Takaki Chapter 3

Chapter 3 of A Different Mirror is all about how slavery started and how it continued throughout history. In this chapter Takaki starts off talking about the play The Tempest and how the theatergoers were aware of the possibility that Caliban could have been black. He goes on to talk about how blacks are perceiver by the English, he says “In the English mind, the color black was freighted with an array of negative images.” Then he talks about whites and says “The color white, on the other hand, signified purity, innocence, and goodness.” He continues on about Caliban and says how the English noticed him having African traits. He also says that they viewed blacks as cannibals. His thesis for the chapter states, “Though they had been “sold,” the first twenty Africans might not have been slaves, persons reduced to property and required to work without wages for life. Also, Takaki talks about white indentured servants and how they were treated. They were kept with the black slaves, and he talks about how the blacks and whites didn’t have an understanding of each other. They were fearful of each other because they were unsure of the others.
Is what the author saying about how the English perceive the African Americans accurate? Is how Takaki describes it correct, do they really believe that Africans are cannibals and would eat human beings? I believe that at the time that is what the English believe, but over time they realized that this was not true.
This chapter was kind of slow to read, I did not enjoy reading this there was really no excitement or anything fun to read in the chapter. I found a lot of useful information, but the way it was presented could have been better. It could have been more thrilling to read.