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 9-12Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 9 Summary
While on the Hensen plantation, Julilly and the other slaves had enjoyed singing and dancing on Saturday nights. However, on the Riley plantation these festivities were strictly forbidden.
Having promised to run away with her, Julilly now feels very close to Liza. Lester signals to Julilly that they must speak. When they meet behind a tree, Lester reveals to Julilly that Mr. Ross is trying to help slaves escape to Canada. He instructs her to listen for a bird call that night and to meet him at the same tree. Julilly reveals to Liza that they will soon meet with Lester and Mr. Ross, and Liza is excited to have their help.
That night, Julilly and Liza meet with Lester, Mr. Ross, and a few other slaves in Piney Woods. Mr. Ross reveals that he has been helping slaves escape from various plantations and is wanted as a “Negro thief” in Tennessee. He tells Julilly and the others that their journey will be risky and difficult, and that life in Canada will still have hardships. Mr. Ross asks everyone to keep their plans a secret and says he will continue to give Lester instructions throughout the next week of bird hunting.
Chapter 10 Summary
Over the next week Julilly feels nervous and prays for a successful escape. She and Liza prepare by putting away bits of food with their winter shoes. Julilly notices that a storm is brewing, but Lester confirms that they will go ahead with their plan regardless. On the night of their escape Liza and Julilly put their belongings into their crocker sacks and lie awake, holding hands. Hearing three whippoorwill calls, the girls venture outside and meet Lester and Mr. Ross in the woods. Mr. Ross gives the girls boys’ clothes to change into and instructs the group to follow the Mississippi River north, keeping an eye on the North Star. He provides them with some food, and scissors to later cut their hair. He says he will meet them in Tennessee and leaves.
Lester, Adam, Liza, and Julilly begin walking, trying to make as much progress as they can before anyone realizes they are gone. As they reach the swamp, the ground becomes wet and muddy, and they worry about snakes and alligators. The girls take off their dresses, throw them in the swamp, and put on their new boy clothes. Lester cuts their hair. They reach the Mississippi River and follow it north until the sun begins to rise. They agree to take turns sleeping and keeping watch.
By midday it is Julilly’s turn to keep watch, and she soon hears the bark of bloodhounds. Hoping that the dogs will not be able to smell them, Lester instructs them to pack up and roll up their pant legs so they can flee through a stream.
Chapter 11 Summary
As the days pass, Lester, Adam, Julilly, and Liza keep moving, still running from the sounds of dogs or the sight of anyone on horseback. They live off the land, gathering nuts or catching catfish from the river. Lester reveals that one of the house slaves on the Hensen plantation taught him how to read, and he will look for signs that they have reached Tennessee. The group worries that Mr. Ross will not be there, and they wonder whom he would send if he could not come. Liza struggles to keep up with the others, and Julilly knows she may have to help her.
One night the group finally reaches Tennessee. They hear two armed men ride by on horses and are scared that it could be Mr. Sims, the overseer, so they hide in the bushes for a long time. When a man with a wagon drives by, they hear their signal—three calls of the whippoorwill. Julilly goes out first to confirm that he is the right man. The driver is a Quaker, and he knows the code, “Friends with a friend.” Julilly is dismayed when the driver tells her that Mr. Ross has been arrested and is in prison. She and the others quickly board the wagon and hide under a canvas sheet in a pile of hay. They hear horses and a man who says they are looking for escaped slaves. The men insult the Quaker driver and insist on looking in his wagon. The driver pulls back the canvas to reveal the hay, and the slave hunters leave.
Chapter 12 Summary
The four runaways endure thirst and discomfort as the wagon jogs further down the road. Outside they can hear dogs in the distance. Finally, the driver stops the cart, and Julilly and her friends quickly get out and drink from a stream before hiding in a barn. The driver gives them a compass and explains that they should use it to first go east to the mountains near Knoxville, and then head north from there. Once out of the mountains, the group must follow the train tracks by night until they reach the home of Levi Coffin, the leader of the Underground Railroad. Julilly is confused and imagines a road under the ground leading to Canada.
The Quaker helper leaves, and the group is thrilled to rest in safety with some food. The men leave to fish in the stream, and Julilly and Liza rest inside the barn. They hear dogs and shouting men and hide in the hay; Lester and Adam are caught and chained to a wagon. The girls, terrified but still determined to make it to Canada, gather their supplies, leave the barn, and hide in the undergrowth.
Chapters 9-12 Analysis
In these chapters the author adds nuance to her theme of solidarity and communication when Julilly, Lester, Adam, and Liza meet secretly with Mr. Ross. As Julilly’s dreams of escape become a reality, she is forced to keep her plans a secret because Mr. Ross instructs them to “not talk with anyone else on the plantation about the planned escape” (57). While Julilly and the other enslaved girls had once openly shared their knowledge about Canada, Julilly must now regard her peers warily in order to protect herself from anyone reporting her. Julilly and Liza refrain from mentioning Canada or anything to do with escaping: “There was no more Canada-talk in the long cabin where they lived. At night when the others slept, they tried to sleep too” (58). This new divide shows how plans of escape divided Julilly and Liza from the other enslaved people on the Riley plantation and interrupted their normal circles of communication.
Julilly and Liza also must learn new secret signals and codes; communication is both vital and risky. For instance, while at the plantation, the escapees use “three soft calls of the whippoorwill” to signal to each other since talking is too dangerous (55). While on the road, they learn the password to identify their Underground Railroad helpers: “We say to this man who gives the bird call, Friends with a friend. He answers the same thing and then we trust him” (69). Smucker’s details about the group’s secret communication show the creative ways people shared messages and made plans when they could not meet and talk openly.
Liza and Julilly’s secret plans—and risk of capture and punishment—strengthen their connection, exemplifying the theme The Bonds of Friendship. Even though Julilly and Liza cannot speak openly about their plans very often, their bond still deepens. Smucker writes, “They were silent, but their thoughts were a cord binding them closer and closer together” (60). The girls’ plan to run away is as much a commitment to each other as to their freedom. The author writes, “Julilly felt a new bond between them—stronger than just being good friends. It was held tight by the promise to run away together. It was the most solemn promise Julilly had ever made” (53). Julilly’s thoughts about escaping reveal that she considers herself and Liza to be a team that will fail or succeed together: “No matter what happened, no matter if Massa Riley got bloodhounds to chase them, she would help Liza, and Liza would help her” (61).
In these chapters, the Liberty in Nature is evident. The visual imagery contrasts the beauty of nature with the ugliness of human cruelty. The mockingbird is a symbol of freedom. Its flight and beautiful song accompany the rare moments of peace Julilly experiences during her escape. As Julilly rests by the river one day, “A mockingbird sailed through the sky, then perched above her and sang its own clear song. A gentle deer walked serenely to the river’s edge and dipped its head for a long drink. It was peaceful to sit so quiet” (67). Julilly does not enjoy nature’s beauty and tranquility for long, however; soon after she hears men and dogs approaching and flees.
Smucker paints a similar scene when Julilly and her friends arrive at the Quaker’s barn: “The rushing stream swallowed the man noises of the road. Only the clear song of a mockingbird could be heard above its rippling. Even the wind, playing through the leaves, was quiet” (81). However, this peaceful scene is interrupted by the arrival of Sims, the overseer, who captures Lester and Adam nearby: “The mockingbird flew away, leaving the sky for a moment empty of its song. But the emptiness filled with the cries and shouts of men and of whips cracking into the playful leaves” (81). By sharply contrasting the idyllic beauty and peace of nature—and especially, the freedom of the mockingbird—with the actions of the slave owners, Smucker portrays the hideous violence of slavery and as a particularly human cruelty.
