Underground To Canada

In these passages author Barbara Smucker introduces her main character, Julilly, and sets the scene for Julilly’s later escape from enslavement. By providing a window into Julilly’s inner thoughts and describing her actions toward her mother and friends, Smucker characterizes Julilly as curious, observant, and compassionate. For instance, Julilly is curious to know more about places she has heard of, such as Canada and the Deep South. Smucker writes, “She lay down on the hard floor beside the fireplace and wrapped a thin blanket around her. ‘Canada.’ She thought the name again and again inside her head” (16). As she watches the landscape pass by her from the back of the slave trader’s wagon, Julilly contemplates the mysterious “deep South.” Smucker writes, “Julilly wondered if they would stop in one of these fields. Why did they go on and on? Where was this ‘deep South’ she heard the slave traders mumbling about?” (22). Julilly’s curiosity shows her intelligence, as well as her innocence about the world outside the plantation.

Julilly’s curiosity also gives her an observant eye for detail, and Smucker uses Julilly’s observations to help create similes (comparisons using “like” or “as”) that add visual imagery for the reader. For instance, Julilly is amazed by the beauty of the cypress swamp:

The muddy water lay as quiet as a flat, smooth mirror. The trees rose out of it straight and tall and their soft green needles strained the sun like spreading sieves. Flicks and specks of sunlight sparkled on the water. A heavenly sight, Julilly thought, and held her breath with wonder (29).

The two similes involve light and the reflection of light: The still, muddy water is like a mirror, and the soft needles of the trees are like sieves filtering the sunlight. Where the sun does hit the quiet water, it sparkles. The light-filled images here—mirror, filtered sunlight, and sparkling sunlight—contrast sharply with Julilly’s trauma of being taken from her mother and the fear of her unknown future. Such light in an otherwise brutal world must be otherworldly, a “heavenly sight,” Julilly thinks.

Julilly is often concerned for the welfare of others, and her generosity toward her friends and acquaintances shows her compassion and maturity. For instance, she is devastated to see two-year-old Willie separated from his mother, and she comforts him and the other young children in the wagon by cuddling them and singing. Smucker writes, “The children clung to Julilly and she warmed them as best she could in her thin, strong arms” (28). She also worries about Ben, Adam, and Lester as they both endure the slave trader’s whip and being forced to run in chains behind the moving wagon.

When Julilly considers running away, her desire to help the others keeps her in the wagon. Smucker writes, “Julilly thought of jumping from the wagon and running into the woods. But if she did, who would care for the babies in the wagon? Who would pour water over the torn ankles of Lester, Adam, and Ben? She was the only one strong and free enough to help them” (28). By describing Julilly’s resourcefulness and compassion, Smucker makes her a highly sympathetic protagonist and emphasizes Julilly’s personal strength. This characterization connects with Smucker’s emerging theme of the Resilience of the Human Spirit.

These chapters also demonstrate the importance of solidarity and communication. The enslaved people at the Hensen plantation help each other by sharing valuable news about the plantation and current events. For instance, Old John spreads the news that Jeb Hensen is sick, warning the other slaves that the plantation is failing and that they may be sold away. Julilly is aware of the rumors that spread quickly through the plantation: “There were whisperings tonight. They murmured beneath the chirping of the crickets. They crept from ear to ear as soundless as the flickering of the fireflies” (11).

Despite their fear of being overheard, Mammy Sally and Julilly manage to communicate about these rumors and the possibility of escape. Mammy Sally tells Julilly secrets in a whisper. Smucker writes, “She pressed her mouth against Julilly’s ear. ‘This is secret talk I’m tellin’ you now. Hold it quiet in your head and never let it out your mouth. There’s a place the slaves been whispering around called Canada’” (16). Fearing someone is listening, Mammy Sally changes the topic, since, as Julilly observes, “Talking for those who might be listening from the outside was always different from talking inside to those around you” (16). Another form of communication on the plantation is singing, which the characters use to pass along secret messages, as well as to boost morale. Julilly hears songs of hope and defiance on the plantation: “When Israel was in Egypt’s land / Let my people go / Oppressed so hard they could not stand / Let my people go” (11). Later, she comforts the children in the wagon by singing familiar songs to them.

In these passages the author uses metaphors and similes to engage the reader and invoke layers of meaning into her scenes. When Julilly sees the slave trader chaining Lester, Ben, and Adam to the wagon, Smucker compares the chain to a snake, writing, “The chain became a silver snake. It coiled over the ground, around the men, and up onto the back of their cart. It bit into a lock that held it fast” (21). This comparison shows how Julilly sees the evil of the chains as a living, moving force. Julilly’s father died of a snake bite, which makes this imagery more potent and associates the chain with suffering and death. Since snakes are associated with Satan and evil, the snake imagery also highlights the cruel wrongdoing of the chain and the slave trader.

Smucker also compares the small children in the wagon to a wild bird: “They moved near her—their little bodies twitched like a wild bird she had caught once and held for a moment before it broke into flight” (20). This simile asks the reader to imagine the children’s shock and fear as they are suddenly separated from their parents. It also suggests that, like the wild bird, these children should be free but are not.