The Underground Railroad

by

Colson Whitehead

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on The Underground Railroad makes teaching easy.
Chester is a young boy who lives on Randall. Cora takes a liking to him because, like her, he is a “stray” (an orphan). When Terrance forces the enslaved population to dance, Chester accidentally knocks Terrance’s wine onto his shirt, causing both Chester (and Cora, who defends him) to be brutally whipped. After this point, Chester never speaks to Cora again.

Chester Quotes in The Underground Railroad

The The Underground Railroad quotes below are all either spoken by Chester or refer to Chester. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Family, Heritage, and Home Theme Icon
).
Chapter 10: Indiana Quotes

How could such a bitter thing become a means of pleasure? Everything on Valentine was the opposite. Work needn't be suffering, it could unite folks. A bright child like Chester might thrive and prosper, as Molly and her friends did. A mother raise her daughter with love and kindness. A beautiful soul like Caesar could be anything he wanted here, all of them could be: own a spread, be a schoolteacher, fight for colored rights. Even be a poet. In her Georgia misery she had pictured freedom, and it had not looked like this. Freedom was a community laboring for something lovely and rare.

Related Characters: Cora (aka Bessie), Caesar, Chester, Molly
Page Number: 272
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Underground Railroad LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Underground Railroad PDF

Chester Quotes in The Underground Railroad

The The Underground Railroad quotes below are all either spoken by Chester or refer to Chester. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Family, Heritage, and Home Theme Icon
).
Chapter 10: Indiana Quotes

How could such a bitter thing become a means of pleasure? Everything on Valentine was the opposite. Work needn't be suffering, it could unite folks. A bright child like Chester might thrive and prosper, as Molly and her friends did. A mother raise her daughter with love and kindness. A beautiful soul like Caesar could be anything he wanted here, all of them could be: own a spread, be a schoolteacher, fight for colored rights. Even be a poet. In her Georgia misery she had pictured freedom, and it had not looked like this. Freedom was a community laboring for something lovely and rare.

Related Characters: Cora (aka Bessie), Caesar, Chester, Molly
Page Number: 272
Explanation and Analysis: