Many young adult books teach valuable lessons to its readers. Laurie Halse Anderson's Chains teaches what one might call the capacity of human beings to suffer. The narrative novel presents middle students an understanding of "the harsh realities of northern slavery " (Bilski). This capacity for endurance is what eventually fosters the hope for survival and triumph in the life of the book's main character, Isabel. .
Consider Isabel's predicament as an example of this life lesson. Isabel's enslavement is brutal. There is degradation, physical and emotional abuse, as well as her own psychological condition, in which she seeks to understand her own adolescent condition in the shackles of slavery. Her owners had no regard for their slaves' lives and hardships. Her father, mother and now, her sister, have been stripped from her. She has been lied to, beaten, branded, and saddled with guilt for losing her sister. She cannot comprehend how life has turned to this, and at times, understandably, she appears to lose hope. In this, she could have quit. Yet, she did not. Each incident brings forth the will to survive and overcome, and a new plan to free herself emerges "in her brainpan " (Anderson 214).
It is not nonconformity that Anderson stresses as much as the ability to persevere in trying to establish one's voice. Using Isabel's plight as an example, Anderson strives to bring out the idea that individuals can strive to establish their voice in any circumstance. Isabel realizes that her own condition may prevent a full recognition of her voice. Yet, she does not let slavery define her. She does not take the form of the world around her. In this, there is a life lesson. Individuals can strive to be heard, to have their experiences validated without fully yielding to their environments. This becomes a vitally important life lesson.
When cornered, Isabel finds her voice, though Madam is sometimes quick to shut her up.
When I first began reading the book "Chains" by Laurie Halse Anderson I was not very interested, it was slow going and I had a difficult time getting into the story. However I suddenly got a spark of inspiration. This book began to pull me in and I would wake up excited to see what would happen nex...
