Chains Characters

If you think about it, Isabel is kind of an 18th-century version of Cinderella. Her parents are dead, she works for an evil lady who puts all wicked stepmothers to shame, and when she looks like sh...

Are you familiar with Gavroche, the young, plucky French Revolution sympathizer from Les Misérables? We think he and Curzon would get along pretty well. They're both proud supporters of rebel caus...

Isabel's little sister doesn't say much, but Ruth's vulnerability and innocence are the driving force behind Isabel's desire to seek freedom. Having lost both of their parents, Ruth is all Isabel h...

We hate to say it, but there aren't a lot of nice things to say about the patriarch of the Lockton family. He's controlling, self-serving, power-hungry, and abusive. Lockton spends most of the book...

Ever had a boss or even a teacher who loaded you down with work and just didn't seem to respect you or anything you did? That wasn't fun, was it? Now imagine that the same person actually owns you....

In a story full of social ignorance, hierarchies, and just plain cruelty, it's refreshing to see a member of the elite ruling class who sees slavery for what it is. Lady Seymour is Master Lockton's...

She might be tough and strict, but Becky, Madam's housekeeper, is one of the few sources of comfort Isabel has during her time with the Locktons. Although she believes the most important rule of or...

The minute Officer Bellingham sets foot on the pages on Chains, we know he means business. Can we expect anything less of "An official looking man in a somber black coat" (5.24) whose duty is to ar...

Captain Farrar is the military leader who asks Isabel to take a message back to Captain Morse after she comes to tell him Farrar won the bet about whether the British would still hold Queen Charlot...

Captain Morse is the leader of the Fort Washington prisoners of war whom Isabel agrees to take messages to in exchange for Curzon's humane treatment by his comrades. While the other military offici...

Colonel Regan should have been Isabel's salvation. Seriously—she came to him with information that Lockton and his Loyalist cronies wanted to kill George Washington. Information that valuable sho...

If Fisher, the head guard at the prison, were alive today, there's a good chance he'd be a pro wrestler. When Isabel first meets him, she describes him as "a mountain clothed in a lobsterback unifo...

While he's not really anyone's grandfather biologically speaking, Grandfather is nonetheless the patriarch of the group of slaves who cross paths every day at the Tea Water Pump. Clearly, he's the...

The wife of the owner of the tavern where Robert Finch takes Isabel and Ruth to be sold, Jenny is a welcome source of comfort. A close friend of their parents from long ago, Jenny cared for the gir...

We never actually meet Mary Finch, Isabel and Ruth's previous owner, because we kind of go to her funeral on the first page of the book. Still, we feel her influence throughout the book, especially...

While we only see her in brief flashbacks, it's clear that Momma is the source of all that is good in Isabel—we're talking about her kindness, bravery, and loyalty to others. Apart from Momma's r...

If Momma gave Isabel the strength to survive the struggles of the war and living with the Locktons, it was Poppa who gave her the ability to fight. When Isabel and Ruth are sold at the beginning of...

Let's be real: Private Dibdin, one of the prisoners of war Isabel encounters as she seeks to help Curzon, is a serious creep. He has a really bad temper, "His breath [stinks] of rotting teeth" (37....

Robert, Mary Finch's brother, takes possession of Isabel and Ruth after his sister's death. In a lot of ways, he's like Madam Lockton—both see themselves as superior to their slaves and desire to...

One of the wives of the British soldiers who come to live with the Locktons, Sarah becomes "boss lady" (32.18) after Becky flees to New Jersey. She's pregnant, and this gives her a reason to defy M...