Roots: The Saga of an American Family Theme of Community

Sorry, NBC's Community fans—we're talking about the community in Roots here. Still, stick around—because there's more community in this novel than in most colleges. When Kunta Kinte's kidnapped and brought on a slave ship to America, he thinks his life is over. He's separated from everyone he's ever known and loved, after all, and he doesn't understand anyone in this strange, sadistic land.

But then something amazing happens—he forms a community. Over the course of Roots and across generations of the Kinte family, we see this idea of the importance of community hit home again and again.

1. What community values does Kunta learn in Juffure?
2. How are American communities different than African communities? Explain.
3. In what ways does Kizzy create a community after being sold?
4. In what ways do slave owners prevent slaves from forming real communities?

Kunta's taught that a good community is egalitarian during his youth in Juffure, and he carries this lesson with him to America.

Without the community he builds with Bell, the fiddler, and the gardener, Kunta would never have survived his early years in America.