During our class discussions, we have discussed multiple times the concept of slavery and freedom and their meanings. Recently, I came to wonder whether Sarah was a slave herself. In this case, I’m not talking about someone who’s physically bound and abused on a daily basis, rather, I’m talking about someone who may be a slave to society and its ideals. In a way, the majority of us are slaves to society because of the pervasive influence of media in our American culture and the many other traditional cultural American norms that have played a role in our history. Perhaps, Sarah could be seen as slave trying to escape from her bondage; for Sarah this bondage is the numerous ideals and norms placed on her as a young woman of high society and her way of escaping is trying to adhere to her abolitionist beliefs. I think as the novel progresses, we see Sarah’s continuous struggle towards her “freedom” from a young age where she first tried to free Handful to the times where she traveled up north to Philadelphia and stayed with a Quaker family. This “slavery” of Sarah is also at the hands of her mother, who wants Sarah to be the ideal woman of this time period desirable for marriage and homemaking. Sarah also struggles with dealing with her mother even to the point where’s she’s driven to tears on multiple occasions. I find this “slavery” of Sarah’s to be an interesting contrast to the harsh and brutal slavery that Handful has experienced since birth and in a way, this makes them even more alike, as they both try to escape the bonds of slavery, hoping to be able to fulfil their dreams and desires.
I agree with your views of Sarah as being enslaved by her surroundings. I especially saw Sarah as a slave to society when her note freeing Handful was torn up and disregarded. I think that through the novel, Sarah grows as she eventually tells her family her views on slavery and goes to become a "professional abolitionist." While at home, everyone around her has differing beliefs, but when she is with the Quakers, she becomes more comfortable with her ideas. I think that in order for Sarah to escape her bonds, she just needed support from others.
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Whytne S.
Just a high school junior noticing how this novel contains very relevant ideas and themes to our modern American society.