How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
Madam ran me like a donkey all the next day, then demanded that I stay awake all night to make rolls for breakfast because the bakers in town were rebels, and they had fled. I did as she ordered and ruined two perfectly fine batches of dough. I threw them down the privy and baked cornbread deep into the night for that was one thing my hands knew how to bake. (30.9)
There are a ton of moments in the book where Madam Lockton is inhumane to the point of evil, but this is one where she actually seems to be ignorant of the logic of asserting her power. If Isabel stays awake all night, of course she's going to ruin the dough. The truth is that she sees Isabel as little more than a kitchen appliance that she can plug it before she goes to bed and let it run on its own, unlimited power.
Quote #8
"You bloody beast," I swore. "How dare you let him starve?" The words flew out of my mouth without pause.
"Who are you to reprimand me, girl?" [Dibdin] snarled […] "He's a slave. He will not be treated the same as free men." (37.49-50)
The hierarchy of slave and free touches every aspect of society, including the jail that holds Fort Washington's prisoners of war. To Dibdin, it doesn't matter that Curzon fought and bled alongside him for the same cause; at the end of the day, he's just a slave and doesn't deserve humane treatment.
Quote #9
A body does not like being bought and sold like a basket of eggs, even if the person who cracks the shells is kind. (40.48)
Isabel may have blindly accepted slavery as a way of life when she was younger, but witnessing the worst of its evils convinces her by the end of the book that there's nothing to commend the system at all, not even treating slaves with kindness and respect. The truth is, owning another person in itself speaks louder than any comfortable treatment the owner may give the slave.