Cora

Cora is the book’s central character and protagonist. Developments in the story’s plot, themes, representations of history, and emotional resonance are all defined by her values, choices, and experiences. As the story begins, she is somewhere in her mid-to-late teens: the narrative suggests that no slave knows for certain when his or her birthday actually is, and Cora is no exception. By the end of the narrative, there has been no explicitly defined passage of time, but there are indications that weeks, if not months have passed. The narrative does not have the feeling of a year or more having gone by, so it is not likely that she is as much as a year older: but if one measurement of age relates to what a person has lived through, by the time the story reaches its conclusion, Cora may still be a teenager, but she...