Bloodroot Book

Bloodroot is a Novel set in the 1930's. I chose this book because it seemed interesting and I needed to do a book report. The protagonists in this story is Wesley who is supposed to inherit an estate but since he is African American at the time he is not allowed to own a piece of land. Cora, Wesley's sister is a witness and along with Wesley she has been working for a white and powerful man for a long time. The antagonist is the county who want to build a turpentine plant on the estate Wesley was chosen to inherit. Elsa a representative wants to help Wesley and Cora as much as possible but she is given orders to convince them on taking the money by the county officials. Towards the end both Elsa and Wesley find themselves moving to an end that neither want to face.

The Central conflict is man v. society which is Wesley v. The County officials. The theme on this story would be the American dream because Wesley has worked all his life and he is finally going about to inherit a home, which at the time African Americans were not allowed to own property. Water is a symbol because floods and rain are present whenever a conflict is present.

The writing style of the author is poetic and although it takes place during The Great Depression the author doesn't write in a depressing writing style. Bloodroot honestly, does not fall among one of my favorite books. It is a good book but the beginning doesn't really catch the readers attention, which caused me to fall asleep a couple of times while I was sleeping. However, the ending completes the book and fortunately didn't make me regret reading bloodroot. This book has good strong vocabulary and is well put together and for a debut of a young writer it is a good start.