Anderson, Laurie Halse. Chains. New York: Simon & Schuster for Young Readers, 2008. Print.
The book Chains tells a story about two slaves, a teenaged girl named Isabel and her epileptic, younger sister Ruth, who struggled to gain their freedom from their new loyalist owners. The story takes place in New York, 1776 during the early days of the American Revolution as Americans fought for their freedom against the British. The story starts off with the original owner of the two enslaved girls death and ownership of the two girls proceeding to the slave owners’ brother. Miss Finch, the slave owner, treated the girls fairly by providing them the ability to read and write as well as a promise of their freedom papers in her will. However, Miss Finch’s
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brother accused them of lying in order to escape and with the lawyer being held up in Boston in the midst of the revolutionary war they were sold off to wealthy British merchants, Anne and Elihu Lockton. To their luck, they were sold off together to the Locktons who were cruel owners to both Isabel and Ruth. Ruth being an epileptic suffered many episodes of seizure attacks during her enslavement to Madam Lockton. Madam Lockton feared that Ruth was possessed by the devil and feared for her life, so she had Ruth sold off. When Isabel found out about Ruth, she violently confronted the madam, who had Isabel arrested and branded with an “I for insolence” on her face in hopes to stop her rude behavior (194). Isabel met the slave of Mr. Bellingham, a chief official of the Patriots, Curzon who tried to convince Isabel of becoming a spy for the patriots in exchange for their freedom. At first, Isabel did not want to risk the safety of her younger sister, but after her sister got sold off because of her seizures, Isabel agreed to become a spy. Isabel managed to get information from the Locktons and their loyalist friends which first resulted in the imprisonment of Mr. Lockton. However, shortly after Mr. Lockton managed to get free, Isabel overheard the Locktons talk about a loyalist plan to assassinate General George Washington. Once Mr. Lockton heard that the plan had been leak he fled to England. Curzon joined the patriot’s side in the army, but at Fort Washington was captured with other patriots and were held as war prisoners and starved. Just as Isabel was about to give up, Madam Lockton accidently mentioned that she couldn’t find anyone to take Ruth and was relocated to the other place. Isabel managed to regain hope and devised a plan to escape by boat to New Jersey. Isabel successfully stole freedom papers, filed a new name and with the help of a security officer, freed Curzon as well. Laurie Anderson did a good job at portraying the life of a slave in Chains and how she valued family, battled risk to gain her freedom and suffered cruel treatment from their slave owner and still managed to stay determined to gain the freedom she deserved. The book as a whole was interesting and the history presented was fairly accurate.
For starters, the title of the book, Chains, fits well with the topic of slavery and being held captive for reasons that we see unjustly now. I say unjustly reasons now because during this time period slavery was a normal service that a majority of people participated in. I think that Anderson perfectly wrote the book about a girl seeking freedom during a time in history where America as a whole was also seeking freedom, which also helped her argument. They both shared the common idea of fighting for freedom and how it pertained to both of them just in different scales. Anderson incorporated descriptions of the Revolutionary War as well as both sides of the Patriots and Loyalist of this war. Many pieces of history were scattered throughout the book, like the Quartering Act when several loyalist soldiers took shelter in the Lockton’s house. Anderson also managed not to hold back towards the graphic descriptions of what Isabel saw being done to other slaves as well as the severity of the cruel and heartbreaking punishments Isabel suffered over the years. Chains was written in the first person point of view of Isabel, which really helped me get a better sense of the emotions and feelings she felt during her slave years. All which helped put me in her shoes and period of time. At the very end of the book, Anderson offers several discussion questions to further engage the reader over the subject and their thoughts over the material they just read. Anderson also offers a plentiful number of historical facts and dates which all relate back to the book. By adding these historical facts, the credentials of the book go up. This also helped, clear any complications I had while reading the book, the extras at the end book basically helped piece the book and time period more clearly by providing me with the missing pieces of information I needed. Overall, I think the book, Chains, was accurate
in its descriptions and depiction of history and would recommend reading this book. Chains related to several pieces of history that I learned during lecture as well as the historical facts I learned from the Give Me Liberty! An American History textbook. Anderson mentioned several people in Chains who were indentured servants that worked together and in the same conditions as the slaves, but the only difference being that the indentured servants in the end of their service were granted their freedom. Indentured servants were young, single men coming to America under a contract, which lasted around five to seven years, to a master plantation owner. The indentured servants were provided room and board during their work and then after their contract ended were given land of their own. If they managed to survive during the whole contract, since many died of disease or working conditions. Thomas Paine’s Common Sense was also mentioned in Chains; a book that Isabel managed to come across. During this time, Thomas Paine’s writing was becoming popular since it challenged the British government and called for the people’s “common sense.” The Book takes place in 1776, during the beginning of the American Revolution that lasted from April 19, 1775 to September 3, 1783. The American Revolution was a fight for independence from England. A fight between the loyalist, those loyal to the British government and the Patriots, those against the British government for “No Taxation Without Representation” and a voice in parliament.” Fort Washington was one of the battles of the American Revolution that happened in New York . In the book, Isabel describes herself waking up to smoke around her and seeing homes and town engulfed in flames. Where she realized that there was war around her, she describes shots from cannons and fire everywhere. In the book, it was mention that the British won and claimed victory over the patriots. The Loyalist soldiers managed to hold many Patriot prisoners of war until they surrendered. One of the prisoners of war was Curzon, a slave and friend of Isabel. Curzon joined the war in place of his master; he did not do it specifically to gain his freedom that was granted to him after his service in the war. Curzon joined because he was aware of the situation between the Loyalist and the Patriots and wanted to fight for the cause. Anderson successfully placed in several aspects of history in this book to help gain a perspective of it through the eyes of Isabel, a teenage slave. Chains by Laurie Anderson, was a good resource and book to help understand the importance of fighting for freedom in History for everyone. We are all citizens who deserve the protection of the constitution and equality of treatment. The book’s overall message as well as the author argument could be said as fighting for what you believe is right and never giving up. Isabel suffered many complications in her life, many hours of pain, unfair treatment and hindrances to the freedom she deserved. Isabel persevered and managed to find the courage and hope to achieve her ultimate goal. So, I definitely recommend this book.
Sentence #1: Curzon makes his first appearance as a real risk taker when he comes forward when Grandfather calls him and he replies, “‘I say I’m an American.’ Curzon said, ‘An American Soldier” (pg. 164).
“The American Revolution was a beginning, not a consummation” (Wilson). The lives of New York slaves were worse than ever during the American Revolution. The Revolution was a successful, but rough, phase in America’s history. The Revolution began through British control, so when the people wanted to become independent, war broke out. The life of Isabel in Chains represents the everyday life of a slave during this time period.
The book The Classic Slave Narratives is a collection of narratives that includes the historical enslavement experiences in the lives of the former slaves Harriet Jacobs, Frederick Douglass, and Olaudah Equiano. They all find ways to advocate for themselves to protect them from some of the horrors of slavery, such as sexual abuse, verbal abuse, imprisonment, beatings, torturing, killings and the nonexistence of civil rights as Americans or rights as human beings. Also, their keen wit and intelligence leads them to their freedom from slavery, and their fight for freedom and justice for all oppressed people.
Slavery is a term that can create a whirlwind of emotions for everyone. During the hardships faced by the African Americans, hundreds of accounts were documented. Harriet Jacobs, Charles Ball and Kate Drumgoold each shared their perspectives of being caught up in the world of slavery. There were reoccurring themes throughout the books as well as varying angles that each author either left out or never experienced. Taking two women’s views as well as a man’s, we can begin to delve deeper into what their everyday lives would have been like. Charles Ball’s Fifty Years in Chains and Harriet Jacobs Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl were both published in the early 1860’s while Kate Drumgoold’s A Slave Girl’s Story came almost forty years later
Jacobs, Harriet, and Yellin, Jean. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press
This story is great in a way that it gives us an alternative view of the past but still able to tell us the correct past. The entire time Whitehead tries to expand the idea of freedom and give us multiple views of that idea. Juan G. Vasquez from The New York Times was totally correct when he said “ The Underground Railroad achieves the task by small shifts in perspective”. Colson is able to tell one story using many point of views. We got to see the white supremacy in the story. White supremacist is such a crazy thing that it makes those whites look delusional as something so cruel can feel so right to them. Whitehead describes a scene as “ all ages rushed” to lynch one girl. That is some savage humans just ready take a life away because of their mentality. Whitehead gives the reality of how it was to be a black in those times. For example the road called “ Freedom Trails” which sounds like the road every African American wanted but it wasn’t. It was a street to publicly send a message to all the people against slavery which include slaves and abolitionist by lynching them. The freedom trail technically was for “the night riders” as they saw they were liberating their freedom as they saw blacks as threat. We get an raw visual of what how inhuman some whites were towards
Anne Moody's story is incredible. She overcame divorced parents, heavy poverty, deliberate murders of her family and friends by whites, and numerous death threats. I believe she succeeded in her effort to write a book with enough power for the reader to appreciate the evil of racism and intense inequality. For Miss Moody and other blacks, life was not much different from slavery, which ha...
Over all, Celia delivers a convincing portrayal of slavery—even as it existed outside the Deep South—as a brutal institution. And it offers vivid possibilities for showing how the legal and moral assumptions that upheld slavery got tested from the bottom up. Making Freedom showed how slaves went through a lot to try and gain freedom. And it showed that Venture worked hard to get his freedom and his family’s freedom. Moral dilemmas are shown in both books and the slaves that go through these dilemmas show great strength and courage to continue their lives.
The issue of Slavery in the South was an unresolved issue in the United States during the seventeenth and eighteenth century. During these years, the south kept having slavery, even though most states had slavery abolished. Due to the fact that slaves were treated as inferior, they did not have the same rights and their chances of becoming an educated person were almost impossible. However, some information about slavery, from the slaves’ point of view, has been saved. In this essay, we are comparing two different books that show us what being a slave actually was. This will be seen with the help of two different characters: Linda Brent in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and Frederick Douglass in The Narrative of the life of Frederick
In relation to the novel, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Frederick Douglass’s disobedience ultimately sparked his freedom. Being introduced to the “heart-rending shrieks” from his aunt at such a young age, slavery implanted a long-lasting effect on his life. Often times, when one experiences a painful memory in the manner such as watching a family member hit until they are covered with blood, sparks a fire to stand up for what is right in the back of their mind. Douglass carried those visions of his aunt along with him his whole life, as well as his own repulsive
In the book, he describes the history of the Colonial era and how slavery began. He shows us how the eighteenth century progressed and how American slavery developed. Then it moves onto the American Revolution, and how the American slaves were born into class. It was this time that the slave population was more than twice what it had been. The Revolutionary War had a major impact on slavery and on the slaves.
...lowed me to step into the early 1800's of America and get a good, solid grip of what a brave woman went through to secure the freedom of her children. I was able to connect with Harriet Jacobs and her life as she was an incredibly venerable woman with a good heart and a bit of a stubborn streak that a lot of people could relate to in one way or another. This book definitely made a large impact on me and I feel like I will carry a majority of it with me for quite a while, in particular the seven years that Jacobs spent in an cramped "attic" in a shed. She was so close to her children, yet wasn't able to do anything for them for all those years except remain quiet and wait for the time to take action so she could keep them safe. This book has maintained the part of an American classic for many reasons and it was an absolute wonderful and enlightening book to read.
In the middle of the night, four white men storm into a cabin in the woods while four others wait outside. The cabin belongs to Alice and her mom. The four men pull out Alice’s father along with her mom, both are naked. Alice manages to scramble away. The men question Alice’s father about a pass, which allows him to visit his wife. Her father tries to explain the men about the loss of the pass but the men do not pay any attention to him. Instead they tie him to a tree and one of the white man starts to whip him for visiting his wife without the permission of Tom Weylin, the “owner” of Alice’s father. Tom Weylin forbid him to see his wife, he ordered him to choose a new wife at the plantation, so he could own their children. Since Alice’s mother is a free woman, her babies would be free as well and would be save from slavery. But her freedom “status” does not stop one of the patroller to punch her in the face and cause her to collapse to the ground.
After reading this book and recently have seen the movie “Twelve Years a Slave”, I have a better understanding what being a slave felt like. I am glad, I live in a time and the place were slavery is no longer existent. This book showed to me how cruel some people can be, but also how some good can come out of the bad. I really liked this book and I definitely recommend this book to everyone else.
Some examples of what the slaves went through in this Novel are; “Patrollers made sure the slaves were where they were supposed to be at night, and they punished those who weren't” (2.6.7). Dana's first experience with white savagery comes when she keeps running into a gathering of patrollers whose activity it is to keep slaves devoted to their lords. These individuals don't get paid for what they do. They do it since they get a kick out of the chance to apply control over other individuals. Alice concedes that she's going out on a limb by being hitched to a slave, particularly considering that she is a liberated person. By entering Isaac's life, she fundamentally hazards (and in the long run loses) her flexibility. Alice says, "My father was a slave, and they sold him away from her. She said marrying a slave is almost bad as being a slave" (4.10.30). Her discipline for attempting to enable Isaac to escape servitude is to end up noticeably a slave herself. In the article, The Intergenerational Trauma of Slavery and Its Aftereffects, reviews the historical backdrop of African Americans. This article centers around the center entry, the manors in Maryland and Virginia toward the South and the West. In this specific article you take in more about servitude and what African Americans experienced amid the 1790s - 1860s (Graff