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Chapter 4: Woburn 1740–1779
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
In June of 1779, Amos makes the three-day trip from Woburn to Keene, New Hampshire. He has been free for just over a decade, yet he still treasures this fact and thinks about it with delight frequently. But he’s also once again “free” of family. He has met another enslaved woman, and he has higher hopes for his life with her, since she is younger and stronger than Lily or Lydia. But her enslaver, James Baldwin, has set a price of fifty pounds for Violet and her four-year-old daughter Celyndia. He hopes it won’t take him long to find the money.
Through Amos’s frequent ruminations, the book suggests that readers shouldn’t take their own freedoms for granted; Amos values his freedom so highly because his enslavers stole it from him. And even in freedom, he must face legacy of slavery; his two formerly enslaved wives both died early deaths in part, the book implies, due to the mistreatment they received at the hands of their enslavers.
Themes
As Amos and his horse climb the mountains, he thinks of himself as the Biblical figure Joshua, whom God told to be strong and courageous. And when they crest the hill, Amos sees his own promised land spread in the valley below. A small cluster of houses sits between two grand structures: a church and the mountain. Amos slides from his horse, drops to his knees, and kisses the ground. He begins to pray, asking God for a sign if this is the place where he should start his life anew, then respectfully waits for God’s answer as he continues on his journey. The sign and the next crossroads tells him that the village bears the name of Jaffrey.
Amos understands his first vision of Jaffrey in the context of the Biblical narrative about the Promised Land. God promised to give Abraham and his descendants a land of abundance in which to live; he and several generations of his family live there. After several generations, the Jewish people find themselves enslaved in Egypt; Moses then leads them out of that land, and they wander in the desert for 40 years before Joshua leads them back to the land God promised them. Thus, the story of the Jewish people in the Old Testament—one of freedom, bondage, and then a return to freedom—bears obvious parallels to Amos’s own life, and it’s notable that he’s thinking of himself as a modern-day Joshua at the moment when he feels God shows him his own personal promised land.
Themes
Amos calls his old horse Cyclops because it has only one eye. He bought the sickly animal from its former owner for two pounds. A summer of good pasture, proper care, and Amos’s love gave the horse a new lease on life. When the pair arrives at Keene, Amos finds lodging for Cyclops at the inn but not for himself. And although the innkeeper charges more than he should for the stabling, as a Black man, Amos risks angry words (at best) or violence (at worst) if he questions white men.
If readers could have forgotten Amos’s fine, upstanding character after he bore his forced enslavement with dignity for decades before securing freedom for Lily and Lydia, this aside about the way he treats his horse, Cyclops, offers a pointed reminder that Amos possess a uniquely righteous and kind personality. Still, he faces ongoing racism in the form of innkeepers who won’t allow him to stay in their rooms, or who charge him more for services.
Themes
Amos delivers his leather to the local cobbler, Mr. Samuel George, who expresses deep regret that there isn’t a tanner of Amos’s caliber anywhere near Keene. He assures Amos that if he settled “anywhere in this countryside” he’d have more than enough customers to keep him busy. When George reveals that he’s spending the last of his bankroll on Amos’s leathers, the two men cut a deal. Amos buys some of the cobbler’s old dress clothes for six pounds. The sale mystifies George; because he thinks Black people lack sophistication, he assumes Amos has indulged a childish impulse. He can’t imagine what use a Black man would have for such finery.
Amos’s dedication to hard work shows in the fact that he now has a reputation for being the best tanner in a three-state area. And the fact that George willingly trades with Amos—not just for the hides, but also for the money that George himself needs—shows that Amos has earned the trust and respect of at least some white men. Still, George betrays his own inherent prejudices when he can’t imagine reasons for a Black person to need or want to look good.
Themes
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Returning to Woburn, Amos thanks God for the sign that he should settle in Jaffrey and for the fine clothes he’ll wear on his impending wedding day. It takes him a few more months to save enough money to purchase Violet’s freedom, but he exchanges money with Baldwin in early November 1779 and marries Violet the next day.
Samuel George may have found Amos’s desire for the fancy clothes mystifying, but Amos understands them as a piece of divine providence—a gift from God indicating blessing on Amos’s upcoming marriage and move to his own personal promised land.
Themes
As the new family leaves the church, Celyndia runs ahead of Violet and Amos, chasing a bird. She stops when it flutters over a meadow, afraid to enter the field without permission. When her mother gently reminds her that she is free and may go where she likes now, Celyndia smiles and weeps, overwhelmed.
Neither the book nor the historical record specifies whether Violet, like Amos, was born free or not. But little Celyndia—like generations of enslaved people in the colonies and later United States from the 17th century through the Civil War—has never known freedom. The book aligns her with the bird—symbolic of freedom—but her fear of going into the field also shows how deeply she’s internalized her own sense of enslavement.
Themes
