Abstract
This text is an extract from the novel Queen written by Alex Haley in 1993. The excerpt is called "Their first slave".
The story takes place in the USA, and more precisely in Nasheville, in the 19th century, that is to say when slavery was still legal. Two young Irish immigrants, Washington and James, are buying and meeting a new slave, Ephraim, a nine year-old black boy. They buy him from Massa Jackson, a friend of theirs, who has himself a slave, called Alfred.
We may wonder how the author denounces slavery beneath the text.
In a first part, I will try to show that James and Washington seem to be two reasonable masters, and that the reader put himself in there shoe, and then, I will attempt to show that the text highlights a critical situation: the slaves'.
