Book Summary
In Julius Lester’s Day of Tears: A Novel in Dialogue, Pierce Butler is a plantation
owner in the south who owns a great deal of slaves. However, due to a gambling
problem, Butler now owes a lot of money, and he decides to sell off almost all
of his slaves—creating the biggest slave auction in American history. Pierce
Butler has two young daughters, Sarah and Francis, who each have very different
opinions about slavery and, subsequently, they each have very different
relationships with their father. Francis is more like her father, and she
dreams to inherit the plantation, gain slaves back, and bring the plantation
back to its former glory. Sarah, on the other hand, is more like their mother—she
hates her father for owning slaves and selling them like property. Sarah treats
them more like the human beings they are. Because of disagreements over slavery
between Pierce Butler and his wife, they got a divorce, and the girls live with
Butler alone when the slave auction happens. With their mother gone, however,
Sarah is deeply grieved, and she turns to the warmth and solace of the young
slave girl who takes care of her: Emma.
On the two days during which the slave
auction takes place, the rain pours down harder than anyone has ever seen it. It
seems like a judgment from God the way the rain pours down, and the way it
relents once the auction is over. Pierce Butler takes his two girls to the
second day of the auction, and he takes Emma with him to help take care of the
girls. Butler has said that he would not sell Emma nor her parents. Butler grew
up alongside Emma’s parents on the plantation, and Emma’s father even rescued
Butler from drowning when they were boys. But once he gets to the auction,
Butler is persuaded to sell Emma anyway, and she is torn from her parents,
never to see or hear from them again. And this is just one tragic story of many
in this book of broken hearts and broken families. We have a chance, though, to
hear about these experiences from all different perspectives: Master Butler,
her daughters, Emma, other slaves, the slave seller, etc. This dialogue also
jumps around in time so the reader may learn about these characters’
experiences both during the time of the slave auction and also in the future,
to see how they have been affected by it down the road.
Some of the slaves are able to obtain
freedom and happiness despite their circumstances. Although Emma never sees her
parents again, she marries a boy from the same plantation she came from, with
whom she can share fond memories, and they eventually escape north to freedom
and have a family together. Emma lives to see her granddaughter go to school. On
the other hand, some of the slaves meet tragic ends, like Jeffrey, who was torn away from his true love at the auction.
Jeffrey and Dorcas were sold to different masters, but he held on to the hope
that they would be together again someday—that’s what got him through it all.
But when Jeffrey is finally free, and when he travels far to find Dorcas, he
discovers that she has children and is married to someone else; his chance with
her is gone, and any hope he had for happiness vanishes.
In the
end, each person who was part of the auction is impacted in various ways. The
slave seller loses his voice after the big, two-day auction, and he is not able
to sell slaves ever again. Pierce Butler dies, still having a broken relationship
with his daughter, Sarah. Many slaves were sold to new homes in different
states, and some torn from family. This one event turns out to have a large and
lasting impact.
APA Reference of Book
Lester, J. (2005). Day of tears: A novel in dialogue. New York, NY:
Hyperion Books for
Children.
Impressions
I was really
moved by this story—it both broke my heart and inspired me to stand up for what
I believe in. Julius Lester’s novel provides an insightful and historical look
into the time period of American slavery, not by giving dates and facts, but by
describing experiences, feelings, settings, and relationships. But first and
foremost, I think this story is about the people—multidimensional and complex
people—and it represents real people who were actually plantation owners or who
were actually enslaved and sold during that time. Lester’s novel is based on a
true event, which makes his story seem more reliable and accurate—and even more
heart-wrenching. According to the Author’s Note found at the end of the novel,
there was a real slave auction that took place in 1859, and it was the largest
in American history (Lester, 2005). Pierce Butler was a real man, the one who sold the slaves,
and he had been married to an English actress and abolitionist, Fannie Kimbell,
but Pierce and Fannie eventually got divorced (Lester, 2005). Butler sold the slaves to pay
for his debts, and according to Lester, there truly was a torrential rain
during the two-day auction, and it the event was known as The Weeping Time
(Lester, 2005). Lester used historical accounts from the lives of Pierce
Butler, Fannie Kimbell, and their two daughters, and he found real historical documents,
in order to mix fact and fiction (Lester, 2005) and create this authentic story
and represent experiences many slaves had during that time. Considering all of
the research Lester conducted, this story can be trusted for historical
accuracy, and it could be well utilized for educational purposes.
Not only was
Lester’s story historically accurate, but it was artistically illustrated. Throughout
the novel, weather, especially rain, is used to set the mood and illustrate
extremities of emotion. For instance, the backdrop of a heavy downpour of rain
is used to emphasize the emotions of the slave auction. Lester made it seem as
though God were crying tears of pain. The rain was well-utilized to highlight
the emotions felt throughout this event, particularly the emotions of the
slaves. It was important to convey these emotions in some way because in the
story, most of the slaves themselves appeared on the outside to be emotionless.
Emma takes notice of this, and she agrees in the story that if she knew she
were going to be sold, she would try to shut down and not show her emotions
either, despite the pain and the fear she would feel. Also, the rain shows up
again at the very end of the story, when the sound of a gentle rain can be
heard. This seems to be symbolic of progress—the auction of slaves occurred during
torrential downpour, and when Emma is shown as an old free, woman, a gentle
rain falls in the background. Progress has been made for the slaves, freedom
has been obtained, but their pain has not been erased or forgotten.
Furthermore,
as I mentioned previously, the characters feel authentic and realistic, and not
necessarily because some of them are based on real people, but because Lester
does a great job at showing complex people—some who fit stereotypes and some
who defy stereotypes. There are a range of slave and African American characters,
including slaves who run away to freedom (including Emma and Joe) and slaves
who prefer to stay in slavery (like Samson), thinking it safer and more convenient
to stay in slavery. There are also a range of white characters, including some
who explicitly display racism (the auctioneer) and some who risk a great deal
to help free slaves (the store owner). Furthermore, Lester’s descriptions
provide reasonable explanations for why characters sometimes act the way they
do. For example, Butler ends up selling Emma because he is afraid of the close
relationship between her and his daughter Sarah. Sarah shows such affection for
Emma, a slave, and it reminds him of his ex-wife. In addition, Samson prefers to
remain in slavery, but he had not always felt that way. At one time, Samson
tried to run away too, but he was severely beaten. Luckily, Master Henfield
took pity on him, and Samson was treated well at the Henfield plantation,
especially compared to the awful way he was treated by his previous master. The
characters have clear motivations for acting the way they do, even if the
actions initially seem surprising or out of character.
I also think
Lester creates an engaging plot that includes foreshadowing and a build-up of
tension, especially when Emma was going to the auction, and readers easily
become invested in what is going to happen. The mood is appropriately ominous,
and hints are given that something bad is going to happen—Francis wants to cry
before leaving, and Emma feels sick to her stomach. The characters themselves
know, deep down, that something terrible is happening. And eventually, Emma is
sold, without any warning.
There is so
much to say about Lester’s novel—I feel like I could go on and on. I think this
novel is beautiful, thought-provoking, and heartbreaking all at the same time,
and I will not forget the images and people within its pages.
Professional Review
The following
was stated about Day of Tears in a
review from Kirkus Reviews (2005):
On a day when rain came down “hard as sorrow,”
George Weems sets out to sell more slaves at one time than anyone ever had.
Pierce Butler must sell off hundreds of slaves to cover gambling debts and
12-year-old Emma is one of his victims. Named after Lester’s grandmother, whose
mother was a slave, Emma is part of a large cast of characters—slaves, owners,
businessmen and abolitionists—who tell their own stories, in their own voices.
Interludes occasionally have characters return in old age to reflect on their
lives since the auction, a brilliant technique that demonstrates, in some
characters, the persistence of racist belief. Other, good-hearted, characters,
white and black, act towards each other with respect and dignity and affirm the
possibilities of conscience and common humanity even in the worst of times.
This important novel, based on an actual slave auction in 1859, begs to be
performed, though teachers and performers may be hesitant to utter the racist
language of the day. Powerful theater and one of Lester’s finest works. (para.
1)
Library
Uses
This book has the potential to teach some very
powerful lessons to students, and it is most likely best suited in the middle
school or high school setting. Day of
Tears can teach students about history (specifically the Civil War period
and American slavery) and also about racism and segregation in general. A
school librarian can assist a middle school teacher with introducing this book to
a class for a history unit about slavery and the Civil War. The class could
read at least portions of the book together out loud, utilizing the play format
of the novel to split parts up among students who then read their individual
parts out loud. The only problem with reading this book aloud in class is the
potential for students to be uncomfortable or offended at some of the racial
slurs used in the dialogue. A teacher or librarian can pick portions of the
book to read aloud that do not include this language. After reading the book
aloud, the class can engage in a discussion about how it would have felt to be
a slave during that time period, what it would have felt like to be sold like
the slaves in Day of Tears, and how
historically accurate they think the book is. The librarian can also use this
book as an opportunity to inform the students about how to discern whether a
book is reliable or historically accurate, noting things like the authority or
reputation of the author, the references in the back of the book, any forewords
or author notes included in the book regarding the author’s research, and more.
References
[Review of the book Day of tears: A novel in dialogue, by Julius Lester]. (2005, March
1). Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved from www.kirkusreviews.com
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