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Overall Summary
The novel opens from Handful’s perspective, as she retells an African legend of people who could fly but lost their wings once they were taken to America. Handful knows the legend isn’t true, but loves the idea anyway. She is a slave for Sarah Grimké and her family in South Carolina in 1803. Usually Charlotte helps with sewing; however, she is given to Sarah Grimké for her eleventh birthday. Sarah describes how her earliest memory was seeing slaves get whipped and how that experience caused her stutter. She does not want to own Handful (called Hetty by the Grimkés) and tries setting her free, but Sarah’s parents refuse that wish. Handful does poorly as a lady’s maid, so Charlotte makes Sarah promise to help free Hetty some day when she grows up.
On Easter Sunday, the Grimké sisters went to church where Sarah noticed how badly slaves were treated. She decided she would teach them the alphabet at her Sunday school class which was against the law, but she did it anyway. At home, Charlotte stole green silk from Mary and got caught and punished by tying her leg up for hours. When Sarah saw this she snuck some medicine to Handful in a basket. Although Handful accepted it with gratitude, he realized that this white mistress didn’t really care about him as much as his own friends had said that morning when they talked about freedom speeches given by white Southerners like William Lloyd Garrison who have been working towards freeing blacks from slavery for years now; speeches which force slaveowners to face their moral failings towards blacks along with what is happening in America because of racism and slavery being so prevalent there
Sarah applied herself to studying her brother Thomas’ law books. She covertly taught Handful how to read. They became friends and Sarah admitted that she had chosen a silver button as a reminder of her ambition to become a lawyer. Handful told Sarah to call her “Handful” instead of Hetty, which is what the other children called her. Handful practiced writing in the dirt and signed her name, but one of Sarah’s younger sisters found it and tattled on them both. John Grimké punished Sarah by refusing to let her study anything except for ladylike things; he also sentenced Handful to receive one whip lash from his belt because she was so rebellious lately with all the changes going on at home with their mother becoming more independent each day. This made both girls very unhappy, especially since they were best friends now.
Sarah asked for permission from their father John Grimké (a famous abolitionist) to be godmother for their newest baby sister’s baptism in hopes that this would make up for not being able to study anymore or be an attorney like she wanted. She threw away her silver button, but secretly gave it back when no one was looking so that she could remember why she started learning in the first place: To help people who are less fortunate than others have rights too! The author wrote about Handfull making another start by making herself a spirit tree using red thread that once belonged to Sarah when they were still fighting over everything.
Six years later, Handful’s godmother Sarah helps her get ready for a society ball. Sarah dreads these occasions because she is uncomfortable with high society and doesn’t know how to handle herself in it. However, at the ball, she meets Burke Williams who becomes the first man that Sarah falls for. Meanwhile, Handful feels further from Sarah than ever since her attention is now on Nina and Burke Williams. To occupy her time during this period of loneliness, Handful busies herself helping Charlotte finish sewing a quilt that Charlotte has been working on all of her life. Charlotte herself is distracted by a new relationship with Denmark Vesey who inspires Charlotte to begin saving money so that they can both buy their freedom one day soon. The Grimkés leave Charleston to attend Thomas’ wedding (and keep Sarah away from merchant-class Burke) and while there, Handful takes advantage of the absence to sneak into the library and read about slavery prices: 1,050 dollars for each person or 3200 dollars for both mother and daughter together – far higher than any amount of money could be worth! This discovery forces Handful to see how valuable she really is – far more valuable than what some people might think based on their monetary value alone!
