Customer Reviews

Melitte

5 star:		(3)
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Melitte is a slave girl. For as long as she can remember, she has been mistreated by a poor Frenchman and his wife on a failing farm in the Louisina backwoods. It is all she remembers, all she knows. Her mother is dead; she has never know love. Then Marie is born. Melitte should despsise her owners' daughter, but Marie treats Melitte as an equal, and they pledge to be "sisters and friends forever." Until Melitte learns some shocking truths: Melitte's owner is her father. Melitte wonders how her father can do this to her, to hold her in bondage all these years and now sell her. Marie risks losing her parents' love by helping Melitte escape slavery. But when they reach a remote Indian village, the Indians will only lead Melitte on, because they fear the white men will plot revenge on them for stealing a white child. Melitte faces a difficult choice: go back with Marie, or go on alone. In Melitte, Fatima Shaik captures the cruelty and horror of slavery through the eyes of a child.

This is my favorite story of all time. Even though Melitte is uneducated, she shows a greater knowledge of love, bravary, and loyality than of those who are educated. Marie is a strong character, who doesn't judge people by race, wealth, sex, beliefs, or social status, but by what's inside. Fatima Shaik paints a vivid picture of the psychological effects of slavery on the enslaved, slavers, and bystanderds of this dreadful, disgusting period of time. This story is very well researched. And I hope it will be more present on all library shelves everywhere in the furture.

Since she was six, Melitte doesn't remember ever having a loving touch, only physical and mental abuse, rags for clothes, scraps of food, and labor that is beyond her capabilty. She realizes that she is "owned" by Monsieur and Madame Duroux, an unsusessful farmer and his mean, selfish wife. When Madame has a baby, Melitte is forced to care for the child as well as cook, clean, farm, and work in the fields with Monsieur. But Melitte and Marie love each other as equals, sisters; Melitte has finally found love. Only several years apart in age, Melitte teaches Marie a coding system that is sewn into her clothing. When the cabin burns, the family moves to the Preval plantation where Monsieur works as a share-cropper, at 13, Melitte questions her enslavement, an unappreciated orphan, and her fate as being unloved and decides to secretly sew clothes for Madame Preval for money for her freedom. Monsieur becomes become increasingly callous toward the girl, stealing the money she earned to purchase her freedom. Marie helps Melitte escape to a camp of runaways. They will remember each other by heart and memory forever.
This is my favorite story of all time. Even though Melitte is uneducated, she shows a greater knowledge of love, bravary, and loyality than of those who are educated. Marie is a strong character, who doesn't judge people by race, wealth, sex, beliefs, or social status, but by what's inside. Fatima Shaik paints a vivid picture of the psychological effects of slavery on the enslaved, slavers, and bystanderds of this dreadful, disgusting period of time. This story is very well researched. And I hope it will be more present on all library shelves everywhere in the furture.