Zac Tucker
HONR-201A
Professor Isaiah Thompson
11 March 2025
The Underground Railroad Book Review
Prompt 2: How does the author explore the role of religion in the narrative and in history?
Describe and analyze specific instances from the book where the author incorporates religion.
In The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead, the author emphasizes the role that
religion plays in both the overarching narrative of the book and in its historical context.
Throughout the book, the characters wrestle with faith and morals as they face the horrors of
slavery. As the book proceeds, Whitehead confronts the religious backing that many used to
justify their immoral behavior by weaving the text with two extremes: Innocent religious
followings and beliefs, and the brutal realities of slavery. By creating such a strong contrast
between the two, Whitehead has shown us how one strongly influences the other.
While there are many instances of religion throughout the book that offer a means of
justification for punishable actions, there are also some that show us faith in a hopeful and safe
light. One of the most interesting sources of religion I found in the book was Cora’s search for
her beliefs. Her journey is undoubtedly one of survival, and she uses religion to her advantage to
help her survive. What I found to stand out about Cora, and by reflection, many other enslaved
individuals in her same position, is the fact that she tapped into her spirituality out of necessity.
Understanding just how harsh the conditions that Cora and others alike experienced to push them
into spirituality is a challenging thought to grasp, though it is very telling. Her experience
foraging for her own sense of religion by rejecting her enslaver’s beliefs but leveraging what she
learned to create her own spiritual connection was intriguing and upsetting. In the book, the text
states, “She had no use for the God of her mother and grandmother, the one who permitted
suffering, the one who smiled on the man who whipped her and the one who turned His back
when she was put in the ground” (Whitehead 00). Amidst experiencing such immense hatred, it
is completely understandable why Cora and other enslaved individuals disapproved of the God
that was taught to them by their enslavers, instead resorting to a different way of belief.
The contrast between how enslavers use religion as a tool of oppression and how
enslaved individuals use it for survival gives us insight into why religion was adapted the way it
was. Furthermore, implementing a sense of religious beliefs out of necessity to endure and
survive slavery while those doing the enslaving are using it to justify their unethical behavior
gives a good understanding of why Cora applied it the way she did.
Prompt 5: What is the purpose and meaning of the underground railroad in the fictional
narrative? What is the author communicating about memory, the nation, and the Black
experience through the construction of a railroad beneath the surface of the country? Explain.
In Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad, the railroad serves as both a literal
and symbolic figure in the narrative. The metaphor of a physical underground railroad
functioning to deliver enslaved individuals to freedom shows us as readers just how secretive and
dangerous the act of gaining freedom as a slave was. By using this metaphor, Whitehead is
communicating the struggle to achieve liberation as a whole. In the context of the story, after
Cora escapes the Georgia plantation, she uses the Underground Railroad to find freedom, but
throughout her journey on the railroad, she reflects on her past experiences. The Underground
Railroad imagined by Whitehead acted as a vessel to piece Cora’s memories together and help
her realize the ways in which slavery torments her.
The Black experience is reflected in the story once Cora arrives in South Carolina. Here,
she finds herself with what seems like an opportunity, but she quickly realizes that the people
supplying her with this ‘freedom’ are the same people who are working to maintain control over
Black bodies. This showcases the inherent reality that even with the Underground Railroad, there
is oppression at every station the train stops at.
Finally, through the construction of the Underground Railroad, Whitehead is conveying
the idea that, as a nation, the United States has been hiding its past away as if it were
underground and unknown. The railroad symbolizes all the stories of enslaved individuals,
carved out but hidden and overlooked. In the book, the text states, “The railroad was a silent
thing, the people who ran it invisible, their actions underground, unacknowledged” (Whitehead
00). This further shows that by building a physical railroad beneath the country, a nation shaped
by a history of violence and trauma may be trying to ignore its past by burying it underground,
away from the public eye.
Prompt 8: How does the author showcase racism across state lines? For instance, what does
Georgia have in common with South Carolina? Are these two models of plantation life in
different locations and with different rules? Explain.
The author, Colson Whitehead showcases how racism and slavery vary from state to state
throughout the book The Underground Railroad. He emphasizes how each state has its own
distinctions in rules and practices, but the bottom line is that most plantation life was the same at
its core. No matter what state you were in, the underlying issues like racial exploitation and
dehumanization stemming from slavery still existed.
In the book, Cora endured the most violent and brutal plantation life in Georgia, where
her owner inflicted physical punishment, degradation, and control over her. She was subject to
ruthless behaviors from her enslaver and lived in constant fear. In contrast, her life in South
Carolina was less violent but more mentally manipulative. Here, their model of slavery lacked
the physical violence that Georgia was known for but possessed control by other means. In South
Carolina, Cora was given a house and better food, which gave her the feeling of freedom.
However, behind closed doors, the state was using this better treatment of Black individuals to
convince them that they were better off under this system, diminishing their desire for true
freedom.
In the text, the author states, “In South Carolina, Cora was free in the way a bird in a cage
was free, allowed to flap her wings, but not to fly” (Whitehead 00). This quote shows the readers
that despite the welcoming appearance of South Carolina, Cora was still controlled and lacked
the freedom she was so desperately searching for. Moreover, while the state was known to be
more civilized and enlightened, it still matched the core principles of slavery across the country.