60 pages • 2 hours read
Trouble Don't Last
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Chapters 14-19Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 14 Summary: “A Forest of Silence”
Harrison points out that he and Samuel have little choice but to follow this man even though neither of them understands or agrees with his decision to send Hetty back into the river. The river man leads Harrison and Samuel along a creek to a clearing with a house and barn. He directs them to go to the back of the house to the open cellar door and climb the steps down into it. Blankets and food have already been placed there. He tells them to hide until the “white widow lady” comes to get them and take them to the next safe place (90). Samuel doesn’t understand what sort of white person would want to help him because the Hacklers certainly didn’t.
The river man also gives them parting advice. First, he tells them to walk as if they’re not doing anything wrong. Also, he tells them not to immediately run if a patroller speaks to them because this looks suspicious and will most likely lead to capture. Instead, they should look for a weakness and form a reasonable plan, then escape. The river man then inspects Harrison’s sack and declares that he will take everything in it. Harrison asks to keep the gray yarn, and the man returns it. He also gives them some money so that they can pay the people who help them along the way. He warns them that patrollers can catch them anywhere, even in the northern states, so they need to be on guard until they reach Canada.
Chapter 15 Summary: “The Gray Yarn”
Harrison and Samuel descend into the cellar, which is crowded with tools and furniture. They eat the food that has been left for them, but Samuel is still hungry. He wants to search for extra food, but Harrison says that this would be stealing. Samuel reasons that Harrison stole from the Hacklers, so he should be allowed to steal from the white widow woman. However, Harrison counters that taking objects from the Hacklers was not stealing because they legally “owned” Harrison when he took the objects, so he didn’t take anything that didn’t belong to him. Samuel wants to leave the yarn in exchange for more food, but Harrison says he can’t give the yarn away because it came from Samuel’s mother. They fall asleep, and later, Harrison wakes Samuel up as footsteps come down the stairs into the cellar.
Chapter 16 Summary: “Widow Taylor”
Mrs. Taylor enters the cellar with a rifle and demands that Harrison and Samuel show themselves. She warns them not to give her any trouble and then starts talking about her deceased husband, Jacob, who recently died. She claims to be able to see and converse with Jacob’s ghost. She gives them more food and says that tomorrow night, she will drive them in her carriage to a church run by Reverend Pry; he runs the next safe stop on the way to Canada. Harrison offers to pay Mrs. Taylor for the food, and she accepts a few coins but makes them put the coins in a handkerchief first. She then collects them carefully, as if she doesn’t want to touch something that a Black person has touched. She confesses that she did not want to continue aiding formerly enslaved Black people, but Jacob told her to continue his work after he died. She then leaves. Harrison lets Samuel have the larger portion of the food.
Samuel asks Harrison to explain about his mother’s yarn, but Harrison refuses. Samuel feels bad for Mrs. Taylor, who is experiencing intense grief. Harrison says that he has enough to worry about, so he’s not worrying about a white woman whose husband died. That night, as Harrison is sleeping, Samuel hears Mrs. Taylor crying and speaking to Jacob. However, Jacob does not respond.
Chapter 17 Summary: “Beneath Hay and Feed Sacks”
The following evening, Mrs. Taylor instructs Harrison and Samuel to get in the back of her wagon but not to touch anything. Samuel feels like she cares more about her possessions than she does about him or Harrison. She plans to attend a women’s prayer group at Reverent Pry’s church. She claims that she spoke to Jacob again and asks if Harrison and Samuel saw him too. They say no, which disappoints her, so then they say “maybe.” She says that when they arrive at the church, Harrison and Samuel should go in the side door and wait for Reverend Pry. He has helped dozens of formerly enslaved people in the past.
Chapter 18 Summary: “Our Poor Colored Brethren”
As they drive toward the church, Mrs. Taylor continues speaking to Jacob as if he is there. When they reach the church, Mrs. Taylor goes in the front while Samuel and Harrison go to the side door and enter a room storing books, quills, and papers. As they wait, they look at a big, fancy Bible and listen to the women’s prayer group through the walls. After it ends and the women leave, Reverend Pry enters the room with another man named Mr. Keepheart. Reverend Pry already knows their names because the Hacklers came looking for them yesterday. However, Reverend Pry considers the church a sanctuary and plans to help formerly enslaved people, not return them to enslavement.
Reverend Pry asks Samuel questions about his age, his mother, and his experiences with enslavement and writes down his answers in a “story” that he plans to share with his congregation. Harrison does not like this. He insists that Pry stop writing and leave the room. However, Mr. Keepheart starts asking many questions and wants to see Harrison’s scars, which Harrison finds offensive. He shows Mr. Keepheart his back and then asks to see Mr. Keepheart’s back.
Chapter 19 Summary: “Laid to Rest”
Mr. Keepheart shows Harrison and Samuel his back, explaining that he has no scars because he has never been beaten or abused. He agrees to stop writing. Mr. Keepheart leads Samuel and Harrison to the pews, where they can sleep. He tells them that a deceased, formerly enslaved baby is buried beneath the church; this scares Samuel. Mr. Keepheart leaves them. After a while, Harrison starts looking for something. He goes to the little room to get the paper on which Reverend Pry and Mr. Keepheart were writing about Harrison and Samuel. He rips the paper up and throws it away because he doesn’t want white people reading about their stories. This could cause word to get back to the Hacklers about where they are.
Chapters 14-19 Analysis
This section further develops the theme of The Challenges of Seeking Freedom. When the river man gives Samuel several pieces of advice on how to outwit and evade patrollers, this information is intended to foreshadow the protagonist’s future encounters with trouble of this type. While the river man’s words are harsh, they are also useful, and his strategy for avoiding attention highlights the extreme dangers that Harrison and Samuel are risking. For example, he instructs Samuel to walk as if he’s not doing anything wrong because if he looks guilty, he will be more likely to be stopped by patrols or other people. This advice implies that the protagonist’s success or failure may depend on the subtlest of nonverbal cues. His advice about dealing directly with suspicious patrols will also prove crucial to the pair’s successful escape to Canada. Thus, although he initially appears threatening, the river man proves to be a valuable ally, and he also articulates the larger message that seeking freedom is more than a physical endeavor; it is a mental one. This implies that despite Samuel’s limitations as a young boy, he will have what it takes to outsmart his pursuers and make it to safety. Lastly, the river man warns Samuel that formerly enslaved people are not safe in the United States due to the Fugitive Slave Act, which makes them vulnerable to capture by patrols even in the “free” states. Although the river man’s advice and warnings scare Samuel, they also equip him with the information he needs to protect himself.
While the river man represents Harrison and Samuel’s first encounter with a participant in the Underground Railroad, this section of the novel provides a more detailed view of The Role of the Underground Railroad in American History by describing the clandestine connections involved in the broader network. Perhaps the most prominent lesson that Samuel learns is to acknowledge that not everyone who helps travelers on the Underground Railroad is a morally upstanding citizen. In fact, most characters that Harrison and Samuel encounter prove to be morally complex rather than embodying the oversimplified ideals of “good” or “bad.” For example, while the river man shepherds them across the river and gives them money and useful advice, he also takes their supplies. Similarly, although Mrs. Taylor grudgingly helps the protagonists, she is not truly an abolitionist, and, like the river man, she first approaches Samuel and Harrison while holding a gun, as if she is afraid of them. Her involvement with the Underground Railroad is rooted in her grief for her deceased husband, Jacob, and she only helps Samuel and Harrison to honor his memory. This twist illustrates that being involved with the Underground Railroad does not automatically mean that someone is a morally good person or free of racist beliefs.
In the same vein, Reverend Pry and Mr. Keepheart represent the vital role that some churches played as sanctuaries and waypoints on the Underground Railroad; however, even this was not a clear-cut issue, as other churches were known to support the institution of enslavement. For this reason, it was not always safe to stop at a random church and trust that the congregants or reverends would be friendly to freedom seekers. Additionally, the scene with Reverend Pry also highlights the fact that even some abolitionists had ulterior motives. While Reverend Pry has been helping freedom seekers to make their way north for a while, he also is also partially motivated by a desire to boost his own self-image before his congregation. This agenda is strongly suggested by his habit of collecting stories about all the freedom seekers he has helped so that he can share this information with his congregation. Harrison takes issue with this practice because Pry has not considered the potential harm that could come from circulating such stories. If the Hacklers or other patrollers learn of these stories, they might be able to find and recapture Samuel and Harrison. Thus, even those people who are trying to do the right thing can still make mistakes born of ignorance or adherence to ulterior motives.
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