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Chapter 43
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Chains, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Freedom
Slavery and Dehumanization
The Personal and the Political
Identity, Memory, and Family
Summary
Analysis
Isabel gathers her papers and then sews her map into her cloak hem. She puts on all the clothes she owns and gathers some food, and then she adds Common Sense, her seeds, and her piece of lead from King George’s statue to her pocket. Just as Isabel is about to leave out the front door, she realizes that nobody has fed Lady Seymour’s fire for a while. She’s old and might be cold, and it’ll only take a moment. Isabel stokes the fire—and as she turns to go, she notices a purse hanging on the back of a chair. Isabel feels bad stealing from a woman who was kind to her, but then again, Lady Seymour let Madam sell Ruth.
The extra items Isabel grabs highlight what’s important to her: the words that justify her fight for freedom, seeds that connect her to Momma and to her future, and the proof that not everything is as powerful as it seems. Then, Isabel again shows her own generosity and humanity by deciding to stoke Lady Seymour’s fire one last time. Isabel believes that Lady Seymour doesn’t deserve to freeze to death—but she also doesn’t deserve Isabel’s unquestioning respect anymore.
Themes
Isabel fishes the coin purse out of the larger purse, and then realizes Lady Seymour is awake and watching. Isabel apologizes and says Madam is going to sell her. She helps Lady Seymour drink water and then asks for forgiveness. Isabel offers to put the money back, but Lady Seymour shakes her head—Isabel rescued her husband’s picture. Then, Lady Seymour says something Isabel can’t quite hear. Isabel leans in close, and Lady Seymour whispers, “Run.”
It's one thing for Isabel to think about stealing from Lady Seymour when the lady is asleep, and another thing when Lady Seymour is watching. But by giving Isabel the coin purse, Lady Seymour essentially tells Isabel to not feel guilty and to do what she needs to do. Giving Isabel permission to run also shows that Lady Seymour knows running away is Isabel’s best chance. She’s well aware of how cruel Madam is.
Themes
Isabel leaves out the front door. She plans to steal a rowboat, row to Jersey, and walk to Charleston; hopefully the Queen’s ball will provide cover. But when Isabel gets to the place where she normally turns to go to the Bridewell, her feet stop listening—they head for the prison. She remembers how Curzon cared for her. It’ll be impossible to sneak him out without a pass, but Isabel has a debt to pay.
Isabel desperately wants to get across the river to safety and then move on to rescuing Ruth. But after everything Curzon has done for her, she can’t in good conscience leave him to die in the Bridewell. Her concept of “family” is starting to expand.
Themes
At the prison, Isabel finds Fisher and says that Colonel Hawkins sent her. Apparently an inspector is coming. Fisher is annoyed, but he lets Isabel in (after taking a roll from her basket) and warns her to breathe carefully. Prisoners are dying of fever. Isabel takes a wheelbarrow and cleans the first cell, pitching the waste into the burial pit. She skips the next several cells and stops at Curzon’s cell. A man at the gate says that Dibdin died this morning; Curzon is curled up in the corner. Isabel knows she should leave him, but instead, she whispers for him to be quiet. Nobody helps her load him into the wheelbarrow. She snatches his hat and covers his body with a nasty blanket. On her way out of the prison, Isabel tells Fisher she has a nasty load.
Intellectually, Isabel knows that entering the prison is a bad idea, especially if a contagious illness is going around. She could get sick, and needing to care for Curzon will slow down her journey to freedom and could put her in danger. But for Isabel, she believes her duty to Curzon is too important; she couldn’t live with herself if she left him. And though he doesn’t know it, Fisher proves an important ally in this passage—he lets Isabel in and doesn’t inspect her wheelbarrow load because he trusts her.
Themes
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