Walter Mosley
Has anybody read the book ’47′ by Walter Mosley?
Can you please give me the background and place of the story with the settings and year and cities and towns?
And can you please write a good summary on the book?
Lastly, can you describe the novel’s character (the main characters)?
Anybody know any good websites on information on this book?
“The mature slave knows that dreams never come true. They know that they’ll eat sour grain and sawdust everyday except Christmas and that they’ll always work from before sunrise until after dusk every day for all the days of their lives.”
When 47 is just a boy, perhaps twelve or thirteen, he begins to understand how hard being a slave can be because it’s then that he finds himself in the cotton fields and taken from the nurturing care of Big Mama Flore. Mama Flore had tried to prepare him for the difficult turn his life would take. Being a slave means not knowing your birthdates and often never knowing your own blood-related family. 47 doesn’t even know if he has any other name because Master Tobias gives him a number rather than a name — it’s as simple as that.
Living in the slave quarters with grown men and working from dawn to dusk, the most important thing to 47 is trying to stay out of the overseer Mr. Stewarts’s way. He begins to understand Big Mama’s words: “White peoples gots as many ages as you can count but slaves on’y gots four ages. That’s babychile, boy or girl, old boy or old girl, an’dead.” 47 has seen more than one slave beaten to death and others who have been taken to the killin’ shack. “And those that did come back were never the same.”
One day, however, everything changes for 47 and for every slave and white person on Corinthian Plantation when, by chance, he literally runs into “Tall John.”
“He was the most beautiful being I had ever known. His skin was the color of highly polished brass but a little darker, a little like copper too but not quite. His eyes were almond-shaped and large with red-brown pupils. He was bare-chested and slender, but there was elegance in his lean stance. All he wore was a pair of loose blue trousers cinched at the waist with a piece of rope.”
There is no explaining the immediate attraction between the boy and Tall John. John seems to look deep inside of him and know his every fear. Tall John tells him that he has finally “found” him and that he, 47, is a special boy with a special mission. Over a period of time 47 finds Tall John even more mysterious.
“I knew that he wasn’t one of us, the slaves, but something different, something that neither I nor anyone I had ever known had met. I knew right then that the run-away Lemuel, now calling himself Tall John, was something like an angel, or a devil.”
Tall John has a way of communicating with people that makes them pause. He, however, cannot predict the evil within Mr. Stewart or the anger in Master Tobias. After he magically saves the slave master’s daughter, he and 47 are turned over to Mr. Stewart because they are slaves. Even with all of this, none of them is ready for the strength and wisdom of what Tall John is able to convey. Nor are they prepared for the horrible violence and tragedy that results from the blinding hatred that men pour upon one another.
Walter Mosley has written a kind of biblical, historical allegory with a touch of science fiction thrown in. Within this story there is a serious look at the problems of good and evil and the not-so-subtle implications on the wounds of racial prejudice. As this book closes the reader knows terrible and needless deaths have occurred and that those left have not finished their journey. You will want to know more about all the wonderfully realized characters in this little book. You will hope that 47 and the possibility of his new life will come again in a sequel to this thought-provoking, finely wrought tale.
Walter Mosley
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Devil in A Blue Dress $8.08 DVD… |
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The Middle Passage $19.98 It was the route between Africa and the New World that carried slaves to exchange for sugar and tobacco. It was the sea that carried a human cargo a resting place for thousands who would not survive the journey. It was called THE MIDDLE PASSAGE.Running Time: 76 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 026359189524… |
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Semi-Tough / Gator $3.75 SEMI TOUGH & GATOR – DVD Movie… |
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The Middle Passage [VHS] $7.55 The first image seen in The Middle Passage is a spotless tropical beach. But this is paradise lost, and most of the remainder of this poetically harrowing feature is spent on a slave ship bound from the African coast to the New World. The purpose of Martinique-born director Guy Deslauriers is not to tell a story–there is no dialogue–but to impressionistically capture the horror of the “middle pa… |
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Devil in a Blue Dress [VHS] $0.49 Despite rave reviews as one of the most stylish and intelligent detective pictures in a number of years, this 1995 adaptation of Walter Mosley’s novel never found a mass audience. Too bad, because Carl Franklin’s film is nearly perfect in every way, from its rich, shadowy look to its depiction of life in post-World War II black America (L.A.-style) to the acting of Denzel Washington, Don Cheadle, … |
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Always Outnumbered Always Outgunned [VHS] $6.95 From Walter Mosley, author of ‘ ‘Devil In A Blue Dress’ ‘, comes Socrates Fortlow. Whether he?s running a killer out of town, falling in love with his best friend?s wife or trying to save the life of a murder witness, the way he?s fighting for his life is the way you want him fighting for yours. ‘ ‘Superlative. Grade A’ ‘ – People… |
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Triage: A Thriller (Shell Series) tri?age /tree-ahzh/ n. a process in which things are ranked in terms of importance or priority.Your only friend opens a desk drawer. In the days to come you’ll question yourself about those seconds you stood there and watched him peering into the drawer. You’ll think of how you should’ve crossed the den when he pulled out the .380 Bersa.You slide in your Acura, close the door, click the power lock… |
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The Gift of Fire / On the Head of a Pin: Two Short Novels from Crosstown to Oblivion $24.99 New York Times bestselling authorWalter Mosley delivers two speculative tales, in one volume, of everyday people exposed to life-altering truths. The Gift of Fire In ancient mythology, the Titan Prometheus was punished by the gods for bringing man the gift of fireâan event that set humankind on its course of knowledge. As punishment for making man as powerful as gods, Prometheus was bound … |
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Walter Mosley … |
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