48 pages • 1 hour read
Calico Captive
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Chapters 6-10Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 6 Summary
Three weeks after arriving, everyone from the village is called to attend a grand council. Mehkoa rises and goes to a panicked Miriam and offers her a rare and valuable necklace. Mehkoa tells her that while he is away on a hunt, there will be a log house built and she will come to live with him. Miriam is horrified, throws the necklace, and runs back to her wigwam. Susanna and James follow her, and Susanna comforts her while James wishes she had been less abrupt.
Because Miriam shamed Mehkoa, her life in camp becomes much worse. Sylvanus tells Susanna and Miriam that he is going to join a hunting party. Susanna protests, but Sylvanus goes with the braves. Later, Miriam sees James and Susanna quarreling. James persuaded the Abenaki tribe to allow Miriam and the little girls to be sold in Montreal, and he would negotiate with Massachusetts to ransom the family.
Susanna’s adopted family will not allow her to go. Susanna says she is fine with this, because she would not leave until she has Sylvanus. Miriam refuses to go, but Susanna tells her that she is running out of time and will soon be married off to an old man. Miriam hugs Susanna, but Susanna soon pushes Miriam toward a canoe, Susanna remains on shore as the canoe leaves.
Chapter 7 Summary
The canoe nears Montreal, and Miriam finds the stone city scary. James comments that it will be difficult to capture, and Miriam asks, “Why shouldn’t there be room on this huge continent for both the French and the English to live peaceably?” (81). James rebukes her, claiming the French want to push the English into the ocean. The Abenaki men who brought the group to the city bargain with the French soldiers and then leave, and James and Miriam realize they will be separated.
At the house she is taken to, Miriam is awash in familiar and comforting surroundings. The mistress of the house, Madame Du Quesne, appears. She speaks English, and she tells Miriam, coldly, that her husband helps the English captives. After she leaves, Miriam is given a bath, and one of the servants, Hortense, is kind and understanding. Hortense leads Miriam upstairs to a mattress in the loft, and Miriam teaches Hortense a few words in English while Hortense teaches her a few words in French. While lying in bed, Miriam feels guilt about enjoying the food and bed of the enemy.
Chapter 8 Summary
The next morning, Miriam gets dressed and eats breakfast. Miriam helps with chores, and then Hortense leads her to another part of the house where she brings a breakfast tray to a pretty girl around Miriam’s own age named Felicité. She is the daughter of Madame Du Quesne, and she speaks English and invites Miriam to sit while she eats breakfast and tell her about her captivity.
Madame Du Quesne enters the bedroom and she’s unhappy to see Miriam there, but Felicité wants Miriam to remain. Madame Du Quesne decides Miriam can tutor Felicité in English for two hours a day. Unfortunately, as Miriam tutors Felicité, she finds her to be a slow and distracted learner.
Back in the kitchen, Miriam speaks with Hortense and they teach each other their language. As the days go on, Miriam becomes more fluent in French. Miriam has not heard from James, and she worries that he and the little girls are in a worse situation, but she feels fortunate. Hortense asks her if she is happy, and Miriam admits she is worried about her family. Hortense asks her fiancé, Jules, to find out information. Later, Hortense tells Miriam that while Jules does not know anything about the girls, James is in prison, which she assures Miriam is common for English captives.
Chapter 9 Summary
The next morning, Miriam returns to the kitchen early because Madame Du Quesne took Felicité for a drive. Miriam is offended, because Felicité wanted to take Miriam with them, but Madame Du Quesne rebuked her. Hortense gets permission to take Miriam with her to the market, and Miriam is enthralled with the city. While in the market, Miriam sees a handsome man that Hortense tells her is a coureur—a fur trader—and a noble, Pierre LaRoche.
Pierre stops to speak to Madame Du Quesne and Felicité, and Hortense shares that Madame Du Quesne wants Felicité to marry Pierre. When Miriam spots James, she races after him, and a soldier grabs her. She slaps him and keeps running, but he catches her. Pierre Laroche intervenes, and Miriam protests that she was not trying to escape. Pierre has the soldiers take her to Madame Du Quesne to verify her story.
Madame Du Quesne verifies it, but she is upset with Miriam for making a scene and has her get into the carriage. Miriam explains how anxious she is to know about her family. When Miriam exits the carriage, Felicité stops her and tells her that Polly has been adopted by the mayor’s wife who renamed her Alphonsine and intends to raise her. Later, Jules brings the information that James made a petition to the Governor of Canada and was allowed out only with armed escort and could not communicate with anyone. Both Polly and Sue were purchased by wealthy families.
Chapter 10 Summary
Miriam is determined to win back Madame Du Quesne’s favor, and is surprised when Madame visits during a tutoring session and tells her that Polly is being difficult for the mayor’s wife. Madame Du Quesne suggests that Miriam visits with her. They arrive at the mayor’s house, and when Polly is brought in Miriam is appalled at how sick and miserable she looks.
At first Miriam is concerned Polly is being mistreated, but then Miriam realizes that Polly is pining for her mother. At the mention of her mother, Polly flings herself on Miriam and cries. Miriam reassures her that her Mama will come to her soon, but the mayor’s wife tells her not to lie to Polly. The mayor’s wife tells her that Polly has a new mother, and she sends Miriam away.
Madame Du Quesne takes her to visit Sue who was adopted by two women and, unlike Polly, Sue is doing very well. She wants to show Miriam her room, which has been painted for her. Sue shares that she goes to school every day with the Indigenous children at the convent. The women are teaching her about Catholicism and tell her to pray to the Virgin Mary. Miriam is troubled, but she can tell it brings Sue comfort, and tells her “I’m sure it can’t be wrong, Sue, if it keeps you from being lonely” (130). That night, Miriam wrestles over the difference between what she was taught about the French—that they were idolatrous and evil—and what she had seen while living with them. Miriam realizes that even if Susanna would disapprove, she was glad for how she responded to Sue.
Chapters 6-10 Analysis
This section further develops the theme Cultural Clashes and Assimilation because Miriam moves from one unfamiliar culture to another. The novel shows how differences in treatment and the motivations behind captivity lead to cultural misunderstandings between the colonists and the Abenaki. At first, Miriam views captivity and adoption as brutal and terrifying, but the Abenaki see it as a means of replenishing their numbers and forming new kinship bonds, which is one reason they treat the colonists well.
Miriam was raised to distrust the French and Indigenous people, but the experiences she has in these chapters test her prejudices. On the journey, she learned to question her assumptions about Indigenous people. In Montreal, when she is sold to the Du Quesnes, she faces the same task with the French. Despite the language and cultural barriers, she integrates into the household well and makes two new friends: the servant, Hortense, and Felicité Du Quesne. Having friends in two different socioeconomic classes represents Miriam’s liminal position in her new society and foreshadows the possibility of her marrying Pierre. After her grueling journey, Miriam finds that she enjoys the relative comfort of her life as a servant. She appreciates her beautiful surroundings although she feels guilty for her happiness, knowing that Susanna is still in St. Francis.
Despite Miriam’s internal conflict over her potential disloyalty to her Puritan upbringing, she comforts Susanna when Susanna struggles to practice Catholicism: “Somehow, no matter what Susanna might say, [Miriam] could not believe that a difference in belief should cause any child to be lonely and afraid” (131). This moment introduces the theme of The Value of Listening to One’s Heart because Miriam does what she knows is right even if it differs from what her sister would do. In Chapters 1 through 5, Miriam bases her moral compass on what Susanna believes is right because Miriam trusts Susanna’s judgement more than her own. But when Miriam is separated from Susanna, she is forced to become independent and consider her own beliefs. Miriam is drawn to the French culture, learning the language rapidly and feeling much more interested in the French fashions than the ones she grew up with. Felicité allows Miriam to wear her dress to visit the mayor’s wife, and Miriam loves the beautiful gown, which reintroduces the important symbol of dresses in the novel. At the same time, it makes her unrecognizable to a distraught Polly.
The theme Survival and Resilience is explored in this section in a different way than in the previous section. While Miriam is much more comfortable in Montreal than she was in St. Francis, she is still a prisoner. When she forgets herself and chases after James after she spots him in the market, a soldier captures her roughly. It also becomes apparent that while Miriam views herself and other English as superior to the Indigenous people, the French view Miriam as uncivilized and inferior to them. Madame Du Quesne, in particular, repeatedly reminds Miriam that she is not Felicité’s equal, regardless of their friendship. This section also introduces Pierre LaRoche, a wealthy trader who reminds Miriam of Mehkoa. The tension in her relationship with Pierre, which includes attraction and repulsion, remains unresolved through most of the novel and forces Miriam to make difficult choices about her future.
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By Elizabeth George Speare
