Character Analysis: Chains By Laurie Halse Anderson

The rebellion will weather like a vine cut off at it’s route. Cut off a vine and it will grow back, the mayor said. You must pull it out of the ground and burn it to ensure it is dead.“(Gold Buttons, and The Major 89). The Patriots think that way and the Loyalists think another but how do the slaves think of Freedom and Liberty. Isabel a slave in the book would consider freedom as not being a slave. She has been in bondage her entire life, so freedom to her is being considered a person, not property. Also being able to go find Ruth and to live and travel wherever she wants, to say whatever she wants to say. I think Isabel considers being free, having no chains holding her down, and having the same rights as a white man. I know this because Isabel states in the book chains,” If an entire nation could seek its freedom, why not a girl? And if a girl wants to seek her freedom, how could she do a fool-headed thing? Especially a girl trapped in New York? Best thing would be to break into the desk of a British commander steal a pass and forge her name and his name on it and act free. And pigs were likely to fly, Plus, that girl seeking freedom would have to walk. “(Isabel 272) These quotes show what Liberty means the different types of people in the book Chains. Freedom and Liberty can make people do impossible things like having farmers and slaves fight against the strongest army that has never lost a battle. Freedom and Liberty is one crazy

When someone hears the phrase “held captive”, usually wild animals come to mind. No one ever really thinks of humans as being held captive. However, in Daniel Quinn’s 1992 novel Ishmael, the character of Ishmael tries teaching the story’s narrator to think of ways in which he has been held captive by both internal and external forces. Society has a way of making people feel like they need to do certain things to be successful, so basically society is holding people captive by holding them back from living the way they want to. As humans, we also have ways of holding ourselves captive. Ishmael compares our captivity with a form of blindness. Throughout the novel, Quinn helps the reader realize what they are blind to and what they are

The book Chains takes place during the Revolutionary War and is set in colonial New York. The main character, Isabel, is a slave for a Loyalist family. She and her sister were sold to them after her mother and her owner pass away. She makes friends with another slave, Curzon Bellingham, and is told to spy on her influential master. She operates in secret and constantly fears her owner, Madam Lockton, will catch her. She faces many troubles throughout the book, including her five year old sister being sold to an owner in another country. The book’s title signifies Isabel’s struggle with her independent soul being chained down by the others around her.

Speaking out is a tough task for many people that have dealt with horrible, traumatic situations. In the novel Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, the main character, Melinda, is one of those people who lost their voice. To be able to understand another person’s emotions, feelings, and situations is very difficult to do, especially because of how our society has formed and became a very judgmental place. Melinda Sordino starts her freshman year at Merryweather High School in Syracuse, New York, to a terrible start; she is a victim of a sexual assault and loses her confidents and voice to speak out. The more she interacts and makes new friends is how she starts to reach out and become more self-sufficient. Few weeks into school Melinda’s only

James A. Honey’s “The World’s Reward” and Maya Angelou “Caged Bird” tell about how freedom is feasible of physical enslavement.

Which one between John Turner and Robert Johnson will succeed? Why will either Turner or Johnson make it and the other not make it?

The 1700’s was a time of atrocious actions against slaves, and African-Americans in general. In Chains, by Laurie Halse Anderson, we see some of these crimes, (at the time these horrible acts were perfectly acceptable along with hitting you wife as seen when Mr. Lockton violently hit Madam), against slaves in the viewpoint of Isabel, a thirteen-year-old girl who had not experienced the tribulations most slaves had. One heinous crime in the novel when Madam beat harshly her many slaves with her hands, a chair, a poker, a broom, and even a riding crop throughout the book causing a great deal of suffering to all slaves who came into her possession. In fact, Madam beat one of her slaves so severally, the poor slave’s arm broke and withered out

The book I read was called Chains written by Laurie Halse Anderson. This book was about standing up for your self even if you are not the biggest person or the most powerful person in the room. I think it teaches a lot of children a lesson. You can stand up for yourself, no mater what atmosphere you are in. A lot of people struggle with feeling not important and people can say what they want, because you don't matter. The author did a really great job of teaching that lesson.

During the colonial era, there were three groups of people with three varying political beliefs; the Patriots, the Loyalists, and the slaves. In the novel Chains, by Laurie Halse Anderson, she writes about how the term “Freedom and Liberty” meant something different to each of the groups. This liberating idea drove the different parties to act a certain way throughout the book. For example, the Patriots fought courageously against Britain even though they posed no threat whatsoever to them. The Loyalists, on the other hand, conquered entire Rebel cities to drown out the Patriots’ beliefs. Lastly, the slaves would act fearlessly and do things to spite their masters regardless of their political position. All in all, these diverse classes of

In the novel, it quotes, “The British Lord Dunmore in Virginia offered freedom-total freedom-to any slave who escapes to his camp.” He shook his fist in the air when he said “freedom.” (Grandfather 164). Despite the counter argument the other slaves gave, Isabel decides to join the British cause and become a Loyalist. The novel states, “I will run and join the British” and “They’d grant me freedom and give me work.” (both quotes by Isabel 174). By these two quotes, Isabel believes that if she joined the British, she would be able to gain freedom to become independent. Then, she plans to find work and earn enough money to find her sister Ruth, who Isabel still believes was sold away. She believes that the British offers much more than what the Patriots did, and since they failed her last time, she is sketchy about joining them again and doesn’t really trust them. She believes that they want freedom for the colonists, not for slaves. Thus, she becomes a

“Chains” by Laurie Halse Anderson portrays the life of Isabel, a young slave in the American Colonies. When her master died, she was promised freedom out of her will. However, her master’s nephew took her ownership and is sold to the Lockton family. During this period of hardship, another great conflict takes place. The American Revolution.

Have you ever wondered what it is like to be a slave and having to work for somebody and listen to their every command and follow through with it? Well if you have, then you might know how Isabel felt. She had to listen to somebody tell her what to do and pity her like she was a wild animal because if you had dark skin, you were basically a wild animal. Slaves were treated differently in different areas and had different jobs to do. It all depended on the location you were in. Throughout the book, Chains, by Laurie Halse Anderson, Isabel went to different work environments such as a small farm, plantation, and a big city.

In the novel Chains, Laurie Halse Anderson portrays a slave girl at the height of the Revolutionary War. The book shows what life was like for a slave girl- Isabel. Throughout this book, you see the horrors and trials of a slave through her eyes. The book refutes many assumptions about slavery in the Revolutionary War’s time. Laurie Halse Anderson shows her disgust about slavery through Isabel’s feelings, and through the many traumatic experiences Isabel has to overcome.

of Darkness: the chain gangs, the grove of death, the payment in brass rods, the

All around us millions of people are living in bondage . They are held capative by some addication to drug,alcohal Etc. There lives may be bent and twisted by an event and circumstances of long ago . They long for freedom, but they don’t know how to free.