Cam Broberg
Chains Comparative Essay
Rothwell Literature
Imagine having no rights and being enslaved to someone else, forced to obey their every command or be killed. This is what life was like for women and slaves in the 18th century. They had very few rights and were forced to obey the commands of someone who had been chosen to rule over them. Nowhere is this shown more than in the novel Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson. In this novel, two characters are victims of slavery and oppression. These two characters are Isabel, a black slave, and Madam Lockton, her master. These characters are very different at the first glance. However, upon further examination, these characters are shown to have remarkable similarities. Madam Lockton and Isabel…show more content… Madam Lockton and Isabel are both slaves to the society that they live in. This deems women and blacks as inferior beings who need to be subjected to the will of white men. Isabel has been made a slave to Madam Lockton because of her race, while Madam Lockton is subject to the will of her husband due to her gender. Madam Lockton is abused by her husband on multiple occasions, showing how she is a slave to his will and oppression. If she dares to resist his commands, he violently exploits his power over her and beats her. Women at this time had very limited rights when compared to men. Married women like Madam Lockton were completely subject to the wills of their husbands. If a man abused his wife, he did not have to fear punishment because of the social expectations for women of this time. Madam Lockton is also a slave to the strict roles that society sets for women of this time. Women were expected to uphold their family’s honor and project an image of propriety and dignity to the public. Women were not viewed as people, but as property. This belief made it very difficult for women to escape