Sharon M. Draper’s Copper Sun is a work of historical fiction that subtly educates the reader about the history of slaves in America, without presenting the facts like a textbook. As well as educating the reader of the topics discussed, the novel is more memorable because of the historically accurate situations, as they draw out more emotion from the horrid events. An example of a historically accurate topic expressed through the novel is the Africans being taken from their villages, chained and shackled, “Her (Amari) arms were wrenched behind her, and iron shackles … were snapped onto her wrists, holding them there,” (Draper 14). When the slave trade was occurring, it was common for many villages in Africa to be ravaged, the healthy young…show more content… Lastly, a truly horrific example of historical accurateness in the novel was during the alligator hunting scene, where Tidbit was used as gator bait, “And then she saw it… an alligator appeared in the water near Tidbit’s splashing feet,” (Draper 160). On its own, without the historical accuracy, this event is very gruesome and scarring, as Tidbit is only four years old and had the possibility of dying for the entertainment of his master. However, this was very common in American history for someone to use African American children as bait for hunting, thus the author had taught another piece of history while also enhancing the story to create a larger effect on the reader's’ emotions. To conclude, Sharon M. Draper’s usage of historical events to both further the novel and to educate the reader made the story more memorable, this being because the information was presented in story fashion. She does so by putting a personality behind the events, allowing for the reader to sympathize with the characters, instead of just displaying the hard facts, as emotions help to both make something memorable and to educate in more
