Summary
Chapter XXV - Competition In Cunning
Dr. Flint had not given up on finding Harriet. She decided that, since he thought she was in New York, that she should write a letter dated from that location. Her friend Peter was able to take the letters – she wrote one to her grandmother as well – to a person who was going to New York and would mail them on her behalf. This plan made her grandmother very nervous, as she felt sure "mischief would come of it." In the letter Harriet said she wanted replies directed to a street in Boston, as she did not live in New York but only went there occasionally.
When Dr. Flint received the letters (he was given the one for her grandmother), he immediately came to Aunt Marthy's house and read aloud the one addressed to her. From her hiding place, Harriet heard the letter and realized that he had changed the words to make it sound like she wanted to come home. He wanted to send Phillip to go get her, but Phillip was nervous about Boston because they were very anti-slavery and a man looking for a runaway slave was sure to be mobbed.
Dr. Flint said he had written the mayor of Boston to try and find information about Harriet. No answer came, and Harriet began to feel a bit easier about her situation. She even came out of her hiding place to exercise for short periods so she would not be crippled.
Chapter XXVI - Important Era In My Brother's Life
Harriet expresses how much she missed her brother William, who had gone north with Mr. Sands. The latter wrote that William was an excellent servant, and even though he met abolitionists they were not able to "decoy him away". It was soon reported that Mr. Sands had taken a bride and was to return to the south. The family expected William would come along, but he did not arrive.
A boy was sent by Mr. Sands to tell them that William had been seduced away by the abolitionists. Harriet's grandmother was disconsolate, and Harriet herself knew that she was being selfish but "thought more of what I had lost, than of what my brother had gained." The step her brother took made her "sad and anxious". When another slave, Aggie, asked Harriet's grandmother why she was so upset and was told the answer, she rebuked her and said that she should be glad William was safe and free. Hearing this from her place of hiding, Harriet also changed her attitude.
When Mr. Sands arrived he told Phillip that William was "young and inconsiderate" but he would not pursue him, thinking he would return in time. Hearing the account from William himself, Harriet heard something very different. William was not "decoyed" by the abolitionists; he merely felt his time had come and although Mr. Sands was kind, there was no guarantee that he would ever be freed.
Chapter XXVII - New Destination For The Children
Harriet worried over the fate of her children. The wife of Mr. Sands had seen Benny in the street and taken a fancy to him; Mr. Sands told her his true relation to them and she wanted to see the children. Harriet was stricken, for she had done so much to protect them and now they were threatened. It seemed like she could do nothing since they were his slaves, but she persuaded her grandmother to go to him and tell him Harriet was not dead and remind him that he had promised to emancipate them. Mr. Sands responded that they were free and Harriet could decide their fate, but that they were not safe here and should go north. He proposed that Ellen go north to stay with some of his relatives in Brooklyn. Before that she would go with Mr. and Mrs. Sands to Washington for a bit of time. Harriet's heart was heavy but she had to consent.
Before Ellen left Harriet decided she must see her daughter face-to-face. She had observed her character for so long that she knew she could trust her with the secret. Harriet and Ellen had an emotional meeting and the two slept nestled together for the whole evening. It was a bitter parting the next day. Thankfully, Ellen never told the secret of Harriet's location.
Mrs. Flint came to visit and said that sending Ellen away was akin to stealing, since she belonged to her daughter Emily Flint, who was now sixteen. Harriet grew nervous because she had not heard from Ellen, and wondered if she had been tricked. Finally, six months after she left, a young woman in the Sands family wrote and said Ellen was now safely in Brooklyn. Ellen was to be the girl's waiting maid, and Harriet wondered if this was a situation akin to slavery. She was troubled over this, as well as her young son's precarious situation. He believed himself free, but he certainly was not.
Chapter XXVIII - Aunt Nancy
Harriet's beloved great-aunt Nancy, her mother's twin sister, had been married at age twenty to a seafaring man, but this sort of arrangement could be annulled at any time at the whim of a slaveholder. Aunt Nancy was the slave of Mrs. Flint and slept on the floor in her bedroom. She gave birth to multiple premature children and eventually became so ill of health that she could no longer have children. She occupied a critical place in the household. Harriet and Nancy had a strong bond and when Harriet was young she often slept in the same bed as her aunt. Her aunt would whisper to her in her hiding place that she was content to be a slave all her life if only Harriet and her children were free.
Harriet had been in her hiding place for six years when her grandmother was summoned to the death bed of Aunt Nancy. After two days Aunt Nancy finally died, and her grandmother was stricken with grief. Harriet also felt that "the death of this kind relative was an inexpressible sorrow. I knew that she had been slowly murdered; and I felt that my troubles had helped to finish the work."
Mrs. Flint became sentimental at Aunt Nancy's death and proposed that the slave be buried in her family's burying-ground, but Harriet's grandmother refused. This was surprising to Mrs. Flint, as "it had never occurred to [her] that slaves could have any feelings," but she consented anyway.
The funeral was held and numerous people attended. To outside travelers it may have looked like a "tribute of respect to the humble dead as a beautiful feature in the 'patriarchal institution;' a touching proof of the attachment between slaveholders and their servants," but the slaves could have told a different story. Harriet was most grieved by the effect of Aunt Nancy's death on her grandmother, whose face bore testament to the years of sorrow and suffering.
Chapter XXIX - Preparations For Escape
Harriet writes more of her restlessness and pain in her hiding place. It was slowly getting more and more uninhabitable, as rain was now leaking through the eaves.
In January, the time when slaves were bought and sold, Harriet heard about a woman named Fanny, the daughter of the elderly slave Aggie, who had escaped her new master. Fanny was hidden close to Harriet for weeks, but Fanny had no idea of their proximity.
Peter came one evening and told Harriet that there was finally a real plan to send her north to the Free states. Harriet wanted to consent but was worried about her son Benny. Phillip promised he would send Benny north or bring him there himself. Phillip talked to his mother and convinced her that it was necessary for Harriet to go.
Harriet was all set to proceed on the journey when word of a slave named James who was murdered for trying to escape came to the ears of her grandmother. She was filled with worry and begged Harriet not to go, assuming that she would befall the same fate. Her heart heavy, Harriet agreed. It was arranged that Fanny would go in Harriet's place. However, after a few days Harriet's grandmother changed her mind, telling Harriet: "Poor child!...my carelessness has ruined you! The boat ain't gone yet. Get ready immediately, and go with Fanny."
It was a bit nerve-wracking for Peter to get Harriet on the boat because Fanny had already arrived and was using the name Linda Brent. As Fanny was a runaway, her name would appear on notices so it was too risky to use her own name. Since it was assumed that Harriet ("Linda") was already north, her name would not be known to those searching for runaways. Despite this confusion, the captain allowed Harriet to come aboard as well. Before the boat departed that evening, Harriet took the opportunity to reveal herself to her son. They had an emotional meeting, and Harriet promised Benny he would come north soon as well.
It was time to depart, and Harriet writes that even though she desired freedom, she "felt very sad at leaving forever that old homestead, where I had been sheltered so long by the dear old grandmother; where I had dreamed my first dream of love; and where, after that had faded away, my children came to twine themselves so closely round my desolate heart."
Chapter XXX - Northward Bound
Fanny and Harriet reunited on the ship and were overjoyed to be with each other. They were pleased that the white captain was so kind to them, explaining that he thought the slave trade was "a pitiable and degrading business." He treated them both with immense respect and their journey to the Free states was a pleasant one.
Analysis
In the analysis of the previous section, the topic of the slaves' Christmas festivities of both African and Christian provenance was discussed amid the context of the tendency among slaves to fuse their two heritages to imbue their lives with meaning as well as, in some cases, to subvert their masters and undermine the system of slavery. The songs and spirituals echoing through the fields and slave quarters were very much the same; these forms of expression allowed slaves to give voice to their fears, desires, and longing as well as function as a way to communicate with each other without attracting the attention of their masters. As slave culture was very clearly an oral one, it is not surprising that stories and tales with familiar archetypes and tropes circulated widely throughout the African American population. Slaves particularly enjoyed tales of animals and tricksters. These folk tales usually had underlying meanings and signified far more than their humble words suggested.
Harriet proves herself to be a trickster in multiple places in the text, but an honorable one. Her deception is not based in cruelty or avarice but rather out of a desire to free herself and her children from bondage. One of the first examples of her cleverness and propensity to be a trickster is when the band of marauding whites in the aftermath of Nat Turner's Rebellion searches her grandmother's house and finds one of her letters. Assuming there are more letters and disconcerted at her ability to read, the captain questions her, asking if there are more and wondering who wrote to her. She replies, "Most of my letters are from white people. Some request me to burn them after they are read, and some I destroy without reading" (73). Her sardonic and knowing reply surprises her inquisitors and exposes the problematic treatment of slave women by white men.
However, it is her honorable deception of Dr. Flint in Chapter XXV that exemplifies her embodiment of the trickster. She knows that she must equal the Dr. in his cunning and arranges for him (and her grandmother) to receive letters from her dated from New York. When he receives the letters, he fabricates one from Harriet and brings it to her grandmother's house, reading her the new letter while Harriet, hidden, listens on and marvels at the man's duplicity. This situation ends up revealing Dr. Flint as a trickster as well, but a dishonorable and deceitful one. Harriet is the smarter trickster and outwits the Dr. This is accomplished by, first of all, the fact that her grandmother knew the content of the actual letter Harriet sent her master; Aunt Marthy was not swayed by his fraudulent attempt to make Harriet show herself. Also, Harriet was smart enough to claim that she was in Boston, a city in which the Dr. would have no success searching for his runaway slave. The mayor of Boston cements the Dr.'s inability to procure Harriet by simply never responding to the letter the Dr. sends him. The hero theme that runs through the tales of the trickster – the hero exposes evil and triumphs – is present in this these parts of Harriet's story.
During Harriet's goodbye to Benny in Chapter XXIX, it is revealed that her son is also somewhat of a trickster. Harriet learns that Benny figured out that his mother was hiding in the storeroom shortly after Ellen was sent to Brooklyn. He heard a cough and put two and two together. Harriet "asked him if he ever mentioned his suspicions to his sister. He said he never did; but after he heard the cough, if he saw her playing with other children on that side of the house, he always tried to coax her round to the other side, for fear they would hear me cough, too...Such prudence may seem extraordinary in a boy of twelve years, but slaves, being surrounded by mysteries, deceptions, and dangers, early learn to be suspicious and watchful, and prematurely cautious and cunning." Slavery necessitates that the oppressed devise "tricks" in order to preserve their well-being or humanity. Secrets can protect family members or even just give a small shred of power to the powerless.
One disturbing moment in these chapters is the response that Mr. Sands has when William runs away from him. Prior to this scene, it was possible for readers to come to the conclusion that Mr. Sands was perhaps a different kind of southern white man – affectionate and respectful toward his slave lover, honest and forthright, free of debilitating racial prejudice. While he might be preferable to the Flint men, Mr. Sands proves himself to be part of the same destructive mindset that failed to see slaves as anything other than inferior human beings if not outright property. He complains that William is "young and inconsiderate" (151) and was swayed by the specious promises of the abolitionists. He is certain that William will come crawling back to him, and boasts that he will not go looking for his wayward slave. His tone is full of scorn and paternalism, and Harriet soon learns that his version of the story was far from accurate – William left of his own accord and did not seem to feel as confident as Mr. Sands did that he would be granted his freedom in five years. Indeed, throughout the rest of Incidents Harriet comes to doubt Mr. Sands' intention to free her children, even though he is full of seemingly kindhearted protestations that it is his intention to do so. Clearly Mr. Sands is privy to some of the same shortcomings as other southerners, and can only contribute to Harriet's inability to rest her trust in anyone with white skin.
What is conspicuous in these chapters, besides the continuing depravity of white southerners, is the love, support, and sacrifice evinced by the black community. When Aunt Nancy dies, she is given "a mighty grand funeral" with "a large concourse of colored people, bond and free" (164). Aunt Nancy's life was a sad one, but she was a constant encourager and supporter of Harriet. She would often tell Harriet "I could die happy if I could only see you and the children free" (161). Similarly, Peter, Philip, and Harriet's grandmother are also crucial figures in Harriet making her escape to the north. The two men in particular arrange all of her travel and take considerable risks to see her away. Her grandmother, of course, is always her bedrock and her great source of love and succor. It is not just blood that matters, however, for another runaway slave named Fanny is also enveloped into the escape scheme. It is quite evident that the strong bonds of community provided the means for Harriet to run away from her master, hide in a crawlspace for seven years and survive, and make it to the north. The autonomous, independent slave has no place here.
