Today is July 4th, 2011; the 235th anniversary of the issuing of the Declaration of Independence; Independence Day. The United States of America won its independence from Great Britain after we won the Revolutionary War. The citizens of America’s thirteen colonies were quite divided in which side they took in the War. There were the Patriots, those who wished that America would become its own country; and the Loyalists, those who sided with Britain. Chains, an exemplary historical novel by Laurie Halse Anderson, explores slavery during the Revolutionary War and the decisions that slaves had to make–most importantly, the decision between being a Patriot or a Loyalist.
Chains begins with Isabel and her little sister, Ruth, talking with their deceased owner’s lawyer. Isabel’s owner, a kind older lady, was always generous to Isabel and Ruth. She promised that when she passed away, Isabel and Ruth would be freed slaves. However, when the time finally came, the lawyer could not seem to find such papers claiming this wish of Isabel’s owner; they were “missing.” Of course, is blatantly clear that the lawyer really knew about the paper, but was not going to allow Isabel and Ruth to become free people. Devastated, Isabel and Ruth are shipped to New York to live with their new owners–a cruel, childless, Loyalist couple, the Locktons. Quickly, Isabel learns that the rest of the New York colony is not aware of the couple’s Loyalist status. The majority of the New Yorkers are Patriots, but, as Isabel learns, there are many secrets behind closed doors.
Fierce, irritable, and menacing, the Locktons constantly mock Isabel and Ruth for their skin color, beat them for their incompetence, and scold them for not completing every minute detail for every minute task. While running errands for her owners, Isabel frequently talks to Curzon, a slave for a Patriot soldier. Strong-willed, Curzon tries to convince Isabel that if she reveals the Lockton’s Loyalist secrets to the Patriots, she will be a free slave once the Patriots win the war. However, Isabel is not quite sure if she thinks the Patriots will even the war. Living in New York as a slave, Isabel hears many conversations from warriors on both sides of the war. Much of the conversations that she hears give no definite results to the looming war.
Another big question that conflicts with Isabel’s life is: Which side should she believe? Essentially, both sides offer Isabel freedom, after the war, if she tattles on the opposing side. But living with an abusive Loyalist couple and seeing the ruckus of the Patriots in the streets, is no help for Isabel, needing answers.
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| Forge, the sequel to Chains |
Ultimately, Isabel, who is a strong, independent, intelligent, young girl, no matter what her skin color is, comes to the conclusion that neither side will live up to its promise. Struggling with that fact, Isabel realizes that she must trust herself, not the Patriots and not the Loyalists. Confident, she lives her life, obeying the Locktons, but secretly living the life of a rebel. Not a Rebel, as in siding with the Americans that want to break free from Britain, but a rebel that lives her own life, standing strong.
However, when the unthinkable happens, Isabel must make a decision that goes against her newly found beliefs. Despite punishment, Isabel puts someone else’s life first, but possibly too late. Taking the pain and injuries that come with her decision, Isabel is branded as a whole new person, a person that must live for what she believes in. For if she was to forget what she believed in, she would have nothing left at all.
Heart-pounding, heartbreaking, and heart-wrenching, Chains is what Laurie Halse Anderson refers to as a "historical thriller." Fast-paced, and often violent, Chains is nothing short of thrilling. Anderson’s lyrical, sweet prose expertly weaves one of this historical thriller’s main points: the irony of the Americans fighting for independence, when they treat their African-Americans no better than the British treat them.
The first in a trilogy, The Seeds of America, Chains is followed by Forge, a sequel told from Curzon’s point-of-view. The thrilling finale in trilogy is expected to be released sometime late this year or early next.
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