The Gold Chain

 Will Landschulz

Am Lit Per. 2

Mrs. LaMagdeleine

 

         The Gold Chain necklace given to Linda’s child is repugnant to Linda because that Gold chain could all too easily be replaced with one of Iron, in a trader’s coffle or on the auction block.  The Golden Chain of charity, that keeps the person benefiting dependent on the benefactor, can be no better than the Iron chain of forced bondage.   Linda knows all too well the troubles that come with being a black female slave, troubles that she would rather not come to the lot of her child.  She knows, too, that her children will be slaves as she is a slave, because of the Southern law that “The child shall follow the condition of the mother.”  (76) The only glimmer of hope for her is that her children might be freed with their innocence intact, but that is a very small glimmer when the master often strikes her in his rage, for perceived lying or even the truth he does not want to hear.