considering Appleby would most likely have sold Mamadu anyways, I hope that at least Lindo would have sold him to a better family that would treat him as a "servant" rather than a "slave".
Yea I agree I think Solomon Lindo is a much better man than most people would perceive. Sure he sold Aminata's baby but he saved her from Appleby, as you said was 10 times worse than Lindo. If she had just stayed with Appleby she wouldn't have been able to have the opportunity of doing things like the Book of Negroes. Also Aminata would probably have been raped a few more times which would lower her self esteem not making her the strong person she is.
ReplyDeleteI believe overall Solomon Lindo was a good character. Although he did bad things like selling Aminata's son, he did many good things that Aminata benefited from. He may have neglected and mistreated her at times, but considering the laws built around slaves and the rights that they had in those times he sacrificed alot for Aminata out of the act of kindness. After Lindo's wife passed away he seemed to be more cruel towards Aminata because of the loss he suffered from, but he almost always apologized for his wrong actions. I knew it was best for Aminata to escape from him, but I still felt sympathy for Lindo afterwards because he now had no one to help him. After all that time he helped Aminata, she ran away from him in return.
ReplyDeleteI would have to disagree with all of you, overall I feel as if Solomon Lindo is not a good person. He may have some good qualities, but I think his good qualities do not cancel out his bad. Lindo may have saved Aminata from Appleby, but he took part in selling her son. A person doing this to a mother should never be forgiven. You may all say that he had no choice in doing this to Aminata because he had to do this to get her out. However, there is always another option, always another way out. He could have redeemed himself from his mistake by buying Aminata’s baby back from the owner he sold him to. Her son did not die right after he got there, Linda could still have saved him and brought him back. But he did not and he did not tell Aminata the first year she was with him. He kept it a secret, and took money from her earnings. Do you really think he should be considered a good man? He has no conscience. He treated Aminata badly after his wife died, and he still wanted money from her even when she could not support herself.
ReplyDeleteI would argue that Lindo was progressive considering he lived in the 18th century, allowed Aminata congical visits w/her husband and didn't act harshly after being slapped back. It was vile but Soloman probably did not want Aminata's child in the house as a rival for attention yet, nonetheless, considered himself virtuous for "rescuing" Aminata. I got the feeling that Solomon has somewhat of a possessive love for Aminata which, ultimately, led him to facilitate a reunion between mother and child.
DeleteMrs Lindo was wonderful. I believe she would have made sure Aminata free had she lived. Soloman wasn't dumb, knew she would run to Canvas town after discovering the truth. Ultimately, he also reunited mother and child
I think i have to agree with Mak because although he taught her many things the first thing he did was sell her son, he could have bought both of them, I don't think by treating her well while his wife was still alive and teaching her things she would have never known cancels out the fact that he sold her son to get her. I'd also have to say what makes Lindo a bad man is that he stopped caring for Aminata after the passingnofnhis family, yes I understand that loosing his wife and son were a horrible impact on his life but he did have Aminata to share those feeling with, as she grieved the loss as well. I felt that there was hope that Lindo may change and become the man he was when he was first introduced but the minute he slapped Aminata I lost all of those hopes and respect for him although he apologized for it, I felt that Aminata needed to move on with her life an leave his company, which she did.
ReplyDeleteSince I have read only half of the book, so far I find Soloman Lindo's character very decent when compared to other white people in the town. I agree with Sola because selling Aminata's son could have been a misunderstanding, if Lindo knew that he was Aminata's son then it would have been a different situation. I find his character different because he respects everybody and treats Aminata and Dolly as servants rather treating them as slaves. He teaches Aminata how to read, write, arithmatic and different trades that she would need in order to be self employed to catch babies. This situation is very rare because no white man would treat a black women with so much respect during that time. Hence overall i think Lindo is a good character.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Kanav because I too feel that Solomn Lindo’s character is hard to judge. If i tried to weigh the amount of good things Lindo has done, to the amount of his bad actions, I predict that they would be equal. Lindo is constantly doing things that appear either good or bad on the surface but we later see that he had hidden motives. His intentions are always unknown to us until later on in the story and so that is why I find his character hard to judge.
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ReplyDeleteSoloman Lindo is a very mysterious character because his true intentions are unknown., although Soloman educated Aminata in order to further her knowledge and for his own reasons. Selling Aminata's son only placed suspicion on Soloman character. But he did save her from Appleby as Kamal stated who knows what would happen if she did continue working for Appleby, she might continue being a rape victim. Thus I feel that Soloman was neither bad nor good but neutral in terms of keeping his true identity hidden.
ReplyDeleteI do not understand all the hate for Solomon Lindo.I believe Soloman Lindo is far a better man than Appleby.He taught her many things including Arithmetic. Even though he did contribute to selling her baby it was not his fault. Appleby wanted to separate Aminata and her baby and Lindo tried to sell her baby to a good family. The guilt of selling her baby made him come to the court room and set Aminata free, without him coming to set her free she would probably die somewhere in one of Appleby's plantations.
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