60 pages • 2 hours read
Shelley PearsallTrouble Don't Last
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2001A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 1-7Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary: “Trouble”
Content Warning: This section of the guide contains descriptions of enslavement, abuse, death, and the forced separation of families.
The novel is narrated in the first person and the past tense by the 11-year-old protagonist, Samuel. He says that trouble always follows him; he was born enslaved, like his mother before him and her mother before that. When Samuel was a baby, his mother was sold away, and two elderly enslaved people named Lilly and Harrison have raised Samuel ever since. One day, Harrison decides to run away and take Samuel with him.
Chapter 2 Summary: “The Broken Plate”
The narration flashes back to September of 1859, before Samuel and Harrison run away. On this day, Samuel is clearing the dinner table and breaks a plate. Seth, the son of the plantation owner, Mr. Hackler, trips Samuel to make him break the plate. Seth doesn’t get in trouble, but Samuel does. Mr. Hackler’s wife, Miz Catherine, throws a fork at Samuel’s chin, and Lilly fusses at him to be more careful and stop causing trouble for her. Lilly gets a dollar each Christmas, so she gives up most of her savings to replace the plate that Samuel broke.
Mr. Hackler asks Lilly what he should do about Samuel’s “carelessness.” He wants to whip Samuel, but Lilly suggests withholding food instead because this is allegedly more effective for boys of Samuel’s age. Mr. Hackler agrees but adds that Samuel also can’t use any blankets to sleep that night. After Mr. Hackler leaves, Lilly orders Samuel to go help Harrison feed the hogs. She also says that Harrison will probably give Samuel some food, but he can’t tell anyone.
Chapter 3 Summary: “Harrison’s Warning”
In the barn, Harrison is greasing Mr. Hackler’s boots. Harrison says that Samuel may believe his own life is difficult, but Harrison has been through worse times than Samuel. He shows Samuel his scars from past whippings to prove it. They feed the hogs, and Harrison tells Samuel to keep an eye out while he sleeps that night. Samuel asks why, but Harrison won’t explain. Samuel worries that someone is getting sold.
Chapter 4 Summary: “Old Master Hackler’s Ghost”
Samuel always sleeps in the kitchen, but tonight he is not allowed to use blankets or go near the fire. He is afraid that someone is watching him, so he abides by these rules. The Hacklers sleep above the kitchen, so he is careful not to make much noise. Mr. Hackler’s father died in the building years ago, and Samuel is afraid of his ghost. He thinks that maybe Harrison was warning him about this ghost. He hears someone come into the kitchen, but it’s too dark to see who. When the figure reaches him, he sees that it’s just Harrison, who tells Samuel to keep quiet.
Meanwhile, Mr. Hackler’s older son, Cassius, stumbles out of the house and onto a horse, apparently heading to a pub to gamble. Harrison still wants Samuel to be quiet, but Samuel wants to know what is happening. Harrison reassures him that nothing is wrong and tells him to get a knife and a skillet to add to the bag of supplies that he is carrying. Samuel thinks that Harrison might be “mixed-up” mentally, which sometimes happens to him. Samuel doesn’t know what he should do. If he calls for Mr. Hackler and Miz Catherine, they will both get in trouble. However, if he doesn’t call them and Harrison takes a knife and a skillet, they’ll notice soon enough, and then he and Harrison will be in even worse trouble. The punishment for stealing is to get part of two fingers cut off. Still, Samuel gathers the items and follows Harrison outside as directed.
Harrison keeps saying that he doesn’t have time to answer Samuel’s questions and that he has already figured out a plan. Samuel isn’t allowed outside at night, so he is afraid of the dark. Harrison is about 70 years old, and years of field work have weakened his bones, but he is moving faster now than Samuel has ever seen. One of Mr. Hackler’s dogs comes to them, but they give him some food, and he runs off. When Harrison directs Samuel to rub onions on his feet to deter bloodhounds, Samuel realizes that Harrison is planning to escape. This thought terrifies Samuel.
Chapter 5 Summary: “Onions”
Samuel protests that running away is wrong. Harrison tells the boy that he is welcome to go back, but Harrison is definitely leaving; he’s at the end of his life and doesn’t want to spend the rest of it enslaved. Harrison says that being free is going to be just like flying. Samuel wants to know how far the journey north is, but Harrison doesn’t answer. They walk across the plantation to the cornfields on the edge. Samuel still wants to protest Harrison’s plan to escape, but he follows Harrison for so long that he can no longer find the way back, so he just keeps following.
Samuel has never left the plantation before, and it scares him. Previously, he thought the only reason he’d ever leave was if he got sold away; he never wanted this to happen because it would separate him from Harrison and Lilly, and he would most likely be headed to an unknown future filled with even worse abuse than the Hacklers have inflicted. Harrison has been outside the plantation because he was bought from a Virginia plantation when he was a child. Once, when he was in Virginia, he got in trouble for fishing, which was considered stealing, and he was punished so badly that he never did it again.
When dawn breaks, Samuel and Harrison hide in a tree. Harrison once ran away before Samuel was born and hid in this same tree. The weather looks rainy, but the rain hasn’t started yet. Samuel then hears someone calling his name, which suggests that the Hacklers have noticed their absence and are now searching for them.
Chapter 6 Summary: “Still as a Tree”
Samuel hears Mr. Hackler and Cassius calling for him and Harrison. He then hears Lilly calling as well, and he feels awful because she will probably get punished for their escape. He starts calling her name back, but a gunshot stifles the sound of Samuel’s voice, and he doesn’t speak again. It starts raining, and the Hacklers and Lilly leave without spotting Samuel and Harrison.
Samuel asks Harrison if Lilly will be safe, and he also asks if she knew they were running away. Harrison says that Lilly can take care of herself and that she probably had an inkling but was unaware of the exact date or details of his plan. Samuel asks why Lilly didn’t come, and Harrison says that Samuel is too young to understand. Although the boy complains about being cold, Harrison tells him that being cold is better than being dead. They continue hiding in the tree to wait out the rain and the daylight. They will not travel during the day because they don’t want to be seen and caught.
Chapter 7 Summary: “Night Scare”
The rain finally stops, and Samuel assumes that it probably washed their footprints away. They eat some biscuits and snap beans for dinner. As it gets dark, they descend from the tree, and Harrison complains about “rigor mortis.” They move on through the woods. Samuel is afraid of wild animals and runs off when he thinks he sees one. Harrison follows, but because they have left the trail, he no longer knows which way to go. Harrison lies down in frustration. He then starts talking about someone named Belle, whom Samuel doesn’t know, and a baby. Harrison says that Belle didn’t want to hide in a hayloft, but they did anyway, and then the baby cried. Samuel asks Harrison to snap out of it. Harrison takes blankets out of the bag, and they go to sleep.
Chapters 1-7 Analysis
Because the entire novel is narrated in the past tense and the first person by Samuel, the 11-year-old protagonist, the author provides a vivid window into many of Samuel’s thoughts and feelings, even those that he doesn’t share out loud with others around him. However, this approach prevents the author from delving into the mental landscapes of other characters, and as a result, readers must intuit the true nature of the situation from Samuel’s naïve and inexperienced perspective. This stylistic choice also emphasizes Samuel’s central importance, for the author compels readers to “experience” the story through Samuel’s eyes and to empathize most fully with his thoughts, fears, and decisive acts of courage and ingenuity.
By establishing the cruelty of the Hacklers and the long history of abuse that Harrison and Samuel have experienced, these early chapters introduce the theme of The Hardships of Enslavement, and the author’s descriptions are designed to educate young readers about the horrors of enslavement in addition to setting the stage for the characters’ daring escape journey. In the first chapter, Samuel repeatedly describes enslavement as “trouble,” and his straightforward accounting of his family history reveals the deep abuses that he and his loved ones have suffered. In Samuel’s case, his family was torn apart as soon as it began, with his mother being sold away when he was still a baby and before he developed a long-term memory of her. Lilly also had her family torn apart, although her own children died rather than being sold off. Harrison’s family was torn apart as well, and he lost nearly every loved one he ever had, although he hasn’t yet revealed the full details of his past to Samuel. Almost every character who experiences enslavement in this novel has lost family members through death or further enslavement, and they often never see each other again. This dynamic is shown to be one of the most traumatic aspects of enslavement and one that cannot always be remedied by gaining freedom.
Another hardship of enslavement is illustrated through the extreme physical and emotional abuse that the characters endure. For example, Harrison frequently shows Samuel his scars to illustrate the extent of the physical abuse he has experienced, and Samuel has experienced it too in different forms, as when Miz Catherine throws a fork at his face in a fit of pique. While physical abuse causes physical scars, emotional abuse can also cause mental “scars,” such as Samuel’s deeply ingrained fear of running away. In an attempt to deter escape plans such as Harrison’s, Samuel’s enslavers have led him to believe that running away is immoral, shameful, and too dangerous to try. While attempting escape was dangerous, enslavers typically exaggerated these dangers to deter enslaved people from trying to run away, and Samuel’s fear reflects this conditioning. However, the further Samuel gets from the place of his enslavement, the more he comes to understand that running away is the right choice, and he also realizes the true extent to which enslavement is a reprehensible institution.
As Samuel and Harrison struggle to escape their untenable circumstances, this section of the novel addresses The Challenges of Seeking Freedom, and this theme is initially introduced from the perspective of Samuel’s inner fears. Significantly, when Harrison first wants to escape, Samuel uses the same word to describe running away that he uses to describe enslavement itself: “trouble.” His impression is strengthened by the fact that Harrison tried to run once before but was captured and severely punished, rendering his life of enslavement even worse than it had been before his initial escape attempt. His willingness to try again, bringing Samuel with him, demonstrates his courage and resilience in the face of adversity. The journey is difficult, especially for Harrison, who is elderly and also has mobility challenges due to decades of unhealthy and abusive working conditions in the fields. Cognizant that the Hacklers and other patrollers might be searching for them, they cannot risk being seen by anyone, and this is no easy feat when traveling across two states and into a different country. Despite these obstacles, Harrison thinks the risk is worth it, but the author uses the character of Lilly to address the reality that for many enslaved people, the possibility of freedom was not worth the risk. In Lilly’s case, she wants to remain near the graves of her children, and this connection supersedes her desire to escape her current conditions. Thus, the author sensitively illustrates the fact that there were a variety of reasons behind enslaved people’s decisions to run as well as to remain.
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