Characters
The enslaver who owns Southerland.
Who is Mr. Crumb?
"'We can't go back, Homer, Mama told me, and I didn't listen.
If I'd done as she asked, maybe the three of us would be up North. I said we needed to get Anna. Instead of me, mama went back. Now nothing felt right---not the swamp, not Freewater, not freedom. The thought made my body heavy like a lead weight."
Ex: Homer's body feels heavy with guilt and remorse for having his mom go back for Anna.
What is the Great Dismal Swamp?
The name of the plantation that Ada and Homer escape from.
What is Southerland?
Birds and flight represent...
What is freedom?
Who is Billy?
This character dreams of being like Suleman.
Who is Sanzi?
"'Little Minnie started walking,' said Ada. 'Old Joe made her a new wooden doll she walks all around the quarters with it.'
Hearing his daughter's name made Two Shoes wince, like someone poked him in the eye. He kept working on that rope."
Ex: Two Shoes winces, because he misses his daughter and it is painful to hear about her.
The name of enslaved people who self-emancipated to swamps and mountains and formed communities.
Who are the maroons?
Freewater celebrates this day.
What is Remembering Day?
Scars represent...
What is the lasting trauma and pain of slavery?
"Why not? If there are monsters in the swamp, seems only right there would also be swamp angels."
Who is Ada?
This character fears going outside of Freewater because they worry about being caught by an enslaver.
Who is Billy?
"Everyone was moving---moving in different ways than I'd ever seen---this way and the other without looking back to see who might be watching or checking for permission."
Ex: Homer is in awe of the people in Freewater, because they have a lightness and joy that he has never experienced growing up enslaved.
The first group of people who found refuge in the swamp and the reason they sought refuge.
Who are Indigenous peoples? What is colonization?
The children of Freewater are not allowed to do this.
What is leave Freewater?
For Sanzi, bows and arrows represent...
"My work is not to make you happy. My work is to keep you free."
Who is Mrs. Light?
This character has a special knife.
Who is Ferdinand?
"Nora kept her eyes to the wooden table. Anna's words sent a chill down her spine. To hear her father connected to the idea of hurting Rose turned something in Nora. Yes, Stokes was mean. He was cruel and feared. But her father? Anna's words were like a first small crack setting into a sheet of lake ice."
Ex: This quote illustrates that Nora is struggling and feeling unsettled as she starts to realize the violence her father commits.
Name one country, besides the United States, where there was a maroon community.
Where is Jamaica, Suriname, Brazil...?
The drink Mrs. Petunia gives Rose to help her sleep.
What is maypop water?
Fire represents...
What is resistance and rebellion?
"Come, if your plan is to be free."
Who is Suleman?
This character is the first to walk across the skybridge. Ada notes that this characters looks as if they are floating.
Who is Daria?
"In a flash, as she watched him go, she saw large black angel wings on his back. They matched the very ones she saw on her own back. Yes, they'd be friends for sure."
Ex: Anna feels a sense of kinship with Homer. She sees "black angel wings" on his back which may represent his commitment to seeking freedom.
The company or the acronym of the company that ran a shingle making operation in the swamp or the famous person who owned the company.
What is DSSL or the Dismal Swamp Shingle and Lumber? Who is George Washington?
Ada runs ahead of David and Daria and gets cut by this.
What is a spear?
Ferdinand's knife represents...
"Suleman brought us these two."
Who is David?