Previous Next

Chapter XXV–Chapter XXIX

Summary: Chapter XXV

The next weeks pass in a deep melancholy as Isabel mourns Ruth’s sale and her own humiliation and pain. The city brims with summer heat and impending battle. Madam neither looks at Isabel nor speaks to her, giving orders through Becky. Isabel does her work like a puppet without emotions. She wishes ill on Colonel Regan and ignores Curzon’s efforts to communicate. Isabel feels the pain of her brand as if buzzing bees are in her skin. One day, Becky orders Isabel to tell Curzon to stop coming around or Madam will have him beaten or arrested. Isabel talks to Curzon, he apologizes sincerely, but she tells him to stay away and that she’ll never speak to him again.

Summary: Chapter XXVI

A violent thunderstorm hits the city, killing soldiers and flooding homes. The Lockton house is drenched, and no carpenters are available for repairs. Isabel goes out to fetch water, the first time she’s been to the Tea Water Pump since her branding, and people react to her scar. Isabel overhears talk about the war and freedom for slaves and sees that Curzon has changed from a wealthy man’s servant to a dirty, scruffy rebel soldier. At the well, Grandfather and another woman express that while both the rebels and the British promise freedom, they both lie. Grandfather pulls Isabel close and kisses her cheek, telling her that she is a strong survivor who will find her River Jordan, his metaphor for her path to freedom. Isabel has trouble carrying two full buckets because she has cut her hand. Curzon appears and wordlessly carries them for her.

Summary: Chapter XXVII

The British win the Battle of Brooklyn, and another rainstorm soaks the city. A thick fog envelops the city, allowing General Washington and his army to retreat to New York Island. Becky describes the horrors of the campground, where she sees badly injured and infected soldiers with terrible, foul-smelling wounds. Becky speculates about which side God is on and remarks that if the British take New York, she’ll head to New Jersey. Isabel looks for Curzon for days, relieved to finally see him helping rebel soldiers setting up a tent.

Summary: Chapter XXVIII

The British invade New York on a Sunday morning. Madam hurries home after church, stopping to ask a rebel soldier if the war has now begun. He claims they are preparing to attack, but she hopes they are retreating. At home, Madam makes a list of foods for Isabel to purchase to celebrate Lockton’s return and a British victory. Isabel goes out, amid commotion and noise, planning to escape once again. This time, Isabel hopes to join the British, for some of the people at the well have suggested that the British will free all the slaves.

Summary: Chapter XXIX

As the city empties, Isabel moves toward the waterfront with cannons firing and smoke rising and discovers tents abandoned by the rebels. She approaches a British officer and offers to be of service to him, but he ignores her. However, when Isabel tells him where General Washington’s headquarters are, he finally listens. When she tells him that she belongs to a Tory, he explains that he can only accept runaways from rebels. As the British flag is raised and Tories come out of hiding to cheer, Isabel realizes that she is “chained between two nations” and enslaved by both. Isabel recognizes Lockton in the crowd. He questions what she is doing, and she tells him she is shopping. Lockton touches Isabel’s scar and asks what it means. He then goes off to celebrate in a tavern. Isabel does her shopping although she hardy remembers doing it. Alone and in despair, Isabel is surrounded by darkness.

Analysis: Chapter XXV–Chapter XXIX

The mood of these chapters is seething, like the violent storms that threaten an already tormented city. Intense summer heat, drenching rains and floods, and ensuing thick fog mirror the mood inside the Lockton house, where Madam never speaks directly to Isabel. Isabel has lost trust in two of her closest confidants, Curzon and Colonel Regan. She feels horribly betrayed by nearly everyone around her. Isabel has even lost her sense of belonging and community at the Tea Water Pump. The only exception is Grandfather, who kisses her scar and reassures her that freedom will someday be hers.

Curzon has begun a downward spiral that will continue until the novel ends. As a patriot soldier, he is no longer the dapper young man he was before. Despite Isabel’s lack of communication with him, Curzon is still her friend, and he helps her carry buckets of water when her hand is injured. Despite her rejection of him, Curzon is persistent. He visits the Lockton house to ask Isabel if she has any more intelligence that can help the patriot cause. Furious, she sends him away.

In her confusion, Isabel’s loyalties to the patriots waver, which is no surprise because they have treated her so poorly. The Colonel Regan refused to buy Isabel from Madam when she offered, and he did not stand by Isabel when she needed his help the most. Some people at the Tea Water Pump have suggested that the British will free the slaves, and Isabel wonders if it might be true. Having been betrayed by the rebels, she’s willing to take a chance. In Chapter XXIX, Isabel approaches a British officer and tells him exactly where General Washington is headquartered, information that could directly and profoundly hurt the rebel cause. When the officer refuses to take Isabel on as she is a Tory’s property, she realizes that she is truly a prisoner between two worlds.

On the war front, the British seem to be on top. They win the Battle of Brooklyn in the mud, and General Washington and his men retreat to New York Island, their cause all but lost. When Becky describes witnessing the horrible wounds on the soldiers at the campground, Isabel shudders at their fates. When the British troops raise their flag above the city, the Tories who have remained in New York celebrate, believing that the brief war has been won. The tides seem to have turned, and when Lockton suddenly appears in a crowd and approaches Isabel, it seems that everything in the novel, even Isabel herself, has gone Tory and red. Lockton does not yet know about her branding, which is solely the work of Madam. This section ends with the chaos of retreat as people leave the city in droves. Isabel staggers home and admits, “Around me, all was darkness.” In many ways, this moment marks the emotional low point of the narrative.

Previous section Chapters XX–XXIV Next section Chapters XXX–XXXIV

Take a Study Break