44 pages • 1 hour read
Barbara SmuckerUnderground To Canada
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1978A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 17-19Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 17 Summary
Levi and Auntie Katie help Julilly and Liza board a horse-drawn carriage with black curtains over the windows. When the driver arrives at a train station, he instructs the girls to climb into sacks and hang limply when carried. Julilly hears that the train cars will be searched for escaped slaves and is grateful for their disguise. The driver carries her and Liza into the train car and tells them to stay hidden in their sacks until they reach Cleveland. Hours pass and Liza and Julilly become increasingly cramped and thirsty. Finally, they hear a man calling out for two “dry goods” from Cincinnati: it is Alexander Ross.
Ross picks up both Liza and Julilly and carries them to his carriage and gives them water. The driver begins taking the carriage down the road, and Ross explains that he was released from prison in the South when the enslaved person he was accused of taking returned. He informs the girls that while Lester and Adam both reached freedom in Canada, Adam died of blood poisoning from the wounds caused by his chains. Lester survived and found a job in St. Catharines, Ontario. Julilly and Liza are devastated to learn of Adam’s death, and Julilly thinks about her own mother, Mammy Sally, and what may have happened to her.
Ross, Liza, and Julilly get out of the carriage at Lake Erie, where they board The Mayflower to Canada. Ross explains that the girls will take the trip alone; he is returning South to free more people. After exchanging the railroad password with the ship’s captain, Ross leaves the girls in his care. Liza and Julilly follow the captain to a small room in the boat where he tells them to lock the door and sleep with their clothes on.
Chapter 18 Summary
Moments later, the captain returns with bad news: A sheriff and slave-hunter have boarded the ship and are searching it. The two girls follow the captain onto the deck of the ship, where he tells them to hide in a small lifeboat that is covered in canvas. The girls decide that, if caught, they will resist however possible. Peeking at the deck from the gap in the canvas, the girls see the captain lead two men down into the boat. When the men return, they seem angry, and the captain shoves them off the boat. The boat finally sails away, and Julilly and Liza are overcome with joy. Still hiding in the lifeboat, they eat, drink, and fall asleep.
When the girls wake up the next morning, The Mayflower is docking on the Canadian side of Lake Erie. The girls rush down the plank, celebrating their arrival and thanking God for their freedom. Liza and Julilly are grateful for the captain’s help. He explains that he must be careful since he must return to the US and cannot be caught working as a “conductor.” He quickly gives them money from Mr. Ross and tells them to find the Black man with a cart waiting for them on the road.
Chapter 19 Summary
Liza and Julilly greet Ezra Wilson, the Black man who is waiting for them. Ezra explains that he arrived in Canada last year after escaping enslavement. Liza is scared to travel openly in daylight, but Julilly reminds her that they are safe in Canada now. Ezra reveals that it will take them two days to reach St. Catharines, and that Lester is waiting for them there. On their trip they buy food from local shops and sleep in the wagon. Ezra tells them to expect some hardship living in Canada: People in the Black community work very hard and are at a disadvantage, in part because they often cannot read. Black children have their own schools, separate from the white children. Ezra assures them that it is better to live in Canada and enjoy simple freedoms than to stay in the US.
The wagon enters St. Catharines, and Liza and Julilly notice many more Black people walking the busy streets. When they reach the Welland House Hotel, the girls barely recognize Lester in his suit; they are all happy to be reunited. Julilly notices a lady opening the back door of the hotel and realizes it’s her mother, Mammy Sally. Julilly is shocked and overjoyed to see her. Mammy Sally walks Julilly and Liza to their new home. Mammy Sally explains that “Freedom isn’t easy” and tells the girls that they will be poor (137). However, she is hopeful for the future because the Black community is growing and establishing their own churches and schools in St. Catharines. Julilly is determined to help her mother and Liza. She feels excited and hopeful for her new life.
Chapters 17-19 Analysis
In these chapters, the rising action culminates in the climax (point of highest tension), falling action, and resolution of the story. Julilly and Liza are in constant danger. By detailing the girls’ hiding places and the secrecy around their escape, Smucker keeps the reader emotionally engaged in the story and eager to find out if these characters are successful in their journey. For instance, even once they have reached Cincinnati, Ohio, a state without slavery, they must continue to evade capture by slave-hunters and the local sheriffs who assist them. The girls must remain alert and carefully hide themselves in different locations. For example, their driver carries them in sacks onto the train, where they hide in the bags until their next helper comes to collect them. Smucker builds suspense by reminding the reader of the risks: “A voice cried out above the confusion: ‘Search all those cars for runaway slaves.’ Julilly’s heart pounded. She was glad for the sack and glad for the protecting arms around her” (119). The danger continues on The Mayflower, as the girls must hide in a lifeboat from a sheriff:
‘They are going to search the cabins, Liza!’ Julilly gasped, realizing just how lucky their escape had been. ‘We’re gonna get to Canada, if we’ve got to hang onto the bottom of this boat and get pulled across Lake Erie.’ Julilly was angry now. What right had these men to keep chasing them right up to the border, as if they were runaway dogs? (127).
This moment is the point of highest tension, or the climax, because Julilly and Liza are on the final leg of their journey. If they’re captured now, every risk, every danger along the way will have been for nothing, and they certainly would be returned to Mississippi and severely punished. By including these risks, the author portrays the real dangers to escapees and their helpers on the Underground Railroad. She also heightens the reader’s emotional experience of the novel’s climax, as readers worry for the girls. The falling action occurs when the girls finally arrive in Canada, and the novel is resolved when, reunited with Lester and Mammy Sally, Liza and Julilly look forward to their lives, however difficult, in freedom.
Smucker shows Julilly’s and Liza’s physical and psychological resilience by emphasizing their shared goal and their gratitude for the help they have received on the journey. For instance, the girls deeply appreciate receiving new clothes from Levi and Catherine Coffin, which gives them dignity and a new sense of motivation. Smucker describes how Julilly feels the closeness and warmth of the clothes against her skin; no longer wearing rags, Julilly has a new sense of identity. Liza is similarly strengthened by the gesture; the clothes give her a sense of security, and, like Julilly, she feels like a different person, “a fine cleaned-up lady” (117). Despite the unending danger and physical stress, the girls do not consider surrender an option. Julilly galvanizes Liza, saying, “We’re never goin’ back to bein’ slaves again […] After all our trials, Liza, […] anythin’ is better than going’ back to slavery” (127). In spite of their traumatic experiences and the challenges ahead, Liza and Julilly are joyful and hopeful when they finally reach Canada. Seeing the coastline for the first time, Liza tells Julilly, “‘I feel that I’m flyin’ through the skies just like those sails.’ […] The joy that Julilly felt was so intense that there was pain around her heart” (127).
When the girls reunite with Lester, they are glad to see his spirit isn’t broken: “Julilly searched his face. Lester was well and content, but the anger was still in his eyes and the pride was still in his high-held head […] The beatings and chains hadn’t crushed him down like a snake” (135). Similarly, Mammy Sally overcomes her own struggles to escape slavery and establish herself in St. Catharines, and Julilly is happy to see that her mother remains joyful and positive. Smucker highlights Mammy Sally’s emotional and physical resilience as a survivor of enslavement, writing, “There were scars on Mammy’s neck. She’d been lashed with a whip. She limped when she walked. But her head was high and her voice rang with courage and deep joy” (137). Smucker’s descriptions of each character show how each character retained their core traits and sense of hope and dignity despite their hardships.
