Gayl Jones's Corregidora is not your typical response to a long and rather
             terrifying history of slavery in the Americas. Instead, it is an attempt to
             humanize the ugly experiences of older African-American generations. While
             on the surface, it appears another story focusing on the history of slavery
             in Americas; it is nonetheless a deeper and more complex analysis of that
             period in time. Ursa, is the protagonist of the novel, who is burdened by
             the painful history of her family and believes she is responsible for
             passing the stories on to the next generation, the way her mother and
             grandmother did. However since she has not experienced slavery in the way
             her ancestors did, Ursa relives those experiences through her music. For
             Ursa, music is her savior. She believes it can help her find the liberation
             from past that she seeks so ardently. However because of the fact that her
             ancestors including her mother and grandmother, constantly remind her of
             their past, Ursa is perpetually haunted by her family history. Music is
             important to her as she says in the novel, "I am Ursa Corregidora. I have
             tears for eyes. I was made to touch my past at an early age ... Let no one
             pollute my music. I will dig out their trumpets. I will pluck out their
             eyes" (77). Music is her sole means of redemption because in the absence of
             authentic records, Ursa felt her blues could the pain and suffering of her
             ancestors to next generations. Corregidora has both real and symbolic value
             in the book because on the one hand he is the person who destroyed the
             lives of Gram and Great Gram while on the other, he also symbolizes male
             legacy of chauvinism and exploitation that threatens the female freedom and
             existence. In the novel, Ursa is so intricately connected with her family
             history thatr everything that happens to her is linked with some past ugly
             experience of her ancestors. For example, when she becomes infertile ...