Episode 4

Synopsis of Episode Four:

Episode 4 of Roots is pretty rough.
This episode focuses on Kunta Kinte’s daughter, Kizzy. When we first meet her, she is a young girl, about sixteen years old. She has just fallen in love with a boy named Noah. Noah is a lot like her father – he hates being a slave and is determined to escape. Kizzy helps Noah escape and when he is recaptured, her master punishes her by selling her away from her family.
Her new master is a very creepy guy, who has hinted that he wants to own a girl like Kizzy for creepy, non-work related reasons. On the first night that he owns Kizzy, he forces himself on her. Kizzy gets pregnant and swears that she will give birth to a son who will get revenge for her from the master.
The movie does another one of those frustrating, “Eighteen Years Later…” jumps and we meet Kizzy again as a grown woman. In spite of her dreams, her son George is very close to the master and thinks of him fondly, almost like a father (which is really creepy, if you think about it!). George is learning a valuable trade – raising and training fighting chickens, which is why everybody calls him Chicken George.
Kizzy meets a charming, handsome slave from another plantation named Sam and they fall in love. They get permission to marry, but on the night before they are supposed to leave the plantation together, Kizzy changes her mind. She decides that no matter how good a man Sam is, he isn’t as strong and proud as her father was and she can’t marry him.
At the end of the episode, there is another one of those weird, change-of-mood moments. Kizzy and Chicken George tell each other how proud they are of each other, but the fact that George likes his scum-ball master so much makes the ending really weird and a little creepy.

Assignment:

Answer the following question:
Imagine you were kidnapped tomorrow and taken away from everyone and everything you’ve ever known. When you have a child someday, what five (5) things will you tell him/her about your life here in Deerfield. Why those five things? Kunta Kinte had to make this decision. So did Kizzy. What would you share with your daughter (or son)?