They stepped on people’s throats with all their might and asked why the people couldn’t breathe. And then, when people made an attempt to break the foot, or cut it off one, they screamed “CHAOS!” and claimed that mass murder was the only way to restore order.
Samuel’s anger at slave owners reveals the hypocrisy of the white slave masters in treating people like animals, then claiming the slaves were always that way. He points out that slave-owners put people into impossible situations and then blame them for being trapped, then again for trying to fight back.
In the beginning, they had thought all the curled lips, cut eyes, turned-up noses—even the shaking heads—signified a bad scent emanating from their bodies because of the toil in the barn. The odor of swill alone had often made them strip bare and spend nearly an hour in the river bathing. Daily, just before sundown, when the others were bent out of shape from fieldwork and tried to find an elusive peace in their shacks, there Samuel and Isaiah were, scrubbing themselves with mint leaves, juniper, sometimes root beer, washing away the layers of stink.
This is a quote from the beginning of the novel, when Samuel and Isaiah have begun taking notice that the plantation is turning against them. They initially think that the hostility is due to a bad smell, as they work with farm animals, but even bathing daily does not make a difference. This also foreshadows how they are unable to wash away or change what people dislike about them, as it is deeper than a superficial smell.
There was no one else in the world, she thought, cursed to carry such a burden. Everywhere a girl existed, there was someone telling her that she was her own fault and leading a ritual to punish her for something she never did.
Though the narrative dwells on the ideas of race and sexual orientation, it also focuses on gender issues that faced enslaved women. Apart from the cruelty on the plantation fields, women dealt with domestic violence from their male partners and also fellow women. The older women with a history of being battered transferred this violence to the younger females in the form of punishment by authority. This quotation showcases the double burden females bore compared to their male counterparts due to the intersectionality of race and gender.
It was worse when the cruelty came from other women. It shouldn’t have been; after all, women were people, too. But it was. When women did it, it was like being stabbed with two knives instead of one. Two knives, one in the back and the other in a place that couldn’t be seen, only felt.
Puah comments on how cruelty is felt more keenly when it is done by women to other women. She feels that there is a deeper understanding uniting women against men, and when this understanding is betrayed, it is felt twice as sharply as when a man does it.
Those poor boys: The Two of Them. They learned, and learned early, that a whip was only as loathsome as the person wielding it. Sometimes, they made it even harder for themselves by being so damn stubborn. But never had stubbornness been so enchanting.
Maggie describes Samuel and Isaiah from an outsider’s point of view, revealing her strange fascination with their relationship. She is enchanted by how they persevere despite the futility of their efforts, and remarks on an important aspect of Isaiah and Samuel’s love: it matters because it happened, despite their tragic ending.
Would it have been astute to point out that the expanse of the land itself — which stretched from river to woods, from sunup to sundown — was living proof of his righteousness? That ownership was assuredly confirmation?
Paul’s worldview is revealed when he ruminates on Timothy’s lackluster attitude toward the plantation and the land. His mentality embodies that of slave owners, who often thought they had a divine right to the land and to the labor of slaves. His delusion is so powerful that he can convince himself of the righteousness of his dominion over the plantation.
In another life, they might have been actual father and son rather than the hush-hush kind. Paul swallowed the notion that Adam made a more suitable offspring than Timothy. He would shit it out later.
Paul explicitly acknowledges the paternal relationship he has with Adam, his coach driver, for the first time. This quote illuminates the harsh realities of slavery: the relationship between Adam and Paul has been distorted and disfigured until Paul feels that he has to “shit out” the notion that Adam might be a viable son. Racism poisons everyone involved.
Isaiah had widened him, given him another body to rely upon, made him dream that a dance wasn’t merely possible, but something to do together, would do together, the minute they were free. Dreadful thing to get a man’s hopes up that way. Hope made him feel chest-open, unsheltered in a way that could let anything, including failure, make its home inside, become seed and the root, curl its vines around that which is vital and squeeze until the only option was to spit up your innards before choking on them. Foolish Isaiah.
Samuel’s perspective on his and Isaiah’s relationship embodies the theme of hope amidst despair. He acknowledges the ways that Isaiah has changed him — giving him hope for a better life and future beyond the cruelties of the plantation and slavery. While Samuel ultimately chooses not to go with Isaiah in the end, he still recognizes and appreciates what Isaiah has given him.
Even if it could only last for never, it had to be known. That way, it could be mourned by somebody, thus remembered—and maybe, someday, repeated.
Samuel thinks about how Isaiah’s body glows, and how that is why they do not care about what others think of them. They cling to each other despite the hatred the world shows them, because the love they share glows so brightly that it has to be known.
Even Adam knew that had to remain unspoken until it didn’t. That was the only chance at triumph.
This quote from Adam hints at the tensions that have been brewing throughout the novel, and foreshadows the explosive ending. While none of the characters ever speak of a rebellion explicitly, Adam acknowledges the necessity for secrecy if they want it to succeed. Although it is unspoken, the enslaved people are in agreement.
