Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson
Resource For Students and Teachers Created by Chestnut Hill Middle School 7th graders of 2015
In chapter II of Chains, Laurie Halse Anderson uses a simile to compare Isabel’s dad to a lion. This was shown when isabel and Ruth were trying to stay with their poppa and mom. People were trying to separate the family, which meant the sisters would now need to rely on each other, but most importantly Isabel. Poppa was the man of the family and was very protective, like a lion is towards its family. The odds were stacked against not winning because he was definitely outnumbered by the people trying to take the family and separate them. A male lion is brave and is expected to lead and guide the pride, and Isabel’s father gave it his all to keep the family together.
By: Camryn D.
Laurie Halse Anderson opens Chapter 11 of Chains with a quote about five slaves on sale for $60-$80 each. This gives you the idea that in this chapter, Isabel or Ruth could be sold. Reflecting back on previous chapters, there have been issues with Ruth and Madam Lockton’s relationship, but as you read deeper into the story you’ll notice that Isabel tests her limits with Madam. It could have been either of them, but it was Ruth who was eventually sold. When Isabel finds out, she shouts around the house for Ruth and talks back to whatever Madam and Becky are trying to say to her. In this part of the story, you can see that Isabel isn’t really thinking about what she’s doing and isn’t respecting what others are saying to her. Throughout this time, there are many questions streaming through Isabel’s mind about what is happening. You can tell Isabel loves Ruth and in this process you gather that Ruth needs her as well. Through Isabel’s actions, the author shows the reader that Isabel is a caring, protective and thoughtful sister. When Isabel talks about “the eel” in Chapter 11, she is using a metaphor to emphasize the emotions inside of her, and her dream is telling her what’s actually going on. You can tell that not having Ruth by her side is frightening because she uses this metaphor to relate to it.
By: Helen N.
XXI
In this chapter I found a sentence that was rather interesting to me. It says “I stopped hearing right. No more birds or buzzing flies or grandfather clock marking time.” But, I don’t think Isabelle was actually talking about those things. Earlier in the book she would talk about bees buzzing in her mind, but she obviously isn’t talking about real bees. So I think this is the same things, like they all represent her mind. And when she said there is no more of them I think her mind went blank. Like she couldn’t think or process what was going on. I thought that sentence was a very good way to emphasize what the author was trying to put across.
By: Samatha M.
In chapter xxi Isabel wakes up from a horrible dream and Ruth is no where to be found. When she asks Becky about Ruth, Becky tries to hold up time but Isabel sucks it out of her that Ruth was sold to the West Indies last night while she was sleeping. I think that Isabel feels guilty about Ruth being sold because of the things she said. In Chapter xliii Madam Lockton states that when she was selling Ruth she couldn’t find a buyer. So Ruth was still the Lockton’s property. She was sent off to Charleston. Isabel was much happier then because she now has a chance to find Ruth and possibly come free.
By: Angela R.
In the book Isabel takes her mother’s seeds right before she is sold to the Locktons. She has to decide what objects to bring with her and knows she has to hurry. She quickly grabs the seeds and is taken to Jenny’s tavern to be sold. Throughout the book the seeds are not mentioned a lot, so the reader infers that the seeds are not important, when they are very significant to Isabel’s journey. Isabel took the seeds, the one thing she could take with her from her old life, to her new life because those seeds represent herself. The seeds are fragile and kept in a pocket before being planted, like Isabel being a slave at a young age, not having the childhood that she should have had. As the seeds are planted they aren’t expected to grow very well, much like Isabel who didn’t believe that she could make it at some points. When the seeds grow, Isabel also grows and blossoms with time. Although Isabel sees the seeds blossom, she also sees them die when she forgets to care for them. Which is also like Isabel when she realizes that Ruth had been sold, both had stopped growing. The seeds needed to be cared for by someone and Isabel needed Ruth in order to continue to hope for freedom. The seeds that Isabel brought were very important in the book because they showed the journey that Isabel had to take and it allowed the reader to make connections to the ups and downs in Isabel’s life.
By: Natalija M.
The River Jordan comes up several times in the book Chains. It is mention once when the old man called Grandfather, tells Isabel that one day she will find her River Jordan. The River Jordan is also mentioned at the end of the book during the resolution, when Isabel arrives at the river bank, she says that she is in her River Jordan. When she says River Jordan, she really means a place where you are free. A place where no one controls or owns you. Somewhere that you can feel safe and confident in your decisions. When Grandfather was describing his feelings on the slaves that were running away from their owners to join the British army, he talked about the River Jordan. He meant that although you deserve the fastest route to freedom, you shouldn’t go against your values just to reach your goal. I believe that Grandfather was like a guardian angel and was leading Isabel towards the right path. Telling her that she must be patient in her fight for freedom and know which opportunities to take. If she does this then she will find her freedom, her River Jordan. At the time she was very confused because she had been promised freedom once, but failed to receive it. She was looking for the easiest way out of her problem, but needed to realize that if she wants freedom she must wish it for not only herself but others who want it as well. Isabel had already tried finding the easiest route to freedom numerous times, she had to understand that there is no easy route, this battle is one of the hardest battles in life. In the end, we all must try to find our own River Jordans.
By: Natalija M.
In-Depth Thinking
An in-depth analysis exploring Chains even further.
XLV
In this chapter there is a sentence that I found in this chapter. it’s “I rowed that river like it was a horse delivering me from the Devil.” This means something along the lines that Isabelle rowed rapid like her life depended on it. Because in Isabelle’s belief, the Devil is the worst thing to talk or deal with and she would be grateful and happy if a horse showed up and took her away. So during the rowing away, Isabelle was ecstatic that she was getting away and wouldn’t have to deal with Madam, which would be the Devil and the boat which is the horse.
By: Samantha M.
The story gets very intense when Madam finds out Isabel is feeling the American prisoners of war, as known as the enemies to the Lockton’s. She tries to get into Isabel’s head by saying that Ruth is alive and safe at the Lockton’s headquarters in Charleston. Its a very emotional time for Isabel and the reader can almost feel the pain and longing for her best friend/sister Ruth. When Isabel throws the note she was supposed to deliver to an American Commander in the fire and caused Madam Lockton to “break”. She ordered Isabel to give her the note and Isabel bravely decided not to. Mrs. Lockton wanted to sell Isabel and get rid of all of her trouble and commotion she has caused for the rebellion. Before they could be sold she had left with the slip saying she was freed instead of being a slave.
By: Camryn D.
In Chapter 37 of the book, the author starts the chapter with an article from the Royal Gazette written in New York. The newspaper describes prisoners captured at Fort Washington. After two of her fellow workers start to argue, Isabel sneaks off to go and see Curzon in the jail using the argument as an excuse. Upon arrival, Isabel realizes that Curzon is very sick, and almost dead. You can infer that Isabel started to think the jail was becoming more of a miserable and dangerous place. In the following chapter, Isabel is decorating the house with holly, after Madams orders. Madam demands that Isabel stops going the the jail. This shows that Isabel could be unworthy of respect and approval from Madam if she continues to go to the jail to visit Curzon. In the end of the chapter Isabel fondly looks back, thinking of spending Christmas time with her family. She decides to make a batch of bread pudding, just like her mom used to make with her. It shows that instead of Isabel being depressed about being separated from her family during Christmas time, she handled the situation in a very mature way, and honored her momma by giving the bread pudding to a family living in a tent. Isabel was happy to be at ease.
By: Cami D.
In the book Chains, ( chapter XXXVII) the author starts the chapter with a letter written from New York discribing prisoners capured at Fort Washington. After two of her fellow workers start to argue, Isabel gets to go and see Curzon in the jail, and uses the argument as an excuse. Upon arival, Isabel realizes that Curzon was very sick, almost dead. You can infer that Isabel started to think the jail was becoming more of a miserable and dangerous place. In the following chapter, Isabel is decorating the house with holly, after Madams orders.Madam demands that Isabel should stop going the the jail. This shows that Isabel could be unworthy of respect and approval, from Madam, if she continues to go to the jail to visit Curzon. In the end of the chapter Isabel fondly looked back , thinking of spending Christmas time with her family. She decides to make a batch if bread pudding, just like her mom used to make with her.It shows that instead of Isabel being depressed about being seperated from her family during Christmas time, she handled the situation in a very mature way, and honored her ”momma” by giving her bread pudding to a family living in a tent. Isabel was then happy to be at ease.
By: Camryn D.
I feel as if Madam Lockton treated Isabel and Ruth so cruelly because her husband and her didn't have a great relationship verbally or physically. After reading Chains you get a bad sense towards Mr. Lockton and Mrs.Lockton. Mrs. Lockton was a miserable and mean woman that gets abused by her husband more than she should. Unlike Madam Lockton Lady Seymour is very nice and kind. It stood out when she gave Isabel the glass of milk, Isabel was so used to cruel behavior, but turns out, Lady seymour was quite fond of Isabel. She would get mad when Madam did anything men to Isabel. Madam definitely held back of the yelling when Lady Seymour was at her house, especially after the fire.
By: Camryn Darling
There are many important themes in Chains and I thought that one of them is that you should just bear with tough situations.This really shows throughout this book. It really relates to Isabel because she is a slave and she doesn’t have pretty much any say in what she does. Isabel is owned by a loyalist which is the opposite side that she wants to fight for. the people on that side are known as the rebels. Sinca Isabel is a slave she cannot talk back to madam Lockton or any adult that owns her. Isabel is very strong and she can handle being yelled at, even though she doesn't like it.
By: Camryn Darling
As I was reading Chapter 34, I noticed something peculiar in the figurative language I believe was used here. It explains how Madam Lockton had begun glueing mouse hairs onto her eyebrow to make them more fuller and thicker. On page 212, her mouse hair eyebrow “flopped into the rice pudding...Madam avoided looking at her pudding, a toast she said in a wobbly voice.” The mouse hairs are like a protection for Madam Lockton; they make her appearance seem more full and proper, like the British Army who are seemingly triumphant at this point. As the night drowns on the mouse hairs that had once made Madam seem more fancy or genuine, had then fallen and shown her imperfections. Just like the British Army they seem like they can cover up such imperfections and flaws they have with their army. We will soon see their proper ways have been stripped away, as the Patriots prosper! Cover up of short triumph might seem like all is well, but you never know the unsuspecting might come rushing through! Just like the false eyebrow falls into the dessert, we see the British begin to fall and are overpowered by the ever victorious Patriots!
By: Abbey N.
In Chapter 45 on Page 299 there was a part that caught my eye, written in Isabel’s point of view: “I rowed and the tide pulled and the ghosts - who could indeed travel over water - tugged my boat with all their strength.” While reading this excerpt, I can imagine the supposed ghosts as a curling mist over the dead waters. Just as mist blinds the eyes, Isabel is indeed being masked. The ghosts seem to pull her away from the torture of the Lockton household, but Isabel is too drowned out in her thoughts to realize the terrible situation she is putting herself in. The ghosts are worries, fears and hopes hanging over Isabel’s boat. Isabel puts her trust in them, hoping they can pull her away, but ghosts can only do so much. Soon the waters will splosh over the sides, overturning Isabel’s boat and her reliance in the ghosts. The blinding mist of trust helps conceal Isabel away from the pain of the past, but soon everything will be crystal clear. As the sun rises, the ghosts must pass and the blistering sun peels away her security to expose Isabel to the harsh conditions she faces next.
By: Abbey N.
Featured: Abbey N.
In Chapter XXII as Isabel waits in the cell she explains her uneasiness. “ The madwoman and the rats stayed in the corner, red eyes waiting for me all night long.” The madwoman could actually not be a woman at all, but Isabel’s bewildered thoughts. This madwoman surrounded by beady eyed vermin is Madam Lockton in every aspect. Isabel is swimming in her own delusions, yet so realistic. The madwoman is a representation of Isabel’s tortured thoughts infected with the vile that is Madam Lockton. The rats are each individual lost hope and dream shattered by Madam Lockton and devoured by a nightmare. One rat is the freedom Isabel so rightfully deserved, another the hope she had of spending her bad days with Ruth to help cheer her. A third rat is the want of seeing her family again, and lying next to it is the rat that represents Isabel’s lost soul looking for a cure. A weary rat cowering down is the blood Isabel poured into every suffrage and the strength it took her to rise back up, it’s a conflicted and tortured rat. Each rat naws at Isabel’s brain seeking any type of resolution, or a break of sunshine to cascade down. The madwoman holds each rat in her twisted hands, using them as puppets, controlling Isabel’s life, enjoying the suffering she endures.
By: Abbey N.
In Chapter XXII as Isabel waits in the cell she explains her uneasiness. “ The madwoman and the rats stayed in the corner, red eyes waiting for me all night long.” The madwoman could actually not be a woman at all, but Isabel’s bewildered thoughts. This madwoman surrounded by beady eyed vermin is Madam Lockton in every aspect. Isabel is swimming in her own delusions, yet so realistic. The madwoman is a representation of Isabel’s tortured thoughts infected with the vile that is Madam Lockton. The rats are each individual lost hope and dream shattered by Madam Lockton and devoured by a nightmare. One rat is the freedom Isabel so rightfully deserved, another the hope she had of spending her bad days with Ruth to help cheer her. A third rat is the want of seeing her family again, and lying next to it is the rat that represents Isabel’s lost soul looking for a cure. A weary rat cowered down is the blood Isabel poured into every suffrage and the strength it took her to rise back up, it’s a conflicted and tortured rat. Each rat naws at Isabel’s brain seeking any type of resolution, or a break of sunshine to cascade down. The madwoman holds each rat in her twisted hands, using them as puppets, controlling Isabel’s life, enjoying the suffering she endures.
By: Abbey N.
In the first chapters of Chains, Laurie Halse Anderson presents a whirlwind of emotion and delicately placed words to cultivate the simplicity of sadness. Miss Mary Finch had told the girls “smallpox is tricky, there’s no telling who it’ll take.” I find this interesting especially to the way Isabel describes the scars left on her arm as, “ scars like tiny stars scattered on our skin...it took Momma home to our maker.” Just like stars, curious and abundant, we can’t always tell how bad they can really get, perhaps in the sense they are so overly hot. Just like smallpox, it becomes subtle, but as it progresses it becomes large in quantity, like stars, and begin to takeover a body or a universe. The part in this reading where it says “it took Momma home to our maker.” The disease had taken Momma back to a duller stage where she deteriorated and became a part of the lost souls, just like stars they become duller and duller until they burn out and join the blackness of space; cold and dead, just like any other being that dies, becomes hidden into a darkness, ready to be reborn.
By: Abbey N.
In Chapter 43, the quote on page 287 and 288 says, “Isabel Cuffe, after Poppa, or Isabel Dinah, after Momma...dipped the quill, and wrote out my true name: Isabel Gardener...” I thought this was odd because of how much devotion and thought Isabel put into thinking about her Momma all the time, especially when Isabel saw ghosts or a flashback in the memory of her. Then again, the choosing of Isabel’s name could have meant so much more. After her Momma died and her father was carted away, she wanted to make her own reputation. The burnt scar on her cheek is nowhere near a sign of weakness, but it’s a fiery mark of courage. The “I” is not for insolent; it’s for integrity, intelligence and inspiration. Maybe now that I think about it, the last name choosing never really stood a whole lot for what Isabel was made of. She wanted to start out new on rugged terrain to find out for herself who she was and every step she is willing to take. Isabel Gardener, don’t be underwhelmed by the simplicity of the name. Dinah or Cuffe was not the way Isabel had tried to be represented. Gardener was possibly her way of saying she used to struggle, but fought for the beauty in it, like in the wild. All of it was just in her nature.
By: Abbey N.
In Chapter 14 Isabel has a bewildering dream: “I saw Poppa...his voice deep as a church bell. Momma hovered over me...her face faded into a woman I did not know, older than Momma, with strands of white in her hair...and brought bitter tea to my lips.” This older woman bringing tea to Isabel is not her mother, but I believe it is Lady Seymour. An older woman with wisping white hair is Lady Seymour caring for Isabel, as she fights off the terrible nightmare of a branding, with sleep. The bitter tea is a warning, as the old woman cups it in her hands; it is a sign of how Lady Seymour is about to face a bitter illness. In response to this, Isabel becomes the main caretaker for her and taste the twinge of that tea as she works harder than ever. The lemon that encircles Isabel in her dreamy trance is the sweetness of Lady Seymour’s generosity, haloing Isabel with a golden light of hope. As the dream slowly snaps Isabel back into the world around her, the message appearing in Isabel’s dream has more of an impact than ever: The bitter taste will not go away, but the lemons will bring out the little ray of light that is left. Halse-Anderson was able to get this message across with a more engaging experience for readers by describing the dream first instead of just coming right out and revealing this message in the beginning of Chapter 14
By: Abbey N.
Since Isabel and Ruth were taken from their home and split from each other, Isabel has been lonely and homesick. She has not let go of Ruth and her welcoming home. Ruth and home have traveled through Isabel’s mind at points. The author uses a metaphor stated as “The clouds scuttled away and the sun blazed, turning the yard in to garden of jewels.” Which is comparing the sunlight reflecting on the yard to a jewel. The yard was beautifully glowing when the clouds disappeared away and the sun found it way to light the yard. This reminded Isabel of home and having Ruth again. In her mind she thought, “Ruth would love this. If we were free and at home in Rhode Island and these were our sheets and our laundry and our snow, she’d dance like an angel.” Isabel wants Ruth and her to be happy together at home like they were before, with all things well and no bad. Also, the authors states another simile “I tried to bury the remembery, but it kept floating to the top of my mind like a cork in a stormy sea.” Isabel is thinking about Christmas at home with Momma and Ruth. They would spend time together, eating together, and reading the gospel together. Isabel is trying to forget about their home traditions because she knows it is never going to be the exact same. Overall Isabel is homesick and not as comfortable without Ruth because she doesn’t know where Ruth is or what is happening to her. Since Isabel has been sold she has been trying to become free throughout the book, but at one point she was practically free with her sweet home and ruth and wants those same times back.
By: Helen N.
In Chapter XXV Isabel is having conversation with Curzon. “He held it open. “We all have scars, Isabel.” “I’ll never talk to you again.” I threw myself against the gate, shut it and threw home the latch.” What exactly did Curzon mean by “We all have scars.”? Curzon could be reasoning towards the mark on Isabel’s face, but honestly he means more deeply. Scars are not always bearing across the skin, yet they are challenges and the worst things you could ever think of that come floating back up to the surface. Curzon , although treated quite well by Master Bellingham as a slave and basically his associate, could have had a bad past life before he was purchased by Bellingham. It is true all kinds of people in that time period did have scars. The Patriots had constant worry by becoming overwhelmed by The British Army and suffering their wrath. Loyalists or British are held up with some sort of responsibility to be higher up in class or eternally faithful to the King. The inbetweeners are conflicted with the decision of choosing what side to be, based on their content of character. Slaves are used all day,every day, tortured both physically and emotionally. This war has taken the most toll on the slaves, because they must be loyal to their owners and their decision, but they are still human and have their own opinion and desire to join the side they are compelled towards. Some slaves are owned by angelic owners, but most suffered under the sweltering overtaking of their masters. It is true, not one person can be singled out as either the most conflicted or most fortunate. They all had scars, we all have scars, you just can’t always see them.
By: Abbey N.