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Summary
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Amos Fortune, Free Man, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Freedom and Slavery
Dignity and Racism
Hard Work and Good Character
Providence and Faith
Summary
Analysis
On a dark, starlit night in equatorial Africa, the At-mun-shi people gather for a spring planting ritual. An old man starts beating on a wooden drum, and soon smaller drums and flutes join the music from all corners of the village. As the moon rises above the dense jungle foliage, the sound of the drums calls the villagers into the clearing where their chief sits on a platform with his two children, At-mun (Amos) the prince, and Ath-mun the princess.
The book opens with a glimpse of Amos Fortune’s life before his enslavement. He will value his freedom greatly after white hunters kidnap him and white families in the American colonies enslave him for decades. But he already possesses freedom by birthright before others steal it from him.
Themes
At-mun (Amos) is a well-built 15-year-old boy. His 12-year-old sister, Ath-mun was born with a deformed leg, but their father refused to sacrifice his “imperfect” daughter to the God of Life as their custom demands. He sacrificed his favorite dog instead.
The book supports a narrative that in part justifies slavery because it “civilized” and converted its victims to Christianity. Within this framework, the respect for life that Amos’s (At-mun’s) father teaches him sets the stage for his later acceptance of Christianity—the idea of sacrificing one person for the benefit of many has parallels in the Biblical story of Jesus. But it also allows the book to suggest that At-mun needs a Christian education to correct the barbarity of his indigenous beliefs.
Themes
As the At-mun-shi gather, they lay down their weapons and begin to dance. The people pray to the earth, sun, moon, and rain to cooperate in their planting and harvest so that they will have the food they need. At-mun (Amos) picks up Ath-mun and dances before his people with his sister in his arms. Everyone knows he will be a good chief when his time comes; they respect not only his authority but his kind and gentle spirit.
Amos (At-mun) has an innate sense of dignity, kindness, and concern for the needs of those weaker than himself, like his sister. He demonstrates his personal character through his actions, earning the love of his people in Africa in ways that foreshadow the respect he will gain from his white enslavers and neighbors in North America.
Themes
While the At-mun-shi dance through the night, a company of 100 Black men, led by three white men creeps through the jungle and surrounds the village, well inside the line where the At-mun-shi have laid down their weapons. At a signal from their leader, they shoot their loaded muskets—99 into the air, frightening the At-mun-shi—and one through the heart of the chief. At-mun (Amos) crosses the clearing in just a few leaps. When he realizes the strangers have killed his father, he stands and faces his people, assuming the role of their new chief. But before his people can acknowledge him, their attackers burst into the clearing, scattering them like leaves in the wind. They seize the strongest and tallest people, but they hesitate when they reach At-mun, sensing his obvious strength and dignity. It takes two to tie the prince’s wrists.
Amos (At-mun) loses his freedom even before he’s put in chains; the moment his father dies he becomes responsible for the lives and wellbeing of his people. From the beginning, the book portrays Amos as an exceptional human being in all ways, from his strength and stature to his dignified character and unwavering moral compass. But none of these qualities prevents his capture or saves him from the dehumanizing effects of enslavement. An individual white man may feel outmatched by the prince, but the strength of their numbers grants them the advantage still.
Themes
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When dawn arrives, all the able-bodied At-mun-shi men and some of the women stand chained together in a long line. The rest of the people cower together, stunned and terrified. As their captors crack their whips and begin to lead the captives out of the clearing, those left behind—the old, the young, and the infirm—begin to wail.
The book imagines the shock and horror visited by the transatlantic slave trade not just on its individual victims, but the ways in which it decimated communities. And it suggests that the fate of those left behind in freedom might be worse than the fate that awaits Amos (At-mun).
Themes
Among the captives, only At-mun (Amos) still carries his head high. When he passes by the huddled form of his sister, Ath-mun, he stoops and speaks briefly to her, reminding her that they are the chief’s children and are obligated to serve their people. One of the white men cracks a whip against the prince’s back; despite the pain, At-mun makes no sound. And as the captives disappear into the distance, Ath-mun struggles to her feet and holds out her hands to the survivors, assuming the role and responsibility of chief.
The single lash Amos (At-mun) suffers just before leaving his village forever evokes some of the horrific and disfiguring abuse enslaved people suffered at the hands of their enslavers from the earliest years of European colonialism through to the outlawing of slavery in Europe and North America in the 19th century. And while Amos learns well the lesson that he lives his life subject to white men’s pleasure, the fact that this is the only display of violence toward Amos in the book tends to soften its portrayal of enslavement.
Themes
