Chains

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2008

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1, Chapters 1-3

Part 1, Chapters 4-7

Part 1, Chapters 8-10

Part 1, Chapters 11-13

Part 1, Chapters 14-16

Part 1, Chapters 17-20

Part 1, Chapters 21-24

Part 2, Chapters 25-29

Part 2, Chapters 30-33

Part 2, Chapters 34-37

Part 2, Chapters 38-40

Part 2, Chapters 41-45

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Themes

The Nature and Cost of Freedom

George Washington said to his troops in August of 1776, “Remember, officers and soldiers, that you are free men, fighting for the blessings of liberty […] that slavery will be your portion […] if you do not acquit yourselves like men.” From the early kindling of the revolutionary fires, the idea of freedom for the colonies was bound up to the idea of slavery. The colonists rebelled to fight off the perceived slavery of the British Empire; the irony ist hat, while so doing, they maintained their own self-serving institution of chatel slavery. Though many founding fathers recognized the immorality of the practice of owning other humans, they believed their need to find autonomy from the crown was more pressing. The Continental Congress grappled with addressing slavery in the Declaration of Independence but ultimately decided to table it, seeing the new nation as too fragile to endure the protests from Southern states.

Anderson sets her novel in the early days of the revolution where the colonies are preparing to fight for their freedom from the tyranny of Britain; this allows her to draw a counterintuitive parallel between the colonists and those they enslave: The release from oppressive taxes and land management leads the colonies to revolt, yet Isabel fights to secure the right to be seen as a full human being. Though their motivations for justice are different, Isabel finds herself on a path parallel to the colonies’ in rebellion against authoritarian systems of oppression. At times, Isabel finds herself caught in a web of confusion between the Locktons’ Tory loyalty and her friend Curzon’s revolutionary cause: “I was chained between two nations” (182). Neither the colonies nor the crown can truly help her reach her destiny.

The author, in her protagonist Isabel, also suggests a distinction between freedom and liberty and that both come with personal sacrifice. Ultimately, Isabel finds she is searching for liberty, not just freedom. Freedom gives a person the license to act and speak as they choose, but liberty frees people to step into their full being and purpose; under the Locktons’ ownership, Isabel’s entire being is oppressed. She is restrained both physically and mentally. Her body is abused in the service of a home, and as the white society withholds education and free thinking, her mind is subdued as well. Over time, this wears away at the fabric of her psyche and threatens to reduce her to a shell of herself. Isabel recognizes the brutality, saying, “it wasn’t right for one body to own another or pull strings to make them jump” (50).

The theme of freedom and liberty takes many shapes in the narrative. At first, after Mary Finch dies, Isabel believes she is free, only to find that she is held tighter in chains than before. She believes naively that freedom lies just on the other side of obtaining a document. Just as the colonists learned in the completion of their document The Declaration of Independence, freedom will not be won with the mere stroke of a pen. Isabel’s freedom will come at the cost of great suffering for both her and Ruth, just as the Continental Army will count the bodies as the cost of their defiance. Curzon becomes a symbol of both struggles as he weds his fight against slavery with the cause of the revolutionaries. He also amounts heavy losses in the battle, both physical and emotional.

While the enslaved Americans and the colonies both endeavor for freedom in their material conditions, the theme takes on a spiritual dimension when Grandfather, an older man who works a water pump, shares his own thoughts on the situation: “‘This is not our fight,’ the old man said. ‘British or American, that is not the choice. You must choose your own side, find your road through the valley of darkness that will lead you to the river Jordan’” (167). In the Hebrew Bible, the Jordan River traditionally symbolizes a threshold to freedom (as shown with the Israelites’ flight from Egypt)—and in the Christian New Testament, it often symbolizes spiritual rebirth (as shown with Jesus’s baptism). In the same mysterious tone, Grandfather tells Isabel, “Everything that stands between you and freedom is the river Jordan. […] Look hard for your river Jordan, my child. You’ll find it” (167). When Grandfather says, “This is not our fight” (167), the clear suggestion is that the fight for freedom belongs to a divine figure and that Isabel will find a spiritual freedom by seeking God; just what “spiritual freedom” is remains to be seen. While Grandfather’s reference to the Jordan implies Christian providence, Isabel has a different spiritual tradition and prays to her ancestors, who, to her, offer similar guidance and comfort—and this spirituality plays into the theme of family. Eventually, she will rely increasingly on her own inner strength without calling on her ancestors.George Washington said to his troops in August of 1776, “Remember, officers and soldiers, that you are free men, fighting for the blessings of liberty […] that slavery will be your portion […] if you do not acquit yourselves like men.” From the early kindling of the revolutionary fires, the idea of freedom for the colonies was bound up to the idea of slavery. The colonists rebelled to fight off the perceived slavery of the British Empire; the irony ist hat, while so doing, they maintained their own self-serving institution of chatel slavery. Though many founding fathers recognized the immorality of the practice of owning other humans, they believed their need to find autonomy from the crown was more pressing. The Continental Congress grappled with addressing slavery in the Declaration of Independence but ultimately decided to table it, seeing the new nation as too fragile to endure the protests from Southern states.

Family as a Source of Strength and Identity

When the Atlantic slave trade began, the traders and enslavers gave no respect to preserving the enslaved family unit as individuals were sold as commodities and valued only for their ability to work. As people were kidnapped from their ancestral homelands and sold from owner to owner, biological families were fractured, traditions lost, and identities stolen. Enslaved persons were stripped of their natively given names and given the names of their owners. Isabel’s character endures the loss of family three times and, like many enslaved persons, must look inside herself to find her identity without a family to preserve it.

When the novel opens, Isabel visits the grave of her mother, who was lost to the smallpox outbreak of the 1700s. Isabel ponders the responsibility she now carries as the sole guardian of her younger sister. Her mother’s death, however, is not the first time she experiences familial loss. Her memory takes the reader to the time her father was sold away from Isabel’s family. She memorializes all the times her people have watched their family members torn away from them:

They kept moving us over the water, stealing us away from our ghosts and our ancestors, who cried salty rivers into the sand. That's where Momma was now, wailing at the water's edge, while her girls were pulled out of sight, under white sails that cracked in the wind (25).

Enslaved persons often found a family in those with whom they lived and worked, but Isabel cannot bond with Becky or any other maids in the Lockton home as they are not considered property like she is. Curzon becomes her friend, and though it takes time for him to gain her trust, by the time they make their dramatic escape, their bond has solidified. The shared trauma and tribulations of their enslavement have knitted them together.

With her familial ties comes Isabel’s sense of identity, belonging, and self-worth. As she is forced from home to home alone, she grapples with who she is as a person and her purpose in life. She maintains her connection to her family only in her mind and memory and draws strength from her mother's wisdom in times of hardship. Once Ruth is gone, however, Isabel begins to lose the connection to her past. She feels adrift though she is in chains. Compounded by the systematic dehumanization by Madam Lockton, Isabel struggles to find her identity. When she resolves to escape, she sets out to forge a pass that grants her freedom. At this defining moment, she looks at herself in the mirror and finally accepts who she is. She does not turn her back on her ancestry but realizes she must start anew if she is to survive: “I was not a Lockton. Nor a Finch. Isabel Rhode Island? That would not do. Isabel Cuffe, after Poppa, or Isabel Dinah after Momma?” (287). Finding no surname from her past that fits, she grasps the need for a rebirth. In naming herself—Isabel Gardner—she not only begins a new family but takes full control of her identity.

Courage as a Spiritual Feat

In his 1886 book Beyond Good and Evil, German philosopher Nietzsche famously wrote, “Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster.” Many protagonists, traversing through dark and perilous circumstances and fighting evil, must keep from falling into the evil themselves. When Isabel finds herself battling against racism and hatred, she must find the courage to tune out the voices of violence in her mind and tune into the goodness of her heart. In Isabel‘s character, Anderson invites the reader to consider that courageous acts can come in the form of compassion and tenderness, not just in heroic physical feats or epic battlefield victories. Isabel learns that fighting with her heart and mind can be just as powerful as using her hands.

One of Isabel’s most painful memories is that of her father being sold away from his family. He takes a stand physically against his enslavers and receives a brutal beating in response. For much of the narrative, Isabel equates courage with physical action. She is tortured by her imprisonment in the Lockton home and feels like a failure for being unable to physically protect Ruth. She fantasizes about committing violence against Madam Lockton and then feels guilty for not acting for fear of retaliation; Isabel does not understand that such chronic exposure to interpersonal violence and antipathy can create a person to physiologically “freeze” when afraid. What she comes to learn, however, is that even when she feels able to act, there is also great strength in self-control in the face of brutality. While she restrains her outwardly violent impulses, she simultaneously builds her inner strength.

Isabel’s courage is most often challenged by her mental unclarity. She describes the confusion and anger as bees in her brain; the metaphor conveys the torture of her experience, and the exertion to control her thoughts is exhausting. Even with this cognitive barrier, however, she transforms her fear and grief into compassion. Christmas night finds her baking and delivering a pudding to a family in need. It is the most joyous and content she has been in the entire narrative: “I hummed a carol as I walked away, finally feeling at peace” (249). In her act of selflessness and altruism, she understands that showing empathy and compassion to others is the most heroic act one can take in times of strife and adversity.