Freewater

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2022

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue-Part 1, Chapter 18

Part 2, Interlude-Chapter 39

Part 2, Chapters 40-64

Part 3, Chapters 65-91

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Symbols & Motifs

Flowers

Flowers symbolize the beauty of nature, which can inspire and improve life even in the worst of times. While enslaved, Rose, fittingly named after a flower, finds joy in picking flowers and using them to decorate her cabin. She shares this joy with her children, and they come to associate flowers with maternal love and warmth. Mrs. Crumb punishes the family for picking flowers she plants, illustrating her attempt to control enslaved people; this control becomes so ingrained in Ada that she still anticipates punishment while in Freewater. In Freewater, people use wildflowers to decorate. They embrace the swamp in all its beauty, rather than fearing or seeing it as something that should be destroyed or conquered, like lumber company workers do. The people of Freewater also treat flowers, plants, and crops differently than plantation owners. They don’t overharvest, always leaving enough flora and such to keep thriving. This is because they respect “Mother Swamp” and are in a partnership with her. Again, flowers symbolize the beauty of nature, which thrives in a community like Freewater where nature is respected.

Flying

Young Ada embraces the idea of “flying” at face value, but realistically, it also symbolizes escaping enslavement and finding freedom. To Homer and other enslaved people, escape seems just as unlikely as learning to fly, but with hope, resourcefulness, and teamwork, Homer learns freedom is possible. Furthermore, “flying” becomes possible once he and Ada find Freewater, as its residents climb and swing from trees, as well as walk across sky bridges. He can’t defy the laws of physics, but by employing mind over matter, he can expand the limits of possibility. Other formerly enslaved people learn the same lesson, allowing them to innovate and build a new life together in Freewater.

Monsters

The idea of “monsters” symbolizes the dangers of both enslavement and the swamp. To enslavers, the swamp is full of “monsters” and unfit for human occupation. However, to formerly enslaved people, the dangers of enslavement outweigh those of the swamp; therefore, they’re willing to venture into treacherous terrain. Some children in Freewater stop believing in “monsters,” only for them to realize enslavement itself is the most monstrous threat of all. For example, because Sanzi was born in Freewater, she fails to comprehend enslavement as a threat and longs to explore the outside world. Yet as soon as she sees Southerland, she knows whoever lives in the Big House (the plantation owner’s house) must be monstrous. She assumes the plantation owners are giants, but the truth is more heinous: Enslavers profit from dehumanization and income inequality, so they can live in a house while their enslaved workers live in shared cabins. The Big House embodies greed. This contrasts with the cabins of Freewater, which are all relatively the same size because the community thrives on cooperation rather than subservience.