Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis

In my opinion, Elijah of Buxton is largely the story of the title character coming of age through learning about his heritage, not necessarily in the classroom with Mr. Y’all ain’t been told your whole life what you is' (99).

Leroy gives Elijah for using the word “nigger”: “Ya’ll’s ignorant in a whole slew of ways.

We as a society oftentimes unknowingly hurt and offend, deserving the same rebuke that Mr. By extension, these “scars and peculiarities” continue to lay beneath many of societies' present ills. We, as well as Elijah, are reminded that “people that used to be slaves are toting things ‘round with ‘em that caint be seen with your regular eyes….They’ve seen people acting in ways that caint help but leave scars and peculiarities” (101). By beautifully developing his characters and binding them to readers' hearts, Curtis manages to convey the full sadness and horror of the Buxton residents' experiences without extreme graphical violence or an overly heavy story. I loved the way in which Curtis incorporated the stories of many of Buxton’s free blacks to develop believable, human characters, show the myriad, torturous paths to freedom (or back to slavery), and the enduring pain that continues to linger under the surface of free Buxton. As I was reading the novel on a CTA (Chicago Transit Authority) bus, I found myself tearing up, suddenly struck by what Elijah and his mother would call being “fra-gile-ness,” while I was reading the scene in which the new escaped family arrives in Buxton. However, towards the middle of the novel, when Curtis began weaving individual Buxton residents' escape and slave stories into Elijah’s daily experiences, I slowly came to love the book. Despite that I liked Curtis’s lively, colorful, convincing portrayal of everyday life in Buxton, I felt that Elijah of Buxton had a slow start.

Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis