Friday, September 13, 2013

Chains... a read along. week 2

Today is week 2 of our group read-a-long of Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson.  Please beware that the answers and questions could contain spoilers.
This week we read chapters 11-24, and we hope you’ll leave your comments and/or answers to the questions after the post.
If you’re interested in reading our thoughts on the first 10 chapters, go here. I'll just do a quick recap... Chains is a novel set during the American Revolution, it began with two young slave girls losing their mistress to death, they thought they would be free, but instead, were sold. Their Master and Mistress are loyal to the King, and thus begins their tormented life.  Their names are Isobel and Ruth, I'm guessing Isabel is around 9 or 10 and Ruth is 5years old.

Here are the discussion questions:
Given that Ruth has been previously described as a simpleton, did you expect her ailment to involve seizures, and had she not been sold, what do you think would have happened to her?

I have no idea what a simpleton would have been in those days, I assumed she was a little "slow", after all she is only five, what could have been the expectations.  If she had not been sold, I'm sure Mrs. Lockton would have eventually killed her, or been very abusive. But, what really could have happened, would have been Isabel protecting her and both killed, or hung or some such nasty business.
 Did it surprise you that Isabel was arrested and beaten for trying to escape and destroying Mrs. Lockton’s property rather than for her aid to the rebel cause? Why or why not?
No surprise, I was sort of surprised that Mrs. Lockton managed to catch up to her so fast, and I'm surprised at the leniency of the judge. I would have thought attacking your mistress would have carried a grave punishment.
 As Isabel returns to the Lockton home, what do you expect will happen to her?  Do you expect her to be as outspoken against her owners as she was before or less so?
 I expect Isabel is broken, as it were, like a wild horse, I think she'll behave until something big happens and she sees an opportunity to try to get free. I don't think she'll be so outspoken, but I don't think she'll give up either.

I'm thoroughly enjoying this book, even if it is a really ugly part of mankind's history, and I don't mean the revolution, I mean the slavery bit.

It's not too late to catch up join us here.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I too was surprised by how quickly Lockton was able to catch up to Isabel. That just seemed a tad unbelievable to me.

Serena said...

I think that Mrs. Lockton's quickness was surprising, which makes me wonder why she got there so fast....is she part of the rebel cause against her husband's wishes?

Nise' said...

Glad you enjoying this book. Reading the discussion questions makes me want to reread the book.

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