Cora spends her time in north carolina reading in the attic. her
reading material includes a bible and almanacs, which "cora
adored for containing the entire world” (183). how does the act
of reading, and of literacy, cora be free? what might the
significance of what she reads suggest about her growing
understanding of the world? think, too, about how the bible and
religion are used by ethel and ridgeway to justify slavery: "if god
had not meant for africans to be enslaved, they wouldn't be in
chains" (195), and about cora's observation: "slavery is a sin
when whites were put to the yoke, but not the african" (182).