Emily
asked
Colson Whitehead:
The names in the book are striking, especially Caesar and Royal. How did you name your characters, and what were you consciously trying to say with your choices?
Colson Whitehead
Slave masters often gave their property "grand" names to be ironic, they way you might call a dog "King." In Royal's case, it's not ironic...
More Answered Questions
Andy
asked
Colson Whitehead:
Hi! One of the subtle yet extremely powerful motifs in the novel is the invocation to look out the windows and see America. This is interesting in itself as well as in how rail travel reshaped aesthetics of landscape. Would you say a bit more about what those passage and/or that motif invoke for you now? I'm not necessarily asking for your intended meaning so much as what you might see in these passages now.
Susan
asked
Colson Whitehead:
Hi,Colson...You Always Always Think outside The "Trunk" ;) I imagine your research came from various sources, most importantly Your Mind... Which reveals so much about you... Are you surprised by all the Great Attention "The Underground Railroad" is getting?(We're not:) When I read "Sag Harbor" we really did get a peek inside your life...Thanks Colson
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