Who Is Madam Lockton's Bias Towards Slavery?

In the book Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson, there are two main characters who have very different views on slavery. On one hand, Madam Lockton believes slavery is acceptable. On the opposite side, Lady Seymour believes slavery should be abolished.

Madam Lockton supports slavery. Her actions and what others have said about her had a big part of my opinion about Madam Lockton’s bias towards slavery. One reason why Madam Lockton likes slavery is because she is a high maintenance woman and lives a rich life without having to do much work herself. She also has shown that the people she is mostly around and cares about are Loyalists and people of power instead of slaves who have little to no power at all. Not only does she have slaves, she also uses maids. Madam has lots of money so she uses slaves that don’t get paid as well as maids who do get paid but all in all, she doesn’t have to do any housework or get her hands dirty.

Madam Lockton is a rich woman, so using money to her advantage, she doesn’t have to do regular housework like wives of the less fortunate would have to have done. I felt convinced of this idea because in several parts of the book she orders her maids

Normally people would suggest specific requirements for their maids because you have to communicate and associate their abilities with your preferences. But, Lady Seymour has a maid that only speaks Dutch. Lady Seymour put in the effort to learn Dutch for her maid. On page 77 it says “She turned to her servant, who stood but the hearth. ‘Wil je alsjeblieft even de meubels afstoffen?’ The strange girl bobbed once and left the room… ‘She speaks only Dutch,’ Lady Seymour explained. ‘And shows no inclination to learn English, I’m afraid. Now, a bite, and the events.’” This clearly shows that she is open to lots of different people because her maid speaks a different tongue but Lady Seymour learned the language to be able to easily communicate with