Toliver's Secret

“‘Fiddlesticks!’ said Grandfather. ‘Just stand up for yourself, Ellen. That’s what I did—when I was a boy and small for my age.’

Ellen doubted she could stand up for herself when Dicey went blustering about like a tough butcher-boy.

‘Ellen’s not a boy,’ Mother said quietly. ‘She can’t roister about like a boy.’”

Grandfather doesn’t perceive Traditional 18th-Century Gender Roles the same way Ellen and Mother do. Grandfather doesn’t think that gender determines how one should act in a situation: He believes a boy and a girl can stand up to a bully in the same way. Ellen and her mother have more binary ideas about what types of things girls can do. Ellen uses a simile to compare Dicey’s “bluster” to the actions of a boy, implying that boys and girls inherently act differently. Mother similarly delineates Ellen’s actions by gender.

“‘Where do you think Ezra is today, Mother?’ Immediately Ellen was sorry she had asked, for Mother bit her lip and was silent.

‘Only the good Lord knows,’ she said at last. ‘If he’s alive—and isn’t on a prison ship, he must have gone to Pennsylvania with Washington’s army.’”

Through the mid-1770s, the British kept enemy soldiers in “prison ships” hosted off the shore of New York. While Ellen’s father died in the Battle of Brooklyn Heights, her brother went missing. She and her mother aren’t sure if he is dead or on a prison ship or if he retreated with George Washington’s army past the Delaware River into Pennsylvania. This uncertainty also contributes to the theme of The Impact of War on Individuals and Families.

“Dicey’s chapped cheeks were as red and rough as her flannel petticoat, and her eyes made Ellen think of a pig. She looked like a bold scrawny public pig dressed up in a drooping wool skirt. Her pale hair was uncombed and blowing in the wind like a dirty handkerchief.”

This quotation introduces one of the novel’s antagonists and Ellen’s bully, Dicey. However, it also explores The Impact of War on Individuals and Families. Dicey bullies Ellen because Dicey isn’t cared for the way Ellen is. Ellen describes Dicey and her appearance as “scrawny,” “drooping,” “uncombed,” and “dirty.” These adjectives indicate either a lack of wealth and resources or a measure of neglect toward Dicey, though the novel does not explore this further.

“He was the one who took care of everyone else. He’d put leeches on a bruise or cut a vein and let the blood flow out into a basin to cure an ailment. Everyone came to him with their troubles.”

This quotation characterizes Grandfather and provides historical context on his profession. Grandfather is selfless, encouraging, and positive. He believes in Ellen’s capabilities before she or Mother does, and he is quick to agree to take care of Mother and Ellen after Ellen’s father dies and Ezra goes missing. Though he is a barber and a wig maker, he also practices minor medical tasks, especially bloodletting with leeches. The practice of barbers doing medicine began in the medieval period. Both the conflation of barbering and medicine and the practice of bloodletting, in general, were beginning to go out of popular practice by the latter 1700s.

“‘We get over fear,’ said Grandfather, ‘by doing things we think we cannot do. These are trying times, Ellen. Many people are doing things they thought they could never do.’”

Grandfather’s words speak to the theme of Finding Self-Confidence in Adverse Circumstances. He specifically links the ability to do things Ellen previously didn’t have the confidence to do with the adverse circumstances they are living through in British-occupied New York. This quotation also characterizes Grandfather, who has trust in Ellen and her abilities.

“Not since she was a small child had she known what fun it was to kick her legs as high as she could. She tried to kick the skillet that hung beside the fireplace.

‘These will be better for walking than petticoats,’ she said as she pranced about the kitchen. ‘Why can’t girls wear these, too?’

‘Ellen Toliver,’ said her mother primly. ‘It would be unseemly.’”

Ellen experiences newfound freedom of movement in Ezra’s old breeches, demonstrating how Traditional 18th-Century Gender Roles extend to the freedom allowed by certain clothing. Since women mostly kept to the domestic household sphere, they did not wear clothes suited for mobility. Further, it was considered “unseemly,” as Mother says, for women and girls to show the shape of their legs. Ellen is young enough that these social norms have not been permanently instilled in her.

“Grandfather would have to find someone else to carry his message. She’d go home and tell him he had asked too much of her. She couldn’t go out into the streets and roister about like a boy. She couldn’t go sailing across the Bay to a place where she had never been and find a man she had never seen. That was asking too much of a ten-year-old girl. She’d go home and tell him he must find someone else.”

Ellen has trouble retaining her confidence and begins to doubt her capabilities. This hesitation shows the mutability of the theme of Finding Self-Confidence in Adverse Circumstances: Sometimes, there are setbacks. This quotation also explores Traditional 18th-Century Gender Roles, as gender roles explicitly contribute to Ellen’s doubt here.

“She, Ellen Toliver, had fought two boys in front of a crowd of people. She not only had raced them and beaten them but she had saved her grandfather’s message. The bread was here with the snuffbox still inside. She could hardly believe it.”

This quotation characterizes Ellen and her growth as she finds self-confidence. Ellen is quick to dismiss her brave acts, but here, she begins to take pride in what she accomplished. She realizes the things she’s already done are things she never thought she’d be able to do, which makes her feel like she is capable of even more.

“His thick red tongue ran around his lips. ‘I could smell that good fresh bread when you stood there on the dock,’ said Dow as he slapped her hands away. ‘I said to myself, “That boy will be happy to share his bread with a soldier of the King.”’”

This quotation characterizes the antagonist Dow, a British soldier. He is entitled and physically aggressive toward Ellen. Like Dicey, he is a bully who Ellen must defend herself against.

“Higgins nudged her with his sharp elbow. ‘Not bad, Toliver! You’re a spunky little rogue—just like my Tom back home.’

Ellen glanced up at Higgins. He seemed to mean what he said. No one had ever called her spunky.”

This quotation characterizes Higgins, a British soldier who takes on a mentor-like role to Ellen. Higgins’ words show The Impact of War on Individuals and Families. Even though Higgins is technically Ellen’s enemy, she realizes he is homesick and misses his family, which humanizes him. He also compliments and defends Ellen against Dow, which both shocks and pleases her.

“Once, Ezra had explained the map of Long Island and New York Bay and all the colonies along the shore. Her father had shrugged his shoulders and said that a little girl didn’t need to know things like that—unless she was going to be a peddler. And he certainly didn’t mean to have a peddler for a daughter.

‘He didn’t know he’d have a spy for a daughter,’ Ellen said to herself.”

This quotation explores the themes of Traditional 18th-Century Gender Roles and Finding Self-Confidence in Adverse Circumstances. Ellen’s father, who was a schoolmaster, thought that there were some forms of knowledge that girls didn’t need to know. Ironically, the information he thought she didn’t need to know is now vital as Ellen undertakes this mission.

“[Higgins] nodded his head. ‘Sometimes I am afraid—as many men are. Being afraid is nothing to be ashamed of.’ He threw a sidelong glance at her. ‘But when something has to be done,’ he said firmly, ‘don’t wonder and wonder about being afraid. If it’s important to you—do the best you can.’”

Higgins offers some helpful words to Ellen. He points out that fear is a normal human emotion that no one lives without. Even he, a grown man and a soldier, feels fear. It is what people do in the face of fear that matters. These words help Ellen develop confidence on her journey.

“‘Why,’ she thought suddenly, ‘they must be the Hessians.’ She had heard about the terrible Hessians after the battles on Long Island. Everyone at home resented the German soldiers who hired themselves to King George to fight his wars for him. They had come over here to kill colonists for money.”

Hessians were German soldiers hired by the British Crown to fight the American colonists. They hailed mostly from the German state Hesse-Cassel, for whom “soldiers were a major export” (Head, David. “Hessians.” The George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon). The Hessians sometimes plundered, which embittered Americans toward them. The lines in the Declaration of Independence, which condemn King George III for “transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny,” refer to the Hessians.

“‘Nobody picks up strangers in these times.’ He spat at the tree and wiped his mouth with a thin claw of a hand. ‘Too risky to pick up strangers who might rob you—or even kill you. Don’t you know there’s a war on, boy?’

‘Yes, I know, but—’ Ellen began.

‘People around here used to be friendly. But no more.’”

An old man in Amboy talks to Ellen about the atmosphere around town. As an elder, he can testify to The Impact of War on Individuals and Families, as well as the town, over periods of time. The instability and violence of wartime has made some people violent and others untrustworthy.

“Nothing happened. There were no monsters behind her. She could see not even one squirrel nor small rabbit. The woods looked quiet and serene.

Patches of fresh white snow lay on the carpet of brown leaves. Snow flecked the trunks of the great forest trees and collected in drifts like white pillows on the branches of evergreens. Red berries that had not been eaten by the birds sparkled on dogwood branches. If there were any animals here, they were asleep in burrows or hollow logs.”

Ellen learns an important lesson about fear, which is that sometimes, fear is only in your head. Ellen was afraid of the forest and what might lie in wait for her inside it. However, once she goes into the forest, she finds that her fears are unfounded. She can admire the beauty of the forest rather than be afraid of it.

“‘Why are those houses all closed up so tightly?’

The question seemed to make him angry. Ellen could feel his back grow stiff and straight as he cried out, ‘People have to stay behind locked doors these days—since the British came! It’s those redcoats! They take everything! Just walk in and take anything they want! Most farmers hide their cows in the woods—and pigs and chickens too!’”

This quotation explores the theme of The Impact of War on Individuals and Families. Everything people own can be taken by the British. The quotation also characterizes both Murdock and the British Army. Murdock is an indignant and unpredictable Patriot: It’s not safe to openly criticize the British, but he doesn’t hesitate to. The British Army takes advantage of the local people’s houses and livestock, much like they’ve taken over Grandfather’s living quarters.

“She gripped Ellen’s shoulder roughly in her strong hand. ‘Take off those breeches, boy! You’re chilled to the bone. What ails you? Are you bashful?’

Ellen drew back. ‘Someone is waiting for me—’ she began.

Suddenly the woman picked her up, tossed her on the bed and started to peel off the wet breeches. Ellen kicked her legs and tried to squirm away.”

This quotation characterizes Mrs. Murdock, who wants Ellen to get dry by the fire but goes about it inappropriately. Mrs. Murdock denies Ellen’s autonomy and physically tries to get her breeches from her. Ellen fears what Traditional 18th-Century Gender Roles might make Mrs. Murdock think about her if Ellen’s identity is discovered.

“Ellen was afraid of pigs. She always walked clear of those lean hungry public pigs who wandered about the New York streets and ate the garbage. She remembered the mean look of the pig who had chased her this morning.”

“Public pigs” are pigs that walk around the streets in the colonial era, eating scraps before they rot in the street. Many things on the streets of New York scare Ellen, including these pigs. A pig chased her that morning. She is confronted with a pig again when Mrs. Murdock throws Ellen’s bread out to her pigs. While Ellen ran from the pig that morning, she faces up to the Murdock pig and gets her bread back. This action shows Ellen’s growth as she works on Finding Self-Confidence in Adverse Circumstances.

“On either side of the road the trees stood black against the dark sky. It seemed to her that their branches were arms—moving, groaning, bending low to grab her. She tried to remember the friendly look of the trees in the late afternoon light. But these were more frightening.”

Ellen does not only personify the trees she meets on her way to Mr. Shannon’s tavern, but she anthropomorphizes them. Personification means to give inanimate objects human characteristics in a metaphorical or abstract way. Anthropomorphism means to assign inanimate things literal human traits and behavior. She imagines these trees literally moving in threatening and aggressive ways.

“‘What’s under your coat?’ the big man spoke up quickly.

‘It’s nothing,’ said Ellen.

‘Must be a sack of gold,’ he said. ‘Do you think it is a sack of gold, Smithy?’ Ellen looked to see if he were serious, but she could not tell.

‘No,’ said the smith, ‘but I’ll wager it’s a bag of good English coins.’

‘Perhaps he’s a paymaster for the redcoats,’ said the big man.”

While Ellen cannot trust anyone but Mr. Shannon with her secret, other people cannot trust Ellen, either. They do not know Ellen is a Patriot, and so her actions seem suspicious. The smith and a tall man (whom Ellen doesn’t know is Mr. Shannon) are suspicious of the lengths to which Ellen goes to hide her bread and think she is either a thief or a British paymaster.

“As she watched the leaping flames, her head whirled with memories of the day. They went past her eyes in a dizzy parade—the boat full of soldiers, the crowded streets of Amboy, the woods, that awful pig! And for what? For nothing! Mr. Shannon wasn’t here! All that she had endured meant nothing in the end! She could sit here and wait all she liked, Mr. Shannon wouldn’t be back for two days.”

The final bait-and-switch the narrative presents to readers is the idea that after all Ellen has been through, Mr. Shannon is not at the tavern. This realization leads both Ellen and the reader to think that all the trouble and challenges she’s faced have been for naught. Ellen doesn’t think that the confidence she has been gaining means anything if Washington doesn’t get her message. Ellen and the reader do not realize that Mrs. Shannon lied about Mr. Shannon’s whereabouts to keep them and Ellen safe, and Ellen’s message will safely reach Washington after all.

“‘Oh, the things we do to fool those redcoats,’ she giggled. ‘All day long I pretend I’m a loyal subject of the King—out there in the tavern singing away like a bird in a cage. And you pretend you’re a boy with nothing but a loaf of bread in your kerchief.’

She patted Ellen’s cheek playfully. ‘But we fool them, don’t we, Ellen? And we get important messages through the lines to our army.”

Mrs. Shannon empathizes with Ellen about how they both had to hide aspects of their identity to fool the British. Historically, many women served as spies with great success for Washington’s forces in the American Revolution, because they flew under the radar, and the British were less likely to suspect them.

“‘It’s dangerous, isn’t it,’ said Ellen, ‘to ride through enemy country?’

‘Well,’ he admitted, ‘it is dangerous. But it’s no more dangerous than fighting in the army. I’m too old to fight. Most of us are old men—or women who carry messages sewn into their clothes—or boys, too young to fight.’ He leaned over and patted her arm as he smiled at her. ‘Or a girl like you! Your link in the chain didn’t break, Ellen. We’re all glad about that.’”

While Ellen began her journey to help Grandfather, by the end, she wanted to keep her “link in the chain” of American forces strong for her own sake because of her own convictions. Mr. Shannon gives Ellen positive reinforcement about her actions over the past day. He affirms the idea that everyone can have a role to play in gaining victory over the British if they want to participate.