Laurie Halse Anderson 2009 on 'Chains'

Chains is a brilliantly told story of two children  during the time of slave trading in America. We asked Laura Halse Anderson her views on why she wrote the story.

D: Chains is a brilliant novel, what made you write about this particular subject matter?

LHA: Thank you very much. I wrote the book so that I could understand how my country could have fought a war for its freedom, but still allowed people to be held in bondage.

D: Did where you grew up help to form this book and its characters with regard to slave trade?

LHA: Not really. I grew up in Northern New York state, a very rural area. During the American Revolution (what you call the American War of Independence), my region of the country was home to Native Americans; the Oneida, Onondaga, and Mohawk tribes.

I was shocked when I found out that slavery had been so common in New York City. In 1776, twenty percent of New York City's population was enslaved. They never talked about that in history class! That was another motivation to write the book. I believe that America will not be able to shed the sin of racism until we understand the full history and extent of slavery.

D: I found reading the book that you could really visualize the two children Isabel and Ruth, were they based on anyone in particular?

LHA: No. Like most of my characters, they popped up in my imagination and started talking to me.

D: Do you think the American Wars of Independence helped the black people gain their freedom?

LHA: Yes and no. Most slaveholdings in the northern states were small; city dwellers would own one or two slaves, farmers rarely more than three. In the south you'd find the large plantations of hundreds of slaves.

The rhetoric of the war, that all people have a right to freedom, did strike some Americans as hypocritical. Abolition societies grew. The participation of black soldiers in the American Army changed some opinions about the rights of people of African descent. The growing abolition movement in England was certainly an influence as well.

The state of Vermont was the first state to outlaw slavery in its constitution in 1777. After the war, the Northern states began a slow and gradual abolition process. New York state had slaves until 1827. In New Jersey, it took until the beginning of the Civil War in 1861. I wish I could say that as slavery was outlawed, slaves were set free. Often, their owners would sell them to a buyer from a southern state as the date of mandatory manumission approached.

The southern states refused to consider freeing slaves because the entire southern economy rested on the assumption of slave labor. Even people like Thomas Jefferson, who admitted the immorality of slavery, could not bring himself to suffer the economic consequences of freeing the people he owned.

The saddest thing for me is that the Founding Fathers of America had the chance to free all Americans when they wrote the Constitution. They did not have the courage required for the task and as a result, millions suffered.

D: Will you ever write a novel about Isabel and Ruth after they gain their independence?

LHA: Right now I am planning on writing two more books about Isabel and Ruth. Stay tuned!

D: Was it normal to pass a child that was not suitable in your household on to someone else?

LHA: Slaves were property. Children were commonly sold if it made economic sense to their owners. I've seen records of sales of slaves as young as nine months old.

D: Were there many people who would have spied on their bosses and past the information on to the opposite side?

LHA: It is hard to find evidence of the numbers of people involved, but we do have plenty of examples of spying that went on during the war. George Washington was a strong advocate for using spies to both discover information about his enemies, and to plant false information to confuse or trick them.

D: I have heard of different kinds of slaves, could some of them have been released from slavery when they reached the age of majority (18/21)?

LHA: Slavery existed in many forms in America from 1628 - 1863. The laws regarding slaves differed drastically from state to state, and even within a state, could change dramatically over time. It is a vast topic which can make it hard to generalize.

The situation you are describing is what happened in the north when slaves were gradually being given their freedom. For example, in Connecticut, slaves born after March 1, 1784, were to be freed when they reached age 25. This age was later lowered to 21, which brought it into line with the age at which apprentices reached the end of their term of service.

D: From the way you describe Ruth the younger child did she suffer with some kind of epilepsy?

LHA: Yes, that was my intent.

D: I know that America is just about to have its first Black President, do you think that back in the War of Independence that the people would ever believe that this could happen?

LHA: I never thought I'd live long enough to see this glorious event! The notion of a black President would have been completely absurd to people in the 18th-century. They could not have conceived of a woman working in government, or people from working class backgrounds holding high office, either. Thank goodness times have changed.

D: What authors have influenced your writing and why?

LHA: When I was a child I read a great deal of historical fiction by Laura Ingalls Wilder and L. M. Montgomery. Today I love to read the work of Jane Yolen, Karen Hesse, and Christopher Paul Curtis. I also enjoy fantasy and speculative fiction and adore books written by Neil Gaiman and David Almond. I am a very fussy reader and most enjoy books that have layers of crystal-clear details and characters with emotional depth.

D: ‘Chains' reminded me of the series ‘Roots' by Alex Haley was this a part of your research when writing this book?

LHA: No. I only read non-fiction materials for my research.