Blog Post #1: Chains

Chains

Author: Laurie Halse Anderson

Genre: Historical Young Adult

Pages: 67/300 pages

Summary: In the first 10 chapters we meet a 13 year old girl named Isabel and her 5 year old sister Ruth. They are slaves who belong to Miss Mary Finch. Miss Finch was a nice lady but one day she dies. They have no mother, for she had died as well, and in Miss Finch's will she set them free. Mr. Robert her nephew and only relative says the lawyer who has the will had just left for Boston so he says they have no proof they could lying. Late on he takes them to the port to sell them. When they arrive to the port Mr. Robert brings them into a restaurant so he can eat. They meet Jenny, an old friend of Dinah their mother. She tries to "buy" them but doesn't have enough money the Lockton family buys them instead. They bring them back to their home in New York. Madam Lockton is one of the worse people in the book. When they get to New York Isabel meets a boy named Curzon who works against the Lockton's and tries to convince her to join his group. At one point Madam Lockton slaps Isabel and beats Ruth. One day Ruth is called in to be Madam Lockton's personal maid. After a few days being separated from her sister Isabel is called by Madam Lockton and sees that her sister was mistreated by her. That night she decides to go and tell Curzon, whom she met at the port when they got there, and tell him all the dirty gossip she knows about them.

What do you think about what you have read?

 I think that the book is pretty good so far. I was a little shocked when i heard that is was taking place back when black people were slaves. It surprised me a couple times when I read about the beating and mistreating I never thought it was that bed.

Has your recent reading fulfilled your expectations?

No. I thought this would be a story about a prisoner (well technically it is... but that is besides my point) who was chained up and had done nothing wrong and needed to prove it or something.

What do you expect for your continued reading?

I have a feeling that Isabel and Ruth will find a big secret about the Locktons and it will blow every thing they had planned with the British. That or either something terrible will happen to Ruth and Isabel will be even more desperate to run away or try to destroy the Locktons. 

How satisfied are you with what you have read?

I am pretty satisfies with what I have read because the story kicked off quite well. 

Passage Section:

"He released me with a shove and pointed to the cemetery where they buried white people." (Anderson7) I was a little shocked when I read this because as I said before I had a totally different insight on the book and when I read this sentence I knew i had been wrong. " 'You're selling us?' the words flew out of my mouth before  could weigh them."(Anderson10) I was a little shocked and sad when I read this because Isabel and her sister had lived there all their life and their mom  was buried there. She wouldn't be able to visit her grave anymore. "Madam slapped my face so hard it near threw me to the ground." (Anderson33) I was very shocked when i read this. I never thought people ever went that far. It made me feel like there was something I was suppose to do. Like i was supposed to fight back for Isabel.