Sarah Grimke

One of the characters that I can identify myself with in the book, “The Invention of Wings” is Sarah Grimke. Sarah is one of the two main characters in the book. The book introduces us to Sarah when she is about 11 years of age and ends when she is in her middle age. However, in between these two years, Sarah accomplished so many things that women her age can never accomplish in their lifetime. Motivated by her earliest memory of seeing Rosetta being punished, Sarah becomes motivated to fight for the rights of the slaves and the women of her society. It is such actions that amazes me and makes me like Sarah even more. Despite coming from a slave owner family, Sarah was very kind and she never despised any slave that worked for them. Instead she embraced them and always wished the best for them

​Sarah’s ability to talk to her brothers and her father about her stand on slavery shows her bravery something that is very rare in the present day since most people fear to act on what is right. In the book Sarah is portrayed as very sober, zealous and an abolitionist who stops at nothing and tackles every challenge that comes her way. Another amazing character that I like in her is the fact that she was able to keep her promise to Mauma even after her death. Sarah had promise Mauma at a tender age that she would free her daughter Handful. Despite being banned from Charleston Sarah risks it all and goes back to save Handful and Sky.

​These actions are what make me admire Sarah since she inspires me by her sobriety, courage, assertiveness and the zeal to help others regardless of race, norms and traditions.