Discrimination In Chains By Laurie Halse Anderson

Discrimination in Chains I don’t remember a time when there was prejudice, hate, and discrimination between races. All my life, I’ve been able to hang out, talk, and be friends with whomever I want, regardless of their skin color. Although I’ve never experienced it, books like Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson are a reminder that the world wasn’t always this way. There was once an America where slavery was rampant, and it was acceptable to shun or even hurt someone because of the color of their skin. Chains is the story a young slave girl named Isabel during the American Revolution and what she goes through during her time in enslavement to a Loyalist couple called the Locktons. Because discrimination between white and black people was so evident

23). Their owner had died, and they were supposed to be freed, but no one would take the word of a slave that they were actually supposed to be free. Despite Isabel’s protests, they were sold to the Locktons and into more enslavement, this time the owners crueler than the last ones. Isabel was paid no attention because she was a slave. Her protestations were ignored by everyone, and there was nothing she could do about it. Also, because they were slaves, it was perfectly acceptable to split them up, even though they had no one else but each other. Poor Ruth was only five years old, but she was still sold away after Madam discovered her having a seizure and thought she was possessed by the Devil (p. 133). Ruth needed Isabel, and Isabel needed Ruth, too, but there was no attention paid to that because of discrimination between people back then. Master Lockton even discussed sensitive Loyalist plans to assassinate George Washington in front of Isabel because he would have never thought a slave could have enough wits to actually use that information against him. Little did he know, that’s exactly what happened.

While the slaves were sometimes viewed as evil, or even monsters, by their owners, the cruelty the slave owners showed them made them into monsters instead. Isabel only wanted to save her sister when she was sold, but because of Madam’s cruelty toward slaves and people she thought inferior to her, she was punished harshly and branded so that her ‘insolence’ would be displayed for all to see. Madam was very harsh and cruel toward Isabel even when she had done nothing wrong. (p. 144) She even locked her in a potato bin when she found out Isabel was conversing with the rebels. She did all of this because she believed that she was better than them just because of the color of their skin and the fact they were slaves. When Madam discovered Ruth having a seizure, she didn’t listen to anyone that told her Ruth only had a medical condition. She insisted Ruth was possessed by the Devil, probably because she was predisposed to believe Ruth was evil. (p. 94) Madam believed Ruth to be a monster, but really, she was the monster, the evil one, in the story. What makes a person a monster is not the color of their skin, but how they treat other people. Madam was horrible to her slaves, but Isabel was kind and considerate to most people that she met, even though she was treated so appallingly. Many of the slaves at this time were treated the same way or even much