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?
"It's like somebody shoved cotton down my throat. It's like I can't breathe" (344).
The author craft move.
What is simile?
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?
"With her finger tips, as nimble as an octopus tentacle, Nora gently lifted the key by its string" (310).
The author craft move.
What is a simile?
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?
"'If you don't let m-m-me go, I'll have to stay here and t-t-t-ell,' said Billy. His expression was nervous but full of determination" (294).
The author craft move.
What is characterization?
This character has a special knife.
Who is Ferdinand?
"[Juna had] never seen anything like his skin. Bit what shook her to the core was the feeling she got from the man's stare. It felt like he'd seen right through her... A thunderclap of fear coursed through her veins and turned them ice cold. She thought she'd new that feeling, but in an instant she understood that she lived a life with very little fear" (337).
Ex: Juna has never seen a white person before or experienced the violence of white supremacy. The way the white man yields his power and looks at her unsettles her. She experiences this kind of pain and fear for the first time and realizes that, for her whole life, she has been protected.
Name two countries, 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?
"As it was one day before the wedding, the kitchen was humming with simmering pots" (311).
The author craft move.
What is personification?
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?
"Coming back to Southerland, I swear my own eyes had been pulled out and grown anew while in the swamp" (342).
What is hyperbole or metaphor?