Chains By Laurie Halse Anderson

Chains, a novel written by Laurie Halse Anderson follows a young enslaved girl named Isabel at the beginning of the American Revolutionary War. Isabel is sold to Elihu and Ann Lockton, along with her five year old sister Ruth, after her original owner dies. The girls are shipped to the house and Ann Lockton, who demands to be called Madam Lockton, is terrible to them. She beats the girls and constantly yells at them. After this, Madam Lockton sells Ruth, making Isabel mad. Isabel tries to flee and is caught and subjected to a branding. Afterward, Isabel devises another plan to escape and manages to escape to freedom at the very end. Even though he was barely in the story, Elihu Lockton, though he is a fictional character, is a compassionate

Just like that, Isabel has to do everything in the Lockton’s large home and there is too much for her to handle. Within this mess, Elihu’s aunt Lady Seymour is in dire need of Isabel as she took on nine large German soldiers. Madam Lockton gets quite upset with this request as she thinks she is above doing chores, but we can see the compassion that Elihu Lockton has for Isabel when he confronts Madam Lockton, “ ‘I hope you regret your decision to send away the sister. Even small hands would have been helpful now.’ ”(Anderson 187). Anderson demonstrates the apprehension that Elihu had when Madam first decided to sell Ruth. He knew back in the previous chapter that separating Ruth and Isabel has done nothing but cause more problems to the family and home. Of course one can read the quote as Elihu wanting to help Lady Seymour by sending Isabel over, but I see the quote more as him giving Isabel that break and trying to make amends after Madam Lockton sold

In this part of Frederick Douglass’ autobiography Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, he details the lives of the slaves on his master’s twenty plantations. He talks about what provisions they were given each month and the amount of clothes they received. In this chapter he writes, “The children unable to work in the fields had neither shoes, stockings, jackets, nor trousers, given to them…” (Douglass 6). Here, Douglass illustrates the cruelty that each slave endered with basic necessities. The children on those plantations weren’t even given the basic things that they needed like clothes. We can compare this poor treatment with Elihu Lockton’s own actions towards Isabel and Ruth, showing that he is indeed kind. He gives the girls clothes, beds, and food without even a second thought. He has no problem making sure that his slaves are taken care of and well off.
Some could dispute that Elihu Lockton is still a terrible person as he owns slaves and even mocks Isabel’s scar from the branding that Madam Lockton made her endure. He jokes that the scar stands for her being smart, and Isabel is hurt by this. Even though Elihu does mock Isabel, he then insists that she go home by herself and doesn’t question why she was out alone showing that he has enough trust in Isabel to allow her to walk home without worry. Elihu showed the compassion and trust he has for Isabel in