Freedom Train: The Story of Harriet Tubman

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of racism and child abuse.

“As she watched, a flock of geese rose above the pines. Fanning out behind their leader in V formation, they headed northward.”

Sterling’s insertion of this image into Harriet’s story creates sympathy for Harriet and has a larger symbolic significance. The idea of seven-year-old Harriet trapped inside—hungry, desperately tired, and only able to see the geese through a window as she dreams of being let outdoors to play—tugs at the heartstrings. This particular image also symbolizes the desire for freedom beginning to stir in Harriet’s heart: Flight itself is a common symbol of freedom, and the geese fly in an arrow shape pointing toward the North, a place of freedom for those fleeing slavery. The image also prefigures Harriet’s future role as a leader, guiding others northward in search of liberty.

“All that night and all the next day Harriet hid in the pigpen, afraid of the sow, but more afraid of Miss Sarah. When the pigs slept, she scraped the trough for food. When they woke, she rolled back to her straw bed.”

Because adult pigs can be very dangerous—even to an adult person—Harriet has a justified fear of the sow. Sterling stresses Harriet’s terror of Miss Sarah by making it clear that Harriet would rather take her chances with the sow than be found by Sarah. The image of seven-year-old Harriet sneaking from her hiding place in the straw to eat bits of slop left behind by pigs emphasizes her hunger and the deplorable circumstances of her life as an enslaved child. This moment lays the groundwork for Harriet’s