Finally, Leslie A. Fiedler writes the following in her commentary of Uncle Tom?s Cabin.
How oddly they undercut the scenes of separated families, of baffled mother-love, at which Mrs. Stowe worked so hard?feeling perhaps that to her bourgeois readers slavery would stand condemned only if it were proved an offense against the sacred family and the suffering mother. (Fiedler 565)
Like Lynn, Fiedler recognizes Stowe?s attempt to help the readers feel the agony of the slaves by creating sorrow within a family?something that is common to everyone. When Eliza learns that her only child is to be sold, one transcends beyond racism and begins to feel Eliza?s pain as a mother. One then realizes that these poor souls are indeed humans as well and their pains are as heartbreaking as any other person?s pain. They are not ignorant savages who can only survive under the white man’s command. Instead, they are individuals who deserve the right of freedom like anyone else.
In his commentary of Roots, James Baldwin states the following:
The world of ["Roots"] begins in Gambia West Africa in 1750 with the birth of one of [Haley's] ancestors, Kunta Kinte? In the re-creation of this time and place, Haley succeeds beautifully where many have failed. He must have studied and sweated hard to achieve such ease and grace, for he would appear to have been born in his ancestral village and to be personally acquainted with everybody there. (Baldwin 259)
Baldwin clearly understands Haley’s intention of finding his true origin in Africa. However, in order to do so, Haley had to carry out numerous years of research both in America and Africa. Haley’s extensive research paid off. Just as Baldwin stated, Haley does an excellent job of portraying life in Juffure. It seems as if he was there watching the life of Kunta as he grew up in his native village. Furthermore, it seems as if he actually lived the life of Kunta Kinte and merely wrote his own autobiography. One is truly amazed at how Haley combined his research with his imagination and created such a realistic world that existed more that two hundred years ago.
Like James Baldwin, Arnold Rampersad also realizes Haley’s intention for writing Roots. In his commentary he states that “Haley’s search for his ancestors is not conducted to discover unvarnished truth but rather, from one perspective, to justify the history of blacks in America”(Rampersad 247). African-Americans were torn away from their homeland and families by slave traders and Haley wants everyone to understand this. He wants people to realize how African-Americans got here and also the hardships they have been through. Furthermore, he states that African-Americans were people with a history rather than uncivilized savages who roamed the jungles like wild animals. They too had order in their societies and were civilized in their own different way. By writing Roots, Haley was also able to give and idea to those who are unfortunate of not knowing their origin by helping them understand where they came from and how their ancestors’ lifestyles were back in Africa. Just as Rampersad stated, he was not searching for an “unvarnished truth” but instead, he was “justifying the history of blacks in America.”
On the other hand, however, Russell Warren Howe thinks otherwise. In his commentary he states the following:
Yet for all Haley’s undeniable achievement and painstaking research, implying a claim to authenticity, the key historical portions are marred by serious factual errors? The Juffure of the 1750s is portrayed almost as it appears today. For instance, the village’s main crop is rice, which was not introduced until this century and only became Gambia’s staple diet after World War II. Kinte is weaned at 13 months?conceivable now, when every Mauritanian storekeeper in Gambia sells powdered mild and formula, but unthinkable in traditional West Africa before the age of three or later. Adults in the village know their ages?an unlikely situation even today? There are other minor incongruities?. (Howe 248)
One can see clearly that Howe does not understand Haley’s intentions for writing Roots. Howe seems to think Haley was writing a history book and thus picks at the minor historical errors in Haley’s book. Although Roots might have a few minor flaws in the historical point of view, one must understand that Haley was not writing a history book; he was writing a saga of his own family in order to discover his true origin and let the history of his people be known to the world. Instead of focusing on the minor historical errors, one should focus on the predicaments of families and individuals as well as the maltreatment that some blacks received from their white masters.
Each book aims at the reader’s conscience. Stowe is blatant, Haley more subtle. However, these two authors were inspired by different reasons for writing their books. Stowe intended to criticize the North for permitting slavery to proceed and the South for practicing slavery. Thus she wrote in a general manner and over-dramatized her novel in order for the reader to sympathize with the African-American race. On the other hand, Haley intended to find his origin and thus help other African-Americans realize their origins as well even though it might not be traceable. Thus his purpose was mainly personal and his book fairly realistic. However, both authors lead the reader to understand that these people are just as human as whites or any other race. They are not stupid or ignorant and the fact that they have a different skin color does not make them savages. Most importantly, both Stowe and Haley states the importance of freedom and helps the reader realize how he or she takes it for granted while the slaves merely dreamed about it during the era of slavery.