In August of 2011, the Susquehanna River flooded during Hurricane Irene, causing much damage in Pennsylvania. No, I didn’t go rafting on the river while it overflowed its banks. But I did accompany Huck Finn on his trip down the Mississippi while we waited out the storm.
This book provided wonderful research for my middle grade Underground Railroad novel, Dark Enough to See the Stars. I learned that mattresses were called ticks, and could be stuffed with straw, and well-to-do folks topped it with a feather tick. Poor folks used corn husks, which could be uncomfortable with the occasional corn cob stabbing you in the back.
Reading a book published in the nineteenth century gave me a surprising perspective. Huck wrestled with his desire to set Jim, a slave, free. Jim belonged to someone else, and by law was considered stolen property. Whereas we would consider his efforts a noble endeavor, Huck viewed it the way most people in his era did. He was stealing goods, sinning against God, and defying Jim’s owner. Huck assuaged his guilt by writing a letter to Jim’s owner, Miss Watson. He never sent it. He ripped it up and said, “All right, then, I’ll go to hell.” Huck didn’t realize he was making a choice for good and not evil.
The face of slavery has changed, but it is still out there. What do you think slavery looks like now? Let me know.