Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Copper Sun, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Slavery, Dehumanization, and Resistance
Horror vs. Beauty
Friendship
Memory and Storytelling
Gender, Race, and Power
Summary
Analysis
Teenie moans and holds Tidbit close. Polly asks if they can escape, but Teenie insists the smokehouse is secure. Amari asks if slaves ever run away. Teenie says that they do, but the dogs usually find runaways. Some have succeeded, but Teenie thinks this is true even if they died on their journey—they never had to come back. She tells Amari that freedom is in the North. There, Black people have jobs and houses. Teenie points out to Polly that it’s hard to run away when you’re Black, but Polly could have a chance. Polly insists she’d never abandon Amari and Tidbit and asks if people go after indentured servants too. Teenie tells the story of an indentured boy that Mr. Derby owned. After he tried to run, Mr. Derby put an iron collar on him. The boy drowned—Teenie believes that he willingly let the weight of the collar pull him down.
Though Polly will never not be in a better place than Amari, Teenie, or other Black slaves, she learns here that it’s absolutely possible for her situation to get even worse. The iron collar impresses upon her that while Mr. Derby might not kill her outright as he did with Noah or whip her like he whipped Amari, she’s still at risk of being punished, humiliated, and dehumanized because of her place in society. It’s a testament to how bad slavery is that Teenie insists dying as a runaway is better than living in slavery. There’s dignity in dying if it frees a person from the trauma of being alive.
Themes
Polly wonders what freedom even means to Amari, since she can’t get back what she lost. They all hear a scratching and then Cato’s voice. Teenie warns Cato that he’ll be killed if he’s caught, but Cato insists that he’ll be free if he’s dead. Then, very seriously, he tells Teenie to send Tidbit with the girls and insists that Dr. Hoskins doesn’t believe in slavery. Polly notes that Clay is coming with them, so Teenie quietly tells Cato to dig up her bag of seeds and put a couple in Clay’s midnight wine. Cato tells Teenie again to send Tidbit with the girls and reminds him that he’ll be alligator bait again if he stays—if she lets him go, he might be free. Teenie groans but tells Cato to be careful with the seeds. She’ll need lots of them soon, when she fixes Mr. Derby a meal that he won’t remember.
It’s one thing for Teenie to say that dying in pursuit of freedom is better than living as a slave; it’s another entirely for her to stare down the possibility of letting Tidbit leave her to potentially find freedom. Having Tidbit around is one of the only things that makes Teenie’s life worth living. He represents her future and the future of her mother’s stories—Tidbit will be able to pass them along and keep them alive, long after Teenie is gone. However, it’s also worth noting that Teenie has no choice here: Mr. Derby will force Tidbit to go, whether Teenie believes that Tidbit is heading for freedom or not.
Themes
Amari asks Cato where North is and where to be free, but Cato tells her to go south. Polly says that doesn’t make sense at all, but Cato points out that trackers, dogs, and newspapers all expects runaways to go north. If they go south, they can find Fort Mose in Spanish Florida. There are streets of gold there, and the Spanish set slaves and indentured people free. He says that there will be danger, but they should follow the river south and then keep inland. He walks away.
The way that Cato describes Fort Mose suggests that in some ways, Fort Mose is an idealized, hopeful story to him—it might not be as wonderful as he insists it is. However, he does have a point when he notes that trackers will look first for slaves heading north—so if anything, heading south might give them more time.
Themes
Polly feels powerless and tries to erase the bloody images of Mrs. Derby’s baby from her mind. Amari falls asleep and Teenie whispers to Tidbit that as long as he remembers, nothing will be gone. Polly thinks of the sorrow and anguish that Teenie and Mrs. Derby both feel right now.
Polly recognizes that the connection and love between these mothers and their children is a shared experience, and both will grieve the loss of their babies. Both are losing the one spot of beauty and hope in their lives, even if Tidbit might have a chance at freedom.
Themes
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