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Chapter 2: The Middle Passage
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Amos Fortune, Free Man, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Freedom and Slavery
Dignity and Racism
Hard Work and Good Character
Providence and Faith
Summary
Analysis
Caleb’s wife Celia doesn’t nag him for returning home with At-mun (Amos). But she does take him to task when he describes passing by as the White Falcon’s “merchandise” went on the auction block. As Quakers, Caleb and Celia oppose slavery. Caleb justifies his purchase by pointing out that he and Celia will cultivate the boy’s mind in their Christian home—and by pointing out that they need domestic help. And he makes a distinction between buying an enslaved person outright (as he did) and bidding on them. Celia wants Caleb to promise that he'll free At-mun, and Caleb agrees to—eventually. Right now, he believes that “part animal” At-mun would “run wild.”
Like her husband, Caleb, Celia distinguishes herself from the more abusive and exploitative enslavers. Yet, although she criticizes Caleb for his choice, she also willingly participates in the subjugation and enslavement of Amos. Portraying only kind and beneficent enslavers allows the book to sidestep the fundamental abuse at the heart of slavery: depriving other human beings of their liberty. Caleb also gives voice to an argument that slavery sympathizers historically used to justify the practice, claiming that slavery supposedly taught the Christian religion and Eurocentric habits to enslaved people, thereby “civilizing” them.
Themes
While Caleb and Celia talk, At-mun (Amos) notices the two small children (later identified as Roger and Roxanna) hiding behind the door. Caleb insists that At-mun cannot speak, and, as if to disprove him, Celia asks the boy his name. Caleb cuts in to say that it’s “Amos,” while At-mun answers “At-mun.” Caleb tells Celia that At-mun knows no other words, and she retorts that he might talk more when he has nothing to fear. Turning on her heel, she goes to prepare a room for At-mun while Caleb shows him the family’s trade.
Although no less complicit in enslaving Amos than her husband, Celia shows a greater interest in the boy’s education and spiritual development. Like Mrs. Richardson, whom Amos will meet later in his life, the book portrays Celia as an enlightened enslaver genuinely concerned with educating the enslaved and free Black people whom she knows.
Themes
After a while, Celia finds an increasingly frustrated Caleb trying to explain the family’s loom to an uncomprehending At-mun (Amos). Unlike her husband, Celia realizes that At-mun isn’t mute—he just can’t understand English. They will have to teach him. Celia calls Amos by his new name. He follows her as she combines words and gestures to show him his room, his bed, and to explain how to sit in a chair and (unsuccessfully) how to eat with a fork.
As Celia shows Amos around the Copeland home, she demonstrates kindness and patience, using gestures to communicate through a language barrier Amos can’t yet cross. But her concerns—teaching him to sleep in a bed and eat with a fork—also demonstrate the ways that white enslavers believed their Eurocentric habits to be superior to the “uncivilized” behavior of those whom they captured and enslaved.
Themes
Celia continues to insist that Amos, a “good boy,” will learn to speak. Caleb believes he can only make one “sound,” but Celia recognizes that it’s a word in Amos’s own language. She knows he won’t give it up until he can replace it with an English equivalent. Over subsequent weeks, she welcomes Amos to her kitchen school, where she first taught her own children to read and write and she now instructs the “Negro children […] born in nearby homes.” Slowly, by patient example, Amos learns to do the work of carding and spinning fiber and weaving cloth. Over time, he adopts North American habits, learns to read, write, and do basic math. Speaking English remains hard for him, although his expressive features communicate when words fail him. And he forms a special bond with Roxanna, who likes to read the Bible to him.
Celia and Roxanna Copeland, like many historical white women (especially in the northern colonies) take their duty to educate and Christianize an enslaved Amos seriously. They both believe and support the book’s argument that the net effect of enslavement could be beneficial as a means of “civilizing” enslaved people—where “civilizing” means teaching someone Eurocentric language, habits, and religion. Amos’s time in the Copeland home also teaches him (or at least confirms the belief) that hard work demonstrates a person’s character and earns them rewards like trust and respect.
Themes
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One day, Celia listens as Roxanna reads Amos a passage from the book of Revelation which grants Christians the identity of kings and priests. With a laugh of childish pleasure, Roxanna tells Amos he can be a king while she herself will be a priest. Amos retraces the words Roxanna read with his finger, lifts his head high and announces, “I am a king.” Roxanna, believing that Amos refers to the Biblical passage agrees that he is a king “unto God,” and the two read the rest of the passage aloud together. After this, Amos begins to join in the family conversations. His speech sounds a lot like Caleb’s—just with a richer and deeper reverberation. And Amos dedicates more and more time to reading the Bible.
True to Celia’s prediction, when Amos learns the English equivalent of his name—“king” for At-mun—this proves to be the key of both his education and his Christian conversion. In part, it helps him to maintain his personal sense of dignity even in a world that denigrates him for his Black skin and enslaved status. In part, it encourages him to accept Christianity. And Amos willingly embraces a religion that sees him as he sees himself—dignified and worthy of respect—even though people use that same religion to justify his enslavement.
Themes
Amos lives with the Copelands for 15 years, considering himself a member of the family and refusing to discuss manumission—the formal granting of his freedom—whenever Caleb brings it up. Amos knows other formerly enslaved people who have found freedom bitter and difficult; he knows enslaved people who escaped, were recaptured, and found their subsequent servitude even more miserable; he knows many people whose enslavers beat them, force them into or forbid them from marriage, or deny them freedom and autonomy.
Amos offers living proof of the book’s central claim that hard work demonstrates one’s character and thus is the way to earn respect and freedom. But although the book posits that freedom is a human right and an inherently good thing, it also makes Amos the mouthpiece for historical arguments that enslavers played an important, almost parental role in the lives of their victims. This belief claims that enslavers generously took on the responsibility to shelter and protect enslaved persons in a way that mitigated their theft of other human beings’ liberty.
Themes
Because the cruel and inhuman treatment these enslaved people suffered tended to drive memories of their homeland from their minds, they cultivate friendships with Amos, who sings songs and tells stories that make Africa seem near. But despite becoming a leader in the local Black community, Amos refuses to help anyone lay plans to escape. Instead, he encourages them to wait for the day when their masters will free them.
The book briefly acknowledges the fact that many enslaved people suffered brutal mistreatment from their enslavers. And it claims that all humans deserve freedom. But it undercuts these ideals when it pointedly imagines Amos as too respectful of white enslavers to question their right to enslave himself or others like him. Amos’s trust derives in part from his religious faith, but it still serves the interests of the enslavers rather than those whom they have enslaved.
Themes
Many Boston slaveholders introduce the enslaved people they command to Christianity through the Bible verse that instructs servants to obey their masters. In contrast, the Copelands—and Amos—judge their behavior against a verse commanding believers to “bear ye one another’s burdens.”
The book directly casts the Copelands in an authoritative, parental role, suggesting that they are key players in developing Amos’s character and moral compass even though he already bore others’ burdens—literally, in the case of his siter Ath-mun—when he was a free, pagan child in Africa.
Themes
When Celia asks Amos if he wants freedom, he always answers “not yet,” although he finds it hard to express why. In part, his people (the At-mun-shi) taught him a deep respect for authority, which Amos transferred to the figure of Caleb. But, more broadly, the Copelands treat Amos with dignity, in contrast to the way that the “white man’s world” looks down on Black people, both enslaved and free. White society isolates and marginalizes Black people, even those who have adopted the English language, learned trades, and become Christians. They can only truly participate in community among themselves, and their hope lies in the future of “another world” beyond death.
Yet again, the book seeks to downplay the fact of Amos’s forced enslavement by emphasizing both the Copelands’ kindness and Amos’s abiding respect for white people, despite their inability to treat him and other Black people with dignity. Enslavers seek to portray religion as the blessing they confer on their victims, but Christianity—with its promise of eternal, heavenly reward—only becomes more attractive as white society denies Black people like Amos freedom and dignity in the here and now.
Themes
Amos pays attention to the arrival of ships at Boston harbor—especially those carrying captives from Africa. Few arrive in Boston, as plantation colonies have higher demand for enslaved people. Amos only looks for children—some ship captains like to bring young children who can be trained as personal servants—ever hopeful he might encounter one of his own people—especially Ath-mun.
Tellingly, Amos can only imagine his wish to be reunited with his sister as a tale of her being enslaved rather than as a tale of his being freed and returning to Africa. This confirms the book’s argument that, while elements of slavery may have been unfortunate and individual enslavers may have been cruel, slavery in general benefitted its victims by bringing them out of their home countries to the allegedly civilized, Eurocentric world.
Themes
Amos’s friends begin to call him “Mr. Fortunatus” because he has the good fortune of kindness and respect in the Copeland home. Amos answers to this name, although the whip scars on his back remind him of fortune’s fickleness. Eventually, this nickname becomes his formal name, “Amos Fortune.” But Caleb Copeland dies before granting the supposedly fortunate Amos his freedom. And because enslaved people were considered property under the law, when Celia and Roxanna must sell the family goods to repay their debts, they include Amos in the sale. Amos comforts them in their grief, professing faith that all will be well.
The book seeks to portray Amos’s story as one of hope and good fortune, as the formerly free and pagan boy becomes a deeply faithful, hardworking freeman. Yet this argument only makes sense in the context of a belief that non-European and non-Christian societies are inherently inferior. Once again, the book makes Amos a mouthpiece for this idea when he not only doesn’t protest that being included in an auction of household goods compromises his inherent human dignity, but comforts his enslavers, who claim to be heartbroken over the necessity of selling a man they call their friend. And this gives Amos the opportunity to show off the strength of his faith in God, contributing to the book’s argument that faith should be a guiding principle in a person’s life.
Themes
Amos only worries that a new enslaver will take him farther inland, depriving him of the opportunity to visit the harbor during his free time in hopes of finding Ath-mun. He saves what money he can to buy her from the auctioneer if she ever appears. On the day of the sale, Amos laughs when the auctioneer describe him as a “rare offering.” He even bids on himself at one point, although once his price reaches fifty pounds he withdraws, intent on saving his money. Mr. Ichabod Richardson, a tanner by trade, makes the winning bid of sixty-two pounds. Within half an hour, after promising never to forget Celia and to write to her often, Amos finds himself in a wagon with Richardson, rattling off to Woburn. He trusts to have fortune as good in the future as it has been in the past.
Amos’s behavior continues to support the book as it downplays the abuses of slavery. He approaches the auction as a joke and implicitly agrees with his white enslavers that his life has a value that can be expressed in monetary terms and that he himself has no claim to autonomy or freedom. And he parts from Celia and Roxanna as if they were his friends rather than his former enslavers who have just sold him to pay off their own household debts.
Themes
