Crossing the River | Topics for Discussion & Projects

Crossing the River Topics for Discussion

As portrayed by Phillips, are the white slavers in "Crossing the River" fundamentally evil people, or are they victims of the system in which they live?

Does Phillips condemn slavery as a white institution?

How might a white child growing up in the antebellum South, where he or she is taught that slavery is the natural order of things, come to judge slavery as an evil thing?

How do modern western perceptions differ from those commonly held in England at the time depicted in "The Pagan Coast?"

How do the English perceptions of black people differ in the two novellas, "The Pagan Coast" and "Somewhere in England?"

How significant was the role played by black pioneers, such as Martha, in the development of the American West?

In "West," Phillips portrays the only white character - other than those recalled in Martha's delirium - as a vague, translucent specter. What do...
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