Not a lot of information is given to readers about Isabel's parents. Isabel is no longer living with her parents, and she is the remaining provider for young Ruth.
The few times that Isabel is compared to one of her parents, she is most often compared to her father. The image that Isabel most often associates with her father is the image of a lion. She sees her father as a man that is...
Not a lot of information is given to readers about Isabel's parents. Isabel is no longer living with her parents, and she is the remaining provider for young Ruth.
The few times that Isabel is compared to one of her parents, she is most often compared to her father. The image that Isabel most often associates with her father is the image of a lion. She sees her father as a man that is both brave and strong. Isabel tells readers that her father "fought like a lion" when he was forcibly taken away from his wife and children. Isabel includes the detail that it took five men to pull her father away.
Isabel is brave, courageous, and strong like her father. As the story progresses, Isabel comes to recognize that about herself too. When Madam Lockton tells Isabel that she got rid of Ruth, Isabel tells her audience that Madam Lockton "could not see the lion inside" of her. Near the novel's conclusion, Isabel proves that she is every bit the lion that her father was. Madam Lockton has Isabel locked in the potato bin, and Isabel uses her strength and determination to kick her way out. Then she forges papers that state she is free, rescues Curzon, and escapes from New York.
Isabel's mother must have been equally brave too. We know this because when Isabel sneaks out to meet Curzon the first time, she tells us that she was very scared; however, she also says that she tried to be brave "like Momma or Queen Esther." I don't know Isabel's mother, but I do know that Queen Esther was brave enough to risk her own life and station in order to save an entire population of people. If Isabel's mother is being grouped into that same category, Isabel's mother was quite brave. The bravery to stand up to punishment in order to protect someone is a trait that Isabel has as well. For example, Isabel flings herself down on Ruth in order to take the savage beating from Madam Lockton instead of letting Ruth be hit.
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