89 pages • 2 hours read
Julius LesterDay of Tears
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2005A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 12-13Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 12 Summary: “Philadelphia”
A year later, Emma and Joe walk around Philadelphia, noticing how differently Black people dress and how differently the white citizens treat them, compared to in the South. Joe and Emma decide to take on the last name of Mr. Henry. They rent a house with Emma’s employment as a laundress and Joe’s work as a blacksmith. Winnie and Charles have split up because she blames him for losing the baby, and Charles blames Joe. Emma withholds blame, instead believing that “the Lord moves in mysterious ways. All we can do is trust in him” (155). Joe misses the quiet of the countryside, although Emma likes the city bustle. Joe admits he is happy, especially when they dress up for church. In their church clothes, he feels like no one would think they were ever slaves, although he feels guilty about those who remain in slavery.
Emma and Joe see Fanny Kemble, who is delighted to see them, although she cautions them that they must speak privately on a smaller street so that they don’t attract unwanted attention. Emma tells Fanny the story, and Fanny admits that Pierce is living here, so Emma and Joe are in danger. Fanny explains the Fugitive Slave Act, which also allows for the authorities to arrest Fanny for even speaking with a runaway slave. Fanny suggests they escape to Canada. Emma asks after Sarah and Frances, who Fanny admits both miss Emma terribly. She does not want to tell them about Emma because she is afraid Pierce will not let her see her daughters if he finds out. Emma and Fanny hug, and it begins to rain.
Interlude 12 Summary: “Fanny Kemble as an Old Woman”
Fanny remembers how upset but understanding Sarah was when Fanny later told her of her encounter with Emma. Fanny remembers how white people used to capture free Black people and sell them into slavery because persons of color had no rights. Fanny remembers not wanting to risk Emma and Joe’s freedom, so she used her contacts to escort them to Canada. Sarah names her first child Emma, and asks after her child’s namesake, so Fanny uses her contacts to find out where they live. Sarah and Emma correspond via letters, and Emma explains that her daughter is named Sarah. Fanny remembers crying when Sarah told her about Emma’s last words to Sarah—about having a “good heart”—before Pierce sold Emma. Fanny remembers feeling guilt, helplessness, and failure when she left the Butler plantation because she was unable to help the slaves. Now, Fanny thinks that maybe the best thing she did was treat the slaves with respect and dignity, as so few in their lives ever experienced that measure of humanity.
Chapter 13 Summary: “Emma”
As an old woman, Emma stands in the kitchen of her house like her mother before her, speaking to her granddaughter. It rains. Emma says when she gave birth to her daughter, it was raining as well: “Seems like whenever something important happened in my life it was accompanied by rain” (166). She discusses wanting to find her parents after the Civil War, but she had children to take care of. Emma is upset that her parents never knew about the good life she has led. She makes her granddaughter tea, a new custom from Canada that Emma has come to rely on. Emma remembers how, like her parents, she and Joe would sit in kitchens to discuss their lives. Emma remembers Joe’s death during the Civil War when he decided to go back to help fight to free the slaves.
Now, Emma sits and has imaginary discussions with Joe, whose voice she likens to the rain. Emma explains to her granddaughter that some white people were good and many people, Black and white, died to abolish slavery, educating her for her report. Emma speaks about how she named her daughter Sarah “for a little white girl who hated slavery, too” (170). She talks about having a “good heart,” which she is sure her granddaughter has.
Chapters 12-13 Analysis
The final two chapters and interlude conclude the novel with a lessening in the narrative tension. Part of the reason for this ease in narrative tension is due to the freedom Emma gains after escaping the Henfield plantation. She seems able to breathe easier in Philadelphia, where the weight of slavery does not burden her as much. However, this qualification is important, as noted by Fanny. When Emma and Joe bump into Fanny on the streets of Philadelphia, she explains just how precarious their newly won freedom is. The author uses the narrative to explain the truth of America’s brutal institution of slavery, namely, that even once a slave has escaped, the former slave could still be caught and resubmitted to slavery via the Fugitive Slave Act. As Fanny later points out in the interlude, white people who were looking to make quick money could kidnap Black people who had been born free and sell them into slavery.
These chapters illustrate how non-existent rights were for Black people in America, despite their alleged freedom. The chapters also indicate the tenuous nature of that freedom and how directly related it is to the tenuous social positionality of the Black body. Once Emma and Joe realize they are no longer safe in America—in any of America, even the North—they must escape to Canada where they finally gain some measure of security and social stability. The author implies that America, the alleged land of the free, is not free if you’re not white.
Similarly, the author also suggests the inherent sexism within American institutions, although the ramifications of patriarchy may pale in comparison to the context of this narrative. However, through the character of Fanny, the author suggests that women also hold tenuous social positions, as witnessed by Fanny’s fear that Pierce will keep her from seeing her daughters. The ramifications of this sexism are most evident in the character of Emma, the protagonist of the story. Lester creates the protagonist as the most disenfranchised individual in American history: the Black woman. In this way, not only does the author lend a voice to the marginalized, but he also gives the most depth to the most marginalized individual, forcing the readers to empathize with the most historically oppressed character.
However, the audience also witnesses Emma come into her own in terms of character development. Once she is free of the shackles of slavery, she has the autonomy to find her own truth and understand how she affects the world around her, not just how she is affected by it. The audience sees Emma become more deeply spiritual and religious in these chapters, as though her escape and subsequent freedom helped her gain the capacity to find herself and understand her true beliefs. Similarly, there is an indication that Emma is in some way tied to nature, especially the rain. Emma notes that whenever anything important happened in her life, it rained, as though the author is suggesting that Emma has become a facet of Nature herself. It is only once Emma gains freedom that she begins to understand her ties to Nature, suggesting that Nature necessitates the freedom of all individuals.
