Analysis Of Chains By Laurie Halse Anderson

The book Chains takes place during the Revolutionary War and is set in colonial New York. The main character, Isabel, is a slave for a Loyalist family. She and her sister were sold to them after her mother and her owner pass away. She makes friends with another slave, Curzon Bellingham, and is told to spy on her influential master. She operates in secret and constantly fears her owner, Madam Lockton, will catch her. She faces many troubles throughout the book, including her five year old sister being sold to an owner in another country. The book’s title signifies Isabel’s struggle with her independent soul being chained down by the others around her.

The Colonies are in turmoil with Britain. They feel as if they are treated unfairly. Just like Isabel. The novel demonstrated the risks taken to achieve freedom to a point of equality and personal value. This shown both by the story of Isabel, the Revolution and the people of the colonies.

In Laurie Halse Anderson’s historical fiction novel Chains, Anderson uses fictional characters to describe real life situations that some may have faced during the Revolutionary War. All these characters in the story are fighting for the same thing, freedom. The definition of freedom, however, varies for multiple characters in the story. Curzon, an African-American slave who sides with the rebels, is fighting with “my master and those he serves, the rebels, the Congress. We’re fighting for freedom from people like Lockton [a loyalist].” (p. 39) The main character of the story Isabel meets another African-American slave at a well who was taught that “if the British win, we’ll all be free.” (p. 165) For the other races

2). The British were foolish not to see the correlation and try to take measures to improve their relationship with the colonists. It might be said that the loyalists felt that the rebelling patriots were ungrateful and unwilling, and that the soldiers were just doing their jobs. They might also have said that the British Crown had the right to tax the colonies as it saw fit, regardless of the argument of Patrick Henry (and others) that “We can under law be taxed only by our own representatives.” (Doc. 1).

Being subjected to public humilation in front of massive crowds with harsh punishments, the loyalists found themselves in a tough predicament between the radicals and their independence from Britian while the loyalists thought differently. Most of the loyalists found their properties vandalized, looted and burned by angry mobs of men. There was no doubt that the patriots of the thirteen colonies controlled the public discourse. There was bound to be a revolt against the British by the patriots because they didn’t agree against the policies imposed by the British parliament. The patriots of “The New World” have a much more logical reasoning than the loyalists because they felt that the British parliament was in

This can be evidenced by document three, which shows Thomas Paine’s pamphlet called “Common Sense”, and through document six, which shows the Declaration of Independence. In “Common Sense”, Paine states that if the powers of governing remains in the hands of the king, he will have a negative effect over the whole legislation of the continent. He later states that the King has imposed laws on the colonies that have benefitted no one but himself and has caused the bloodshed and slaughter of the colonists, despite having a pretended title of “Father of his People”. The Declaration of Independence displays all the grievances of the colonists toward the King; in other words, all the negative impacts the King has imposed on the colonists. Some of these grievances include: “forbidding his Governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance”, “dissolving Representative Houses”, and “quartering large bodies of armed troops”. King George III having little consideration for the colonies is a strong argument for a revolution and independence because the applied to almost everyone in the British colonies, whether it be the colonists, the Africans, or the Native Americans- therefore they could all empathize with the cause. The strongest argument made by those who were against the American Revolution was that the American colonies would be weak without Britain. This can be seen in document nine, which shows the loyalists plead their cause to the King, in which they state that Great Britain will prevent the ruin of “her American friends” because it is in their best common interest since they are also British subjects. They also state that the British have provided them with the aid of powerful and good allies and relief which has helped them in the past.This is a strong argument

During the times times of when the founding fathers lived, the slaves they brought in suffered from the chains on their hands and being dragged by their owners. In the book, Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson, the protagonist, Isabel, is one of those slaves. She was taken away from her home and was sold with her family when she was only 1 year old. Curzon is a slave who fights for the patriots in order to gain his freedom. Isabel and Curzon are bound by their chains from their lives. Even as their experiences may be different, they share many chains events that bind them together. This is shown through their scars, their quest for freedom, and their imprisonment.

Once upon a time, the 13 colonies in North America wanted to break away from Britain and the evil king. The Patriots believed the British Parliament and king were unfair. The Patriots were Americans who didn’t want a king to rule them. The king of England was the mean and bad King George III. The Patriots called the king a tyrant because of taxation and violence.

In the year 1764, King George III of Great Britain placed taxes on colonial America causing anger to flourish within the colonies resulting in their rebellion from the British. One-third of the colony wanted independence from Great Britain, the Patriots, while another third decided to stay loyal to the British, the loyalists/tories. The Patriots soon went to war with Britain for their independence, but the rest of the colony was reluctant to join the Patriots’ cause for various reasons. The loyalists were hesitant to join the American Revolution because of the nonideal living location and the British protected them when no one else would.

After more than two centuries of mythologizing and lionizing the achievements of America's revolutionary heroes, it is often suggested today that this nation's forefathers inspired the uprising through sheer force of will, simply seizing on the simmering frustrations of a populace which held a collective desire for independence. While this certainly would have been convenient, the truth is that the American colonies prior to 1776 were a cauldron of conflicting views regarding British patronage and loyalty to the crown. Rather than a spontaneous outburst of shared dissatisfaction with royal rule, the day that independence was finally declared was preceded by another fierce fight: the battle to influence public opinion. Just as George Washington would later prove his mettle as America's backbone during wartime, Benjamin Franklin positioned himself as the emerging nation's conscience, wielding masterfully written pieces of satirical weaponry as he fought to convince commoners and aristocrats alike of the essential need for revolution. Among Franklin's most influential contributions to the debate over independence were his Edict by the King of Prussia (1773) and The Sale of the Hessians (1776), two devastating examples of satire's ability to speak truth to power which enabled ordinary colonists to comprehend finally the state of bondage they toiled through. Only by comparing the fictional demands made by Franklin's Prussian king to the

They felt as if the war was unnessessary and will only bring death in which didn’t have to be brought. Also through their eyes patriots were doing things very uncalled for because Britian was only trying to help and guide America to a better state. Loyalist James Chalmers said, “Great Britain has afforded to all mankind the most perfect proof of her wise, lenient and magnanimous government on the Colonies…” this was said in the speech “Plain Truth”. This quote states the idea of the loyalist being that of, Britian doing nothing wrong through their actions in the colonies. Later he also states, “Innumerable are the advantages of our connection with Britain, and a just dependence on her is a sure way to avoid the calamities and horrors of war. [Thomas Paine] surely forgets that when independent, we cannot trade with Europe…” Another arguement posed by the loyalist was, the colonies needed Britian for trade purposes. Without Britian the colonies would fall into ruin because of economic and physical downfalls of the society and the

12). With violence comes fear and that is what they instilled in the hearts of the Britain’s and their loyalists who lived in the colonies. For example, in April, 1765, the Governor of New York expected to get a shipment of paper goods. Once the Governor found out that the Sons of Liberty knew about the shipment he locked himself inside Fort George because he was scared for his life. The Governor had every right to be scared, seeming as though the Sons of Liberty arrived at his house after he received his package and proceeded to burn his transportation. The angry mob then set their sights on a commander at Fort George and began to loot and vandalize his house. They did all of that destruction in the name of what? “Patriotism”? I think not. The Sons of Liberty were murderous bullies who tarred and feathered people who were loyal to Britain, the act of tarring someone is terroristic enough. A patriot fights for what they believe in yes, but not to the extent of killing people before they exhausted all peaceful options. The Sons of Liberty even had, “cooperation with undisciplined and extralegal groups to set off violent actions” (Kramer par. 15). I mean, come on! They used outside help to instill fear so they could get their point

Hook. Both during and before The Revolutionary War happened, Britain killed many of the Patriots who fought against independence from Britain. King George III made laws that took advantage of the colonists and Britain did not give them equal rights. The Patriots were justified in seeking independence from England, because England abused the colonists, capitalized on them, and controlled their rights.

One of our greatest leaders, Abraham Lincoln, once argued, “Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves” (Letter to H.L. Pierce, April 6, 1859). As Lincoln was fighting for freedom for all, he believed that it was morally wrong for one human to own another. He also thought that it was wrong to take away a chance of freedom from others. This relates to Thomas Paine's beliefs: He believed that if someone supports freedom, then they must to join the fight, and if they don’t then their children will have to suffer the consequences. On November 20, 1776, the American forces retreated from Fort Lee because the colonist were struggling to fight against the British. After the American forces retreated, Paine, a political activist and governor of Virginia, wrote a series of sixteen pamphlets called The American Crisis to lift the colonist's sagging spirits due to the devastating loss. In The Crisis No. 1, Paine implements language, a hopeful tone, and diction, to convey his purpose of persuading the men in the colonies to enlist in the war in an effort to retaliate against Great Britain, and assist the army to victory so the future generations don’t have to suffer.

While the Revolutionary War was going on, so was the Age of Reason in American literature. During the Revolutionary War, the future citizens of the United States were divided on whether or not to fight the British. Political pamphlets were given out to get the American people to support fighting the British and once most of America agreed to fight the British the decision still had to be made by the president and delegates at the Virginia Convention of 1775. Patrick Henry, a representative at this convention, persuaded the delegates to fight the British in his very famous speech at the convention. In his speech, he used passionate words and phrases such as the most famous, ??give me liberty, or give me death? (Henry 90). Soon after his speech, the first battle of the Revolutionary War was fought in Lexington, Massachusetts. The writers of this age also wrote autobiographies and essays. In the essay ?Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America? by Benjamin Franklin, Franklin examines the word ?savages? and what it really means. He subtly criticizes the settlers who refer to the Native Americans as ?savages? and points out that the Native Americans are less savage than the settlers. The Revolutionary War not only brought about the independence of our country, but also encouraged free expression.