“Stolen bodies working on stolen land. It was an engine that wouldn't stop, its boiler hungry and fueled with blood. " These words of Colson Whitehead in his novel "The Underground Railroad" perfectly describe the cruelty that black people faced not only on the cotton plantations of the American South, where racial violence took on an extreme practice, but also in other parts of America where the systematic exploitation of blacks forced them to remain inferior to white slave owners Whitehead depicts the history of antebellum America through Cora's journey; who is a young woman born into slavery; from the South to the free Northern states and we, as a reader, witness the brutality that enslaved black people were exposed to in this modern epic. In this article I will discuss the. physical and linguistic violence they suffered during this period and the loss they suffered as a result of these violent events. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not. not be banned”? Get the original essay First of all, physical violence, which also covers sexual violence, is the most explicit brutality that takes place in Whitehead's novel. Knowing that this book is about the violation of black people, mainly by white slave owners, one might think that all the sadistic events are committed by white people, but as one flips through the pages, one understands that black people also engage in violence towards each other. In fact, at the beginning of the novel, Cora is raped by four male slaves on the Randal plantation as soon as she comes of age. The fact that Cora's mother, Mabel, escaped from the plantation and left Cora wandering at the age of eleven encourages this slave, named Blake, to take back the only thing she had, a small garden that she inherited from her mother and grandmother. . Although it seems unimportant, this small space symbolizes hope and connection to one's ancestors and therefore the ability to seek a life of freedom. So when she stands up to Blake to protect her garden, she ends up being raped by the very people she was supposed to call her own. Furthermore, she receives no help during this violation, as Whitehead says: “If anyone heard or saw, they didn't intervene. “The violation of black people by white slave owners, on the other hand, is much more brutal than the violation that black people expose to each other. Big Anthony's punishment, for example, is one of the most sadistic events in the novel. After being caught trying to run away, he is punished for three days in front of all the other slaves on the plantation as well as a few white guests who have come there simply to entertain themselves by watching this sadistic event: “Big Anthony was whipped for the entire the duration of their meal and they ate slowly. "This moment shows that the torture of black people was a source of pleasure for white slave owners, in addition to a means of maintaining white domination. Another point to make about Big Anthony's punishment is the fact that this event was a demonstration of why many slaves did not think of running away. Seeing a punishment like this in its extreme severity where in the end they all see him burned alive, they. lose their freedom before even trying to conquer it Likewise, when Cora arrives in North Caroline, Martin, the station agent, shows her the route which is called the “Freedom Trail” where: “The corpses. hung on trees as rotten ornaments “The purpose is to warn anyone who dreams of..